Brent and Jake leading the way towards the North Twin

The Arthur range can be easily seen on a clear day from Nelson and culminates to the South in “The Twins” arguably the most impressive mountains in the Kahurangi national park and certainly the most demanding from a mountaineering standpoint. They are surrounded by some very wild and spectacular Karst country which adds to the difficulties, excitement and scenic beauty of travel thru or over the Twins. There are no walk in’s to the North Twin and only the South side of the South Twin offers any easy passage to the South Peak and even this requires fairly demanding tramping to get to the base of. Joined by adventure athletes Jake and Brent fresh off the Godzone adventure race we left the Mount Arthur car park , traversed the Twins and than descended to the Baton valley in a little under 12 hours and although the pace never seemed high the legs and body told a different story for a few days afterwards. It was my fourth year running on a "Twins" trip - only the first year I never made it underestimating the time required and having to dash to work that same evening. Its a trip that doesn't get boring or much easier- even the walk in is a quality hike and I am certainly looking forward to more time on the Twins.

Earlier in the month of March I headed up to the another of the very spectacular region's of the Kahurangi National Park-  the Mount Owen massif of the Marino mountains. It was the 5th year running in what has also become an annual trip. Each time I've started by biking the 85 km's to Courthouse flat, an extinct mining settlement and then hiking a different mountain in area . The Karst country is somewhat milder in form here than on the Twin's but spectacular none the less and each time up here I wonder why I don't come more often.

Looking upwards  - after leaving the car at the Baton ford and biking back to Motueka for the following days Traverse of the Twins. They are certainly looking mighty impressive rising over 1500 meters higher than the valley floor!!

The Twins offer the best mountaineering in the Kahurangi national park - my local neighboorhood.

Fortunately at this point a wire cable was provided - by whom???

Highlight of trip is the Keyhole as one begins the ascent of the South Twin.

the entry and exit of the keyhole, afterwards one corkscrews up onto an exposed ledge.

Jake and Brent admire the gigantic forms of the Karst landscapes that rear all around us

one of the many exposed spots during the day

The way forward , up over the South Twin.

I went with adventure athletes Jake and Brent, 2 very solid performers. Jake has climbed throughout the European alps and is very fluid on the rock - here he points the footholds to Brent on the final part of the South Twin climb !!

The final meters of the "hard " part of the day are over and now its just a walk up the final meters of the South Twin with the South Wall of  North Twin and route we had just traveled all behind us in this picture.

Descending down the sometimes trap lined Paddy's ridge where we soon lost any sort of track . We all fell and bruised ourselves many times down that slippery bush bash but only I managed to draw some serious blood with a nice tumble at one stage. The "easy" walk out to the Baton ford turned out to be a fairly major part of the day - here is one of the last views of the Twins and the Arthur range from Paddy's ridge.

Courthouse flat , the site of a now vanished mining settlment and as far as the bike goes.

Sergio and Mei were the motivating force behind this trip to Owen. Here they are in front walking through the lower sections of Karst on Mount Owen. 

The final meters of a nice mornings walk up Mount Owen

Then Sergio and I tackled Mount Bell. We went directly up the West face which provided a bit of entertainment. At the top the Westerly gale was awful, it provided a good tail wind home on the bike later though.

The Autumn light made for lovely views , here across to the West Coast with Mount Kendall in center picture.

Looking South West 

North from the Top of Mount Bell

Looking back up Mount Bell before descending to Ghost valley 

Huge Karst wave on "Fred" the mountain beside Mount Bell

Walking out with a final look at  "Fred"

Ben looks into the Camera as George takes in the view of La Perouse, Aoraki,/Mt Cook and Mount Tasman from the large summit of the Nun's Viel.

February 14th Valentines day, its late summer , the weather hasn’t settled all summer long, the mountain forcast reads –

“It would appear winter doesn't feel in a hurry to leave us. New snow as low as 1400m at times and rain, heavy at times below with moderate to strong NW winds. and - For the time of year, it's still a surprisingly complex snowpack with several layers of either wet grains, ice crusts and some decomposing fragments. There has been a huge variance recently in the freezing level which has further complicated things and there is another 30-40cm of new snow reported Monday morning up on the Glaciers.

Although it’s the coldest summer I can recall and the usual doomsday addicts are predicting the end of the world as we know it stormy summers have a long history here. When Ernest Shackleton left for the South pole on January the 1st 1907 aboard the Nimrod they were immediately and continuously set upon by one relentless storm after another until reaching Mc Murdo sound in Antarctica . An earlier Irishman in 1882, Reverend William Green, and two Swiss, Emil Boss and Ulrich Kaufmann all but reached the summit of Mount Cook been beaten back by a furious storm in March. Greens accounts of his attempt on Mount Cook shows that trying to find a weather window to climb that year was every bit as demanding as this year would be (and was thwarted by just a few meters from being a first ascent on New Zealand's highest mountain) – his other big attempt in New Zealand, to climb Mount Earnslaw, was also to be derailed by miserable weather. In 1882 there were no bridges over the major water courses making access alone in heavy rains and snow a major undertaking. Interestingly, Green who came by ship via Australia noted that whilst Australia was suffering under a major heatwave New Zealand was very cold – Tasman conditions that are very similar to this year. Green much preferred the cold in New Zealand – undoubtedly his ancestry being Irish helped there!!

Constant storm cycles have left the Southern part of New Zealand on average 2 degrees below normal for summer in some places 4 degrees below – a nice balance in fact for last year when we had almost the opposite in summer. This hasn’t been convenable at all for outdoor activities though and I have found that now roughly 4 months into this constant cycle of storms that I’m tired of battling high winds although at least locally we are missing most of the rain. 

Mount Travers , Nelson Lakes National park

First appearance of Mount Travers during the approach up the Travers valley ,Mount Travers is the second highest peak in the Nelson Lakes National park by a mere 2 meters and its large bulk can be often seen in classic pyramid mountain form from far away.

On the Mountain - Thanks to Andy of Absolute Wilderness and Jono my interest in Travers was piqued. Both had just recently been up the Travers valley and after admiring the mountain had mentioned their wish to climb Travers - in the end only Jono made it for the trip along with Bill.

Caught in a rainbow on the Summit

Clouds were screaming overhead as we descended as the gale westerlies continued.

By the time we had descended to the Bivvy rocks the wind and clouds had enshrouded the mountain..

Apply named Summit Creek provided a perfect Bivvy rock site and really good sleep after a 12 hour day.

 3 options were muted the next day , my one was climb Mount Cupola, nearby but Bill scotched that, Jono had a very interesting plan of finding access to the Cupola basin from where we were bivvyed - Bill scotched that too, Bills plan, walk out Travers valley and catch a Water taxi, Jono and I scotched that (the less time meandering in the Travers valley the better as far as we were concerned). So a compromise was worked out, leave via Sunset saddle with a quick climb up Angelus on way out. By Hopeless hut the weather had changed to a gale SW and cloud but and a very long hard day ensured taking  just over 15 hours

Lake Peel and Mount Arthur - Kahurangi National Park

After spending the whole school holidays waiting for a break in the weather I finally got Isabelle and Leo up to Lake Peel below Mount Peel on the the very last weekend before school. Here Leo looks out over the Cobb Resivor and into Golden Bay.

Windless - for a brief few hours, Leo searching for rocks bugs and things at Lake Peel.

Lake Peel, Our tents can be just seen as dots on left.

We went with Sergio and Mei who are watching the early morning view with Leo.

Plenty of rocks of all sorts up there and the kids both enjoy climbing them.

Isabelle straps up.

and away!!

A particularly audacious Kea

The normal training trips up the "Arthur"

Got some rock climbing practice on the mountain with Bill and Sergio some days , good training for me as the technical sides of climbing I find a chore.

Segio rising out of one of the climbing gullies.

A full moon rising above the clouds.

 The Nuns Veil, Aoraki/Mount Cook National park

Mount Sefton , New Zealands 4th highest peak rises above Mt Cook village.

Sefton rising again , this time we were climbing Mt Little above Gorilla creek. Sefton is not the highest but certainly the most spectacular of the major peaks in Mount Cook National park as viewed from the West.

La Perouse ,Aoraki/Mount Cook and the Nuns Veil - our objective the following day as viewed from Mount Little.

Close up of the Nuns Veil , the route was basically straight up the Glacier.

Ben on the Lower Glacier

Up till now as we began catching the early morning sun the climb up the Veil had been easy ,too easy maybe. It was my first time on a Glacier in almost 2 years and the last time was the chaotic mass of the Baltoro whose only similarity with this one was some ice underfoot. Ben had done all the planning leading up to the trip and now Jerome as doing all the leading up the mountain. I was ambling along in la la land enjoying the soft ice cream glacier - even the Bergschrund  ( a large Crevasse) was filled in with all the recent snow. Looking up the summit route seemed quite clear but one worry remained , a traverse over ice cliffs looked imminent.

The ice cliffs rise above , a 1000 foot drop to eternity.

Most Humans have an innate fear of traversing steep slopes – a fear by no means unfounded. A little vector analysis will show that the balance of forces whilst climbing will tend to hold you to a steep slope and even whilst descending simple physics gives one the benefit of the doubt. On a traverse though its all different – the balance is all  for heading down and when traversing large cliffs the only thing preventing a quick fall from here to eternity is skill, strength and will power.

Alone I would have tried the rocky ridge rather than traverse the ice and having read Freda De Faurs account of ascending the Viel a century ago with the first ascensionist Peter Graham as a guide that seems to be what they did back than. Certainly in those times long before modern crampons and two ice axes a rocky ridge would have been preferable. Jerome though quickly got into the traverse and I followed somewhat more slowly. Halfway across the short traverse I balked on the iciest patch and had to let George and Ben past. It took a few minutes of standing alone on a wall taking a deep look at oneself before raising the will and concentration necessary to move on. Fortunately the difficult patch lasted only a few meters the rest of the traverse being easier and the steep climb to the top a cinch in comparison. Moments like these have come up before for me , both mountaineering and whilst cycling - often when there is an easy start and blissful day, the transformation into ruthless reality can be quite devastating. 

Biretta , next peak on the range is far below. The Nuns Viel is the most significant peak in its area giving terrific views of most of the Southern Alps.

The view down Gorilla vally where we had bivoucaed ,Mount Little of the day before is the small rock peak center picture.

George and Ben descending a snowy arete. I hung out with Ben for most of the descent watching his effortless descent moving through the glacier just the same as the clouds and mist flowed over it. It was very enjoyable seeing a man so at ease on the terrain and his body almost seamlessly slid down the slopes. As George had said , the trip was worth it just to hang out with one of the legends of New Zealand Mountaineering.

Jeromne lead almost all day extremely competently.

Stunning Sefton again, now rising above the clouds we descended into and looking very Himalayan in character.

Oh oh, the wrong way up!! looking down increasingly steep slopes, Siberia valley on the right was the misnamed one this day as my route below  was the one in clag and snow showers..

Mountaineering and the summit

This year's New Zealand Alpine Journal arrived on Christmas Eve and contained a wide variety of  interesting articles. One that I found particularly relevant revolved around the importance of summiting. The authoress had recently failed to summit on two relatively easy mountains but found that she had a fulfilling time and enjoyed the journey none the less and not summiting was no detraction from the overall experience. At the end of the article, she declared that perhaps she was only a "tramping mountaineer"

 At the beginning of December, I headed to Scott's Knob, a prominent peak in the Raglan ranges south of here and by all accounts - of which there were many, a very straightforward climb.  A longer than expected bike ride in, snow showers and southerly gales with poor visibility left me perched high on an exposed ridge only 50 odd meters vertically from the top but a long way horizontally. The little of the potential route over to the summit that I could see seemed very difficult especially with the wind howling over the ridge and retreat was in order. Once back down on lower slopes the cloud had cleared enough to reveal the probable normal way up but by then the all-important "will" had gone and after doing a little exploring I headed home. All in all, it had been a really good and long (15 hour) day and it had been very satisfying to be in new territory but there was this irksome feeling of not having reached the top. It's hard to explain, its just this feeling of unfinished business!!. And of course, there is the ego factor. Mountaineering was born in Victorian England - an era of understatement (rather the opposite of present times!!) and mountaineers have become the masters of understating any particular route. Scott's Knob goes under the category of "Grandmother demanded milk and cream for the tea and scones once we had set up a picnic table on the top " type climb and the ego is piqued as well when it seems that every man and his dog waltzed up at one stage or another. So, when Bill came around, fitter than before looking for a weekend climb and time and weather windows eliminated our preferred objectives, the "Knob"  stuck right back into prime view.  I must admit, against all my better philosophical ideals that I will elucidate at some other opportunity this was for me a peak bagging trip pure and simple. The weather was perfect, an early start after riding into Grieg's hut the night before saw us amble to the Top without much difficulty and although not all Grandmothers would have made it certainly some have.  With another storm brewing, we even had a howling tail wind out on the bike a perfect peak bagging day in fact. 

 Herman Buhl, at the cutting edge of extreme mountaineering in the 1950's shared an alpine hut for a week with another mountaineer in the 1950's while he soloed the Matterhorn and host of other peaks in the region. The other mountaineer never left the hut but spent all day just staring at the Matterhorn in wonder. Bulh concluded that this other mountaineer who would never set foot on a mountain in all probability was just as much a mountaineer as himself as spiritually they were in the same place. The Alpine Journal has a wide variety of stories including ski touring in Iceland, ice skating across Lake Baikal, extreme ascents in the Alps and also the higher ranges of the World. To this no doubt could be added (as the Himalayan journal and other journals do add in fact ) Mountain bike trips - which now contribute to a considerable part of the exploration of the last remaining unexplored mountains of the World, motorcycle trips and even bus trips - If the right spirit is there!!

below a few jumbled pictures of the trips to Scott's Knob. 

Bill starting the ride in by crossing the Branch river

The Knob comes into view just before dark.

Where I went wrong the first day on the Knob - at this snowy junction took the slopes to the the right rather than the left ending up far to the South of the main summit.

Perfect snow slope , steep enough for rapid progress, not so step as to be exhausting. 

Bill takes a break

stepping up the final slope to the col.

Bills an old timer and here he does some old time posing.

Clouds of pine pollen blowing off the trees , not a good place for those with allergies! 

finally , spring wild flowers are out

final views as we descend.

Back at Grieg's hut

The only other Christmas story, riding up the Baton in search of Cherry's. There's rows of wild cherry trees over the Baton ford  - unfortunately the cold wet spring has not done them justice and the only picking were small and sour.