Raglan ranges with Tapuae-o-Uenuku and Mt Alarm in the distance from Mount Angelus -June 6

  New Zealand Lassitude

 It has been 18 years since I last  faced the possibility of more than 12 straight months in Zealand but it is slowly becoming very likely and there has been a certain amount of lassitude associated with having no immediate objectives. Perhaps it is a time to rest , regenerate and reflect and also to start planning ahead for the coming seasons. Maybe also, a time to maybe do some long planned trips in New Zealand that have always been left to a time of consolidation like this one.

 It is also a time to train some weakness's and gain some strengths. One thing I have noticed coming from a lengthy cycling background is my walking/running gait is rather short and choppy -  a low gear stride in fact, the result of pedaling millions of relatively short strokes at high revolutions. It's a very powerful fast up hill climbing stride but just like a small gear , very inefficient  and slow for long walk-ins and even painful for long descents. So one thing I've been trying to concentrate on is striding out and getting that easy loping style that makes for good hiking. Then, of course,a whole range of technical stuff I need to work on , something that I tend to ignore as often as possible. Perhaps  once again that's  my background from cycling, but this more to do with mentality than physical attributes. That is the mentality  to just get out and go for it and as I'm also so often alone and trying to cover ground at speed so all the "right stuff" and all the "right techniques" don't tend to be primary concerns"!

El Nino or La Nina

The winter is trying to make up its mind here. Frosty mornings interspersed with a series of Nor Westers  and the odd Southerly rolling through has left all sorts of varying conditions to head out in. Wet warm rain , ice , and snow and even warm sunny days to go out cycling.

Sergio and Mei Tian on the Robert Ridge

After staying the night at Bushline hut I set out on the first winter mission which was with Segio and Mei Tian  to head up to Mount Angelus and back but a very late start and walking directly into a developing southerly storm pretty much ended that before it began. Tian Mei put up a gallant effort considering it was her first time in such conditions but it still took almost 5 hours to reach the Lake Angelus hut and by then the storm was in full force and snowing much heavier than expected. A retreat was beat late in the day with no attempt on Angelus in the white out . Mei Tian was really enjoying it although Segio was on a bad day not helped by trying new boots which proved too small. We were all cold and thoroughly soaked through by the end but it was a good 10 hours out 

Starting the walk out 

 Mei Tian is still smiling but Sergio is starting to look dejected behind!!

Un Jours Sans - the empty day

 Un Jour Sans - In cycling circles, it is the day in a tour or multi day race that you are totally empty in every way for reasons quite unknown.  Mount Arthur was under a beautiful carpet of white a few days after the Angelus trip but just a few steps past the car park my almost empty pack weighed like a ton of bricks on my back. Normally breaking into the alpine zone I start feeling better no matter how bad the start and with enough snow to show cornices on the top and even a small avalanche up high the excitement should've  been building. Instead, I struggled through a mental and physical whiteout despite the almost perfect day. Finally higher up I hit deep snow covered by an ice layer and  moved very unsteadily along the east side of the ridge but after much tottering about found I was very uncomfortable and even unbalanced and worst of all fearful. Ambitions dipped alongside the lack of form and having shown a complete inability to make any real progress it was  time to rush back and pick up the kids from school.  

Thats when doubts begin and questions? Why so weak , why so slow , why so fearful , is it old age ?/ am I getting sick but nothing added up. 

A few days later , June 6th , a public holiday dedicated to the Queen of England I set out to remedy the doubts and left early morning to the Nelson lakes - the roads glittering with ice in the car headlights. The trip to Mount Angelus that day was more "Un Jour Avec" that is a day with and the tough walk up the pinchgut track was barely noticed and I was literally running on the snow ridge as dawn broke. That turned very icy later on as one went higher on to a series of traverse's but good time was still being made although quite some caution was necessary . A long line of trampers were heading out of Angelus hut, most down the Speargrass route but 4 were nervously attempting ridge. As I meet them I mentioned  the tell tale snow tracks I had seen of someone who had obviously fallen some 60meters down a gully . Apparently, a woman  had indeed fallen the day before - she was battered and bruised but Ok otherwise.  They also mentioned someone was climbing Angelus that morning and just before the hut one tall lone figure with a long lopping gait looking very proficient strode up and casually informed me on the very icy conditions on Angelus. He reminded me in every way of my Bulgarian friend Dimitar from the Broad Peak trip last year and obviously was from somewheres about that way in the world.  He had gone up via Sunset saddle the way I planned so the information was useful , and we bid farewell. The way up to the Saddle was very easy and fast all under deep snow but from there to the top was literally like a sheet of glass. Ice chips breaking off and flying 2 or 300 meters down the South face left no doubt where a mistake would lead because, although the slope is not overly steep such things as self arrest on such hard ice were probably  in the realms of fantasy. Having said that with a hard kick the boots held well and by driving the shaft of the ice axe almost to the hilt in above my head each time, though throughly exhausting,also gave great security. Luckliy at least three previous climbers had been up since the last snow fall  10 days before including this morning's proficient man and they had left foot holds and above all shaft holes for me all the way up. Even than it was difficult getting the shaft in sometimes. At the top I continued with my plan to descend the north ridge which proved to be not as icy but just as slow and demanding with ice covered snow and losse windblowen snow balling up my crampons all the way down. The walk out was fast and to keep the speed up I removed my crampons - the whole trip took 12 1/2 hours although I was on a very good 10 1/2 hour pace without the ice. 

Lake Angelus - still not iced over with Mount Angelus behind.

Peak 1926 ,scene of a spectacular glissade by Carl a couple of years back.

Mt Angelus , looking up from Sunset saddle.

The icy West Ridge from Sunset Saddle in profile from the descent on the North Ridge

Lake Angelus below , Mt Arthur in the center and Motueka and the sea to far right from the summit.

The descent

Yes,  plenty of photos of the day with - strangely enough, there were no photos of the day without!!!  Despite being in good shape ever since I've been out only once since the 6th June  with normal life eating up all my time and made a quick dash up Arthur last week. An uninteresting trip as most of the snow has washed away in constant warm rain's and indeed I got throughly soaked in more of the same but just great to be out anyway.

A long hot summer seems over here with constant Nor Westers now bringing Autumn rain and wind, plus of course the white stuff although only higher up at the moment. This Summer was hardly a vintage one for me so roll on the winter season! The fitness is going up in time for winter after finally managing to get in some fairly steady training. Apart from  local bike rides and runs everything else has been on top of the Arthur range the closest area higher up I can easily access. Fortunately, Mount Arthur itself is relatively large and spreads out like a star into 5 ridges of which the normal tracked route to the summit is by far the least entertaining. Once off track plenty of fun can be had on each trip exploring nooks and crannies and trying some of the more difficult gullies and ridges. The last real day of summer-like weather I headed off on a Velo mountaineering trip to the North Twin a shark tooth mountain further down range and its highest point as well. It's a trip I've had in mind for a couple of years but an early reccon showed it would be at least a 12 hour day and it always seemed if I had 12 hours to spare it would be spent elsewhere. Without doubt, 12 hours and 58 minutes later I've concluded the east face of North Twin as the hardest all around velo mountaineering half day that can be done from my house. Tough ride , long walk in , a little route finding and a very loose series of gullies and scree shelves plus some ice-polished limestone led to the summit of this little climbed peak.  I have done the North ridge  and Twins traverse before which was a pleasant climb , clean and abrupt, looking far longer and more serious than it actually was the only real difficulty being the exposure. The East face was almost the opposite , hidden , loose and no fun but there was no exposure so to speak as you were locked in narrow gullies or looking eerily out into space on the sprawling convex Karst slopes.

A weird irony arose on the trip. After parking my bike I had a spontaneous urge to do the right thing and commit myself to safety so I finally heeded the ardent advice of friend Al and stuffed my bike helmet (For the mountain climb)  in my rucksack and than proceeded to slice my left index finger open on one of its sharp plastic edges. Thus the only safety equipment I had gave me the days only injury! At least by carrying the helmet I was assured that if at some stage of the day my foot got caught in a Karst crevasse the helmet would suffice to cut it off and set me free. To be fair on helmets and Al I did eventually wear the thing on the way back down from the top!!

With Tom on the South side of Winter peak

With Tom exploring an interesting Rock gully out the back of Mt Arthur (South face)

With Linna on Winter Peak

Scree running with Britta

Leo goes potholing

Isabelle and Linna looking very satisfied returning from Mt Arthur summit. 

Early morning escort up to Mt Arthur car park by Carl and Brad before heading to the Twins.

Some hours later and the North Twin is getting closer with the convex nature of the East face limestone Karst quite evident. On the lonely ridge leading to the North Twin I was surprised to meet a couple of French Nelsonian father's who had also been on their way to the North Twin but had been unable to find a route - rather fortunately perhaps as they had their two roughly 12 year old sons with them. 

On the summit , looking south to the just as steep but slightly lower South Twin and the rest of the Kahurangi National park.

On the summit a bit jaded and only halfway thru the day with the view Northwards back along the Arthur range to Mt Arthur 

Velo Mountaineering part 2 The bike as a pack horse

 It has been a pretty quiet summer here for me as far as getting out and about goes due mainly to being too busy elsewhere with work and family. I have managed to keep a little fitness with some local back to basics ride /runs and also my favorite - Velo mountaineering.

 In New Zealand there is a lack of roads in higher mountain areas despite the fact NZ mountains aren’t really that high to begin with. One reason is the steep alpine nature of the mountains and putting roads in them is a precarious business .Further to this, the often wet wild weather and the fact that the snow line in winter is quite low makes high roads difficult to build and maintain but most of all the lack of population has meant there is little or no need to build many roads into unoccupied mountain areas. Most mountain roads here are of secondary nature and are either in poor condition or even merely 4 wheel drive tracks meaning they are not in a particular;y good state and even these are often blocked to traditional vehicular traffic with locked gates. Its great news for the bike rider though as often you end up being the only one up there. Locally here in the Top of the South (and throughout New Zealand indeed) there are many road ends either as entrances to a national park or ski fields that involve a fairly stiff up hill bike grunt.

Using the bike as a pack horse to carry supplies and equipment more easily up mountain roads and trails is one of the great plus aspects of Velo mountaineering over traditionally humping stuff on ones back from a road end..  No matter how hard the ride in , the ride out is often almost free , freewheeling out with a big load is not only much easier after a hard day walking in the mountains but its many times faster.

Lately all my "Velo mountaineering" has been of this rather simple nature as within a good half day from my house there is a whole variety of options all with a tough ride into a high road end , hiking and running around some small mountains and an easy ride out at the end of the day.

Going out with Tom on the Arthur range in its spectacular limestone Karst country.

Carl riding up to the Amuri ski field , he did a real velo mountaineering mission ,as I meet up with him  after he had ridden the Rainbow rage - 110kms mountain bike event. We camped out than climbed to ski field on bikes the next day  before running on the tops.

Climbing the only piece of rock around , the St James range above Amuri ski field is running country , wide open rolling mountain country 1700 plus meters high.

Dawn breaks over the western ranges as we climb up the tough forestry road to Gordon's Knob firelook out.

Brad and Carl as we descend off the Gordon ridge before climbing Gordon's knob , shortly after it clagged in and was several hours of wandering in the mist.

Rocks at the end of the rainbow.

There is a real satisfaction leaving one's house at sea level and riding a bike to the car park  and than run hiking the tops on foot. however after climbing the very steep Mt Arthur access road on bike the spring in step once I start out on foot is noticeably different from when one is fresh as is the sureness of foot. Excellent training though not only fitness wise but mentally wise as well.

Carl catching dawn rays as we enter the New Zealand Bush

The Godzone adventure race composed of mountain biking , trekking , Kayaking , rafting etc was in our area for a week and I followed the Team from our local town Motueka whilst they were doing the second last stage here riding into Canaan Downs. Despite several days on the go and little sleep they were in good spirits.