some recent photos

 

From top to bottom: a confused mandy; Mike on the approach to DB eh?; Remarkable sunset; Mount Armstrong sunrise

The mountains

Single cone on left and the two summits of double cone on right.  The rock route went up the most prominent buttress from the bottom righthand corner of the picture above the snow to the top of the (appearing but not actually) tallest peak near top center of photo.  Then followed ridgeline over the three peaks.  For you Lord of the Rings fans...the remarkables are the peaks that can be seen in the background as the people of Rohan are heading to Helms deep on the eve of battle.

The Climb (written 12/11/09)

Wow! Yesterday was by far the most significant climb I've ever done. It marks my first true alpine rock route that I've personally done. Mike, from Crestone, CO, and I set out at 8 AM to the foot of the south-east buttress of double cone in the Remarkables. Our objective was a 5-8 pitch route called "DB-eh?" playing on the abreviation "DBA" used in guidebooks to signify a double bolt anchor. However, no bolts were to be used on this climb. We were left to our own devices to place all the protection and anchors on the climb. The route achieving 3 out of 3 possible stars was of climbing up to grade 17 or U.S. 5.9 although many of the pitches were easier. In all it took us 9 pitches to reach our first of two double cone summits, hence the name. The worst part of the climb for me was the first pitch. At the base Mike held out his closed fists and said, "pebble gets first lead". I chose the hand with the pebble, and thus was on the red carpet for the first lead of the day...the way I wanted it, or so I thought. The bottom was easy and didn't need much protection as moves were safe and manageable. However, the top third of the pitch was a tough to protect steeper slab with sparse positive handholds and a vegetated, soggy seam of a crack. As well, the once rope ran out for the pitch, the anchor construction was frustrating as several gear placements seemed dodgy and I couldn't get one that I thought was super bomber. However, I sorted it out although it took quite a while and put Mike in a bit of a time panic, justifiably.

Things quickly turned around as the next couple pitches continued up vertical overlaps inthe rock and Mike and I swapped efficient leads with each new pitch. By Mike's second lead (pitch 4) we realized we were a bit right of the route and decided to traverse back left a bit. As these things go, the traverse was a bit tenuous for both the leader (mike) and the second as a fall by either would certainly mean a swing. This however went uneventfully and put us at the base of what was to be the crux pitch. A wide, blocky chimney with water trickling on all sides made the pitch interesting as it was important to make sure your holds were not comprimised by the wetness. One good piece of protection near the the top of the steep section allowed for peace of mind to top out onto easier terrain and finish off the ropelength to a secure anchor on a ledge...what a luxury! After another straightforward lead by Mike we decided to simulclimb the next pitch until terrain got steeper again or I ran out of gear to place. Terrain got steeper first and I built and anchor at the foot of what was to be our last pitch and a half of climbing. The tough climbing wasn't quite over yet though, as the summit cone got a bit steeper again, but took good pro. I belayed Mike up and we took in our first of what was to be three almost equally prominent summits on the day. At the top of the North summit of double cone we unroped and climbed across dramatically exposed, but easy 5th class terrain to the other double cone summit. After a couple more pictures, we downclimbed the the saddle between single and double cone and roped up once more for our final summit assault of the day.

One fully pitch followed by a simulclimb final pitch took us there, single cone's apex. However our adventure was not quite over as in climbing, getting to the top is only half the battle. Downclimbing the summit ridge tackled some steep, exposed terrain which led eventually to a steep upper snowfield above bluffs below. To save weight for the climb, we had brought only one ice ax and Mike had opted for sneakers instead of mountaineering boots. So, there we were at the toe of the rock ridge, changing out of cramped climbing shoes on a wee ledge above snow. Mike went first with the ice ax and sneakers soon to be followed by me with my boots, yet two nut tools (metal sticks essentially) using to gain any puchase in the snow with my hands...gloveless unfortunately!! Luckily, with the late afternoon, the snow was soft and kicking steps with boots provided very secure steps in the snow, making the descent much more comfortable than if could have been.

The only stop made after that was to dip our lips directly into the creek to hydrate. After hiking around to the base of the climb to collect gear we had left at the bottom, we found ourselves back at the van, almost 12-hours later, ready for some dinner and much appreciated sleep.

The Remarks

Two days ago I did the most amazing climb of my life in the Remarkables outside of Queenstown. After getting back down to the base I wrote a log of the climb. I don't have it with me currently, but will put it up soon when I do! Something to look forward to!

Calendar Pages

All of a sudden, once again, I am looking at a calendar and am amazed by what is left ahead of me in such a short amount of time. I left Bruce and Swenja's this morning, subsequently embarking on my final journey in NZ. The past few weeks at their house involved much cooking, weeding, and general maintenance of the land. Few new projects were started and at times it seemed as though jobs were only being done because there was nothing pressing to finish. I could feel my time there wrapping up and this morning it did. I'm incredibly grateful to Bruce and Swenja for having me around for so long and although it was unsaid at our parting, their pure presence helped my climbing progress over my time there and for that alone I am indebted to them since it was one of my primary goals in leaving the comforts of Colorado College to come here.

I am currently very hopeful to embark on some final climbing adventures in NZ. This past weekend I hiked up to the Brewster hut, above Haast Pass connecting Wanaka to the West Coast. The hut is underneath Mt. Armstrong and Mt. Brewster. My day friday ended with me hiking up to the hut to see a sunset over the mountains and the west coast. Upon arrival at the hut I ran into two other americans, one who has been living in NZ for 10 years and the other who is traveling around looking to climb, like me. As well, he is from Crestone, CO where CC has a satelite campus in southern Colorado...crazy huh? At 4 AM on Saturday morning we headed up to the top of Mt. Armstrong, an amazing, yet easy snow and rock scramble, to watch a beautiful sunrise and were back at the hut basking in the morning sun by 8AM. Mike and I are now keen on going to the Darrans to do some alpine climbing for hopefully at least a week. After that it is off to Dunedin to sell Mandy, maybe stay with some wwoof hosts there and make it back to Queenstown. I'm very excited by the prospects of all this climbing and hopefully will have some good weather windows to do so.

After all this traveling, seeing familiar faces in familiar places is going to be incredibly comforting and I can't wait! I hope everyone is doing well and as excited to see me as I am you! Much love!

Peter

After a climb at Charleston, West Coast, NZ

Back again

Howdy folks,

How're you goin? Well, I'm back in Wanaka and the sun is once again shining. My five weeks of travel around the south island produced a ton of rain which left us locked inside Mandy for more than a couple nights. However back in Wanaka, surrounded by mountains on all sides the weather simply seems to get blocked and elbowed out of the way as this place is flat dry - but incredibly windy! It reminds me of Colorado a lot except for the extreme wind constantly. I arrived back last friday just in time to start partying. Bruce and Swenja threw a huge party for no reason on Friday the 13th. Friends from Wanaka and beyond descended on Bruce's work shed which in a matter of two weeks had gone from a manly, sawdust-filled auditorium of work tools to a relaxing lavender colored yoga studio to a raving party house. I was in for a long night as these New Zealand folk were tireless party-ers and danced until well after the sun was up again. Coming hot off of CC's party culture of things starting as early as 8 PM and ending no later than 2 AM if it is the most outrageous party of the year, I was a bit overwhelmed after and snuck off around 5:30 to watch the sun rise although coincidentally, I got to see the moon rise first! However overwhelming on the whole, does not account for the fact that I had a fantastic time and suddenly feel at home again with this Wanaka community.

Once again too, I'm back at it, cracking away at the rocks and subsequently climbing those cracks. Not actually, but I am climbing and simply staying active. However, my favorite thing that has happened since getting back was going to the movies with Bruce, Swenja, and Tony last last night. We saw the movie 2012 at the small independent theater with couches instead of tiered seats and an intermission when they serve full meals, cookies, beer, wine, coffee, anything really...a proper cafe. Although that added to the experience the true beauty was in the movie...which by all conventions was absolutely horrible except that in such a way that it was really good and entertaining. You sit there (for far too long) and simply laugh at what hollywood has produced. I HIGHLY recommend seeing this movie, except in doing so, you must see it with friends who you are ready to laugh with because it will be a wild ride undoubtedly. Well, I'm thinking I might try to leave some short snippets and stories that have happened over the course of my trip so that it adds a little more spice than simply re-hashing my day to day actions.

My first happened recently when I was making my way back from Christchurch to Wanaka. It is a considerable drive and along the way there is a "driver reviver" which is a cafe that offers free coffee for drivers on the road. Naturally I pulled over immediately and grabbed a coffee. In order to further my excitedness for the rest of my driving I put on a rather intense, upbeat, and aggressive hip-hop/rap/electronic mixture...a bunch of popular rap songs covered by ratatat with electronic beats behind. As I pulled out I rolled down the window and bumped up the music. Quickly however came a turn that I had to slow to 30 kilometers per hour and enter a work zone to navigate. Doing so quickly I had no time to turn down music as I looked up inquisitively to the two workers as to which direction I should go. They signaled and as I started passing them I became suddenly and violently aware of the ridiculousness of my situation. Here I was, this confused, help seeking young guy passing along two road workers, with my windows down and strong rap music beating impetuously in the background. As soon as I became aware of the fact, I heard unrestricted laughter coming from the two workers. All I could do as I continued on was laugh with them.

That's my story for today.

Much love

A little window

Written in my journal while enjoying a pint at The Twisted Hop in Christchurch. A little different entry today, but nonetheless fitting:

Wild night in Christchurch...something about horse races and everyone dressed up like they are going to a wedding. "cup day?" Today I must start writing down my random philosophies on life, says Liza. So this is the start of that.

1. Setting: Indian Restaurant in Duluth, MN with Henry McKenna, while listening and pondering the bad background music.
Philosophy: I think Indian restaurants need to play bad indian music all the time because otherwise they would become bored of the good Indian music.

2. Setting: At an Indian Restaurant with Liza in Sumner, NZ eating a very mildly spiced meal in which Liza is desperately attempting to add more chilli powder out of the shaker we were given upon request.
Philosophy: Maybe the reason all NZ food lacks any sort of spice is because all the holes in the spice dispensers are too small and it would take far too long to properly spice the food.

3. Setting: Currently enjoying a pint, theorizing on my theories...
Philosophy: Clearly there is a correlation between my eating Indian food and solving previously unanswerable questions about the world. Thus more should be consumed to solve all the world's upcoming dilemnas such as "who will save the world from 2012?"
....Just thinking about indian food and instantly! IDEA! we need to skip 2012 like appartment buildings skip the 13th floor and deftly call it, "the 14th floor". We must quickly arrange the year 2012 to be called either 2013 or 2014 if you are superstitious. Thus, nostrasdamus' prediction could not possibly come true.

Romping and Roaming the South Island

After spending my first full month in New Zealand almost completely in Wanaka and nearby Hawea Flat, where Bruce and Swenja live, I headed up to Christchurch to re-unite with a great, new travel partner to join Mandy and I. After a crazy turn of events, some emails and a decisive phone call, Liza Mitchell decided to join me down here in New Zealand, and for the past two weeks the two of us have been romping and roaming around the south island.

Before leaving Bruce and Swenja's I sat down with Bruce and a large fold-out map of the south island. On said map, Bruce went systematically through all of the places where Liza and I should travel to, hike, tramp (NZ term for backpack/trek), and also climb. The old map became quickly filled with blue pen marks and my head was more importantly swarming with various ideas, plans, and Bruce's verbal directions to places I was bound to forget 5 minutes after talking with him. After this coffee meeting, post-last day of work, and a heartfelt good-bye and come visit again, I began the 6 hour drive up to Christchurch.

For the second time, my drive between Christchurch and Wanaka ended up being on an absolutely beautiful cloudless day. While a bummer since I was sitting on my butt the whole day, it was exciting due to the fact that I could see all of New Zealand's tallest mountains rise from their clearest lakes...quite a stunning drive. As with most of my drives I took my time, ate lots of food, and was frequently passed by cyclists.

The next morning I met an excited Liza at the airport and we began the journey of our touring NZ's south island. In an attempt at a nice gesture of welcome, I bought a couple chocolate bars, many bottles of variously NZ brewed beers and fermented wines, because well...I'm allowed to do that down here. Thus we had a delicious assortment of things to eat and drink for our travels...some still yet to be consumed.

This second leg of my New Zealand adventures as I see it is starkly different from my first leg. I am now in travel and explore mode versus live and work mode. Both have been rewarding and I'm confident I will get to do more of both in the future as well. For five days, Liza and I attempted the Travers-Sabine Circuit, a mountainous track taking anywhere from 5 to 7 days to complete. The hike starts following lake Rotoiti and into the Travers river valley. It then ascends the Travers pass at 1700 metres and descends the Sabine river valley back to the car park. About 3 hours into the first day we found that our planned route was going to be nearly impossible as the suggested hiking times were in fact quite accurate and not directed towards old, slow people. However, at the end of exhausted day two, we took our boots off at the upper travers hut at the base of the Travers pass ready to break until an afternoon exploration mission would tell us whether or not the pass would go, especially considering we had neither ice axes nor crampons. However, our answer quickly came in form of a helicopter. Not 5 minutes after sitting down on the porch of this hut, did a helicopter just start barreling up the valley towards the hut. At first we both exclaimed, " O cool, a helicopter!" Yet we quickly realized it was coming straight to the hut and in fact landed not 30 metres away! INCREDIBLE! Out came 2 Department of Conservation workers doing routine hut cleaning and repair checks as well as avalanche surveying and upon ignoring us for the first 10 minutes while they got themselves sorted, they informed us to not even think about attempting the pass. The other side was apparently a huge avalanche path currently with new snow. Good thing we got our answer!

With our new plan we decided to spend an extra day at this high alpine hut amidst giant mountains rising all around us, and on our break day, I did an exploratory scramble up a nearby peak. I quickly saw what they were talking about with pass as my vantage point from across the valley showed tons of snow on the pass and would probably have been fine had we had crampons and ice axe, but would have had to be done early in the morning when snow pack was still hard and avalanche risk from warming snow pack was low. Hower, we didn't have those things so we were resigned to retrace our steps out (skipping the hut we stayed in the first night however due to similar avalanche risk!!!) Our final 11 hours of hiking (over 2 days) back to the car were long, wet and cold, but we made it and rewarded ourselves with a hostel bed in Nelson versus the usual car sleeping arrangment we have set up here.

We took full advantage of this hostel, cooking for nearly 4 hours an assortment of things for snack, future breakfasts, dinner, and dessert. And this particular one offered free breakfast, which we conquered quite well. Since then we have reconnected with my friend from Bruce and Swenja's Tony and Lars and their new travel companion Nicky. The past few days the five of us have been all traveling together playing lots of music and drinking good beer not to mention eating good food. Life is good indeed. Three more weeks of traveling and adventure with Liza in which we hope to attack the west coast, reconnect in Wanaka, and take the darrans by storm. Until next time...Thanks for reading!

Meeting the Locals

Every morning I wake up to the soothing sounds of president Barrack Obama's deliberate rhetoric slowly oozing out of the radio of Bruce's yamaha radio system playing Public Radio New Zealand. Upon slowly emerging out of bed, a quality I have become particularly good at completing at glacial speeds, I enter the kitchen to greet Bruce and the morning cup of coffee. A few mornings ago, I finally commented on how it feels at times odd to wake up every morning, in one of the places furthest away from the U.S. geographically speaking, and still hear so much news about the goings on of Obama and New York City and yes, the financial crisis. Bruce, having grown up on the remote western coast of New Zealand's south island, didn't seem to find it odd, but instead said I would have to realize that to everyone else around the world, the United States is kind of a big deal. It is the biggest economy in the world he said and for that everyone is focused on the place. This prod quickly evolved into the most interesting conversation I've had for quite some time. Bruce at one point commented that for a while, everyone he knew and seemingly New Zealand as a whole had sort of lost hope for the United States. He had seen the Bush administration as a form of the third reich rising to power and that the U.S. as quickly being pulled away from all of its democratic principles. You often hear how the rest of the world hates America. Now, however he spun the conversation around as to how in such a short period of time, and one momentous changing of the guards, so to speak, there is renewed confidence in the United States. Immediately I couldn't help but think back to November 4th when Obama was elected with such unanimity. I was standing in a stairwell with my good friend and house mate, Jimmy Singer in the Slocum dorm at Colorado College. We were putting up posters for our monthly synergy house potluck, and we knew the decision was soon to be announced. Suddenly we heard seemingly the whole dormitory complex erupt with screams and shouts of celebration as people bounded out of their rooms away from their television screens to celebrate Obama's victory. A gigantic party throughout campus had just begun which would culminate in a massive parade of streaking across campus later on in the evening. I couldn't help but smile and relay the story to Bruce as we stood in the new garden we were building for his house. I began thinking amidst all of the harsh criticisms that are already coming around onto the Obama administration, (myself having not spent enough time or effort to make any personal agreement or disagreement with the criticisms), I felt reassured that elsewhere in the world people again had faith in the U.S. as a leading nation even through such tough times.

On another note, my homestay here is going quite amazingly! Bruce is a highly evolved human being, one of the most intelligent I have met on my travels and he is seemingly good at everything else as well. He is an awesome builder with an equal skill for teaching as we have learned some great tricks of the trade pouring cement for a new communal garden (shared with friends) and a separate greenhouse on their property. We have learned to make boxing for cement, dig ditches for irrigation chanels, and how to install those. We have started to learn of soil fertility when we went to a local sheep sheering shed to shovel trailer loads of sheep shit to integrate into the garden to organically fix nitrogen. Also we have been hard at work eating as many eggs as possible since the chickens can't slow down their egg production and eating them is simply too hard to pass up.

More about Bruce, he was in the newspaper this week for his recent climbing expedition to Pakistan, where himself and three other New Zealand climbers climbed an unclimbed subpeak of K7 in the Himalayas. The climb was an incredible cone of sheer granite rising two thousand metres from base (around 5000 metres already) to peak. I have been working with a friend I met on my travels here named Tony, a fun-loving, very musically inclined and personable new-found buddy of mine from Nova Scotia. Bruce, a new friend Lars (another traveler from Germany), and I have been introducing Tony to climbing as we all share a similar passion. Personally I have been attempting to get climbing often and improve me abilities in the wake of Bruce's prowess. I am becoming much more confident in my climbing and look to go to the big mountains soon and do some longer climbs in the Darrans outside of Milford sound. If you are curious I suggest google-ing some photos of the Darran mountain range...pretty incredible.

Our other host, Swenja, is an equally incredible person with a clear love and passion for life that she always brings to the dinner table or conversation. I look forward to getting to know her more since she has been gone this whole previous week on a yoga retreat for instructors on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. She runs a yoga practice out of a studio Bruce built for her, 50 feet from the front door of their home. I've got another week and a half here, and it will be tough to leave as they make me feel so comfortable and at home. Yet, I'm sure I will be back in and out before my time in NZ (N zed... zee is not a letter here..it is zed). That is enough to fill in the gaps of my past week here...hopefully some photos will accompany although it takes a long time on this application...come on google get it together!

Falling into Place

Sometimes you just sit back and marvel when out of nowhere, a few things just come into place. The last week and specifically last few days have seen lots of this. I started off arriving in Wanaka, completely excited after a gorgeous drive from Christchurch eight days ago. I checked in at a hostel and spent the next few days just living. I did cool things don't get me wrong, but things hadn't settled yet completely. I went skiing, looked into the local climbing and met some people to climb with, and socialised with the hostel scene, spending lots of time with a few of them. Then I went to the climbing spot again a few days later and ran into one couple climbing, but they were content and I could tell they weren't looking for a third. On my own, I scrambled around a bit, set up an anchor at one point and climbed one route on my own, belaying myself by atc and prussik combination.

However, somewhat deflated after the attempt I sat in the parking lot with a peanut butter and nutella tortilla and thought I should get out of the hostels and meet the locals instead of snowboarders and travelers into their own things. So, I signed up to WWOOF, which is a network of farmers, worldwide who will take in willing workers to work at their houses doing whatever work there is to be done. Signing up enables you to contact the hosts and look at their bios. One bio, was of Bruce and Swenja, living right outside Wanaka with organic gardening and free range chickens, and they were climbers...possibly a good combination of my academic interests and outdoor pursuits.

Shot them an email, the next day I was sitting down to coffee with them and a friend from the hostel who is joining me WWOOFing. Climbers they ARE! Bruce sets many of the routes locally and has done much in the Darrans, the premier alpine climbing area in New Zealand. His name is in many of the guidebooks as having the first ascent of several routes and Swenja is not far behind. They are awesome people and have graciously accepted me into their home in return for a few hours of work a day. Plus Bruce and I went and explored some of the climbing areas of Wanaka today as he literally knows every route and who set it. That is only the surface of some of the amazing things that have fallen into place this last week, yet this post is already long and mostly a rant of "and then"s. But it is what I'm doing.

Hope all is well on other fronts! Much love!

A couple of many

They Graze their animals!

Recently, I have been toiling with the struggle that relatively few, (but increasingly more) consumers have with their food choices. Reading The Omnivore's Dilemna, I have found myself less and less able to justify the way Americans grow and eat food. On the other side of things, I am a lover in the first degree of all food, meat included. Upon arriving in New Zealand despite the huge carbon footprint of a trans-global flight, I was relieved to find that nearly every field is seen spotted with cattle and sheep. After my first drive through the more rural areas I got so excited as to try all this good, natural (in the true sense of the word natural) food. I ended up buying tons of food for my time here, bulk rice, pasta, and beans for trips to the mountains, but also lots of fresh vegetables and yes, meat--lamb and apricot burgers and beef, bacon, and tomato sausages. These two packages of meat turned out to be one of the more daunting tasks of late as keeping your food out of the back of a car does not bode well for long-term preservation. So, for the past three of four days I have been on the routine of cooking two borderline gigantic meals, one for breakfast, the other for dinner to simply get through all the meat and vegies. It has recieved some odd glances from the other hostel-go-ers probably thinking, "those fucking americans and their meat" while shaking their heads. Tip for the supermarket next time, although the food is not injected with corn, reducing intake is still an important tenet to having less of an impact.

Mandy and Me

Just got back from two days up in the mountains with Mandy, the good ol' car that I was able to track down. Met some cool people from Alaska and Arthurs pass, NZ at the race. Got to pay for internet everywhere you go, so I'm gonna run. RUN!

Bloggety-blah-blah

Good afternoon! I'm blogging...

Also, I leave today and thus this is my creation to keep people in touch with my new life. Convenient, because you can follow my happenings without my directly telling you, all from the convenience of your home. Convenient.

As a lot of you know, I'm traveling to New Zealand without much of a plan except to buy a cheap car, romp around and do what I love doing, climbing, skiing, combining the two if possible. I currently think I have found a plan in my head for the first few days, which includes landing on an airplane, ditching my gear at a hostel for the day and tracking down my future love and travel partner, Mandy (a '97 subaru legacy complete with travel essentials including mattress, camp chairs, cookware, and a beach volleyball). Then if all goes well, I would head virtually straight to the mountains the next day to participate in a ski mountaineering race at a club ski field, similar to Silverton. That is all that currently comprises of my elaborate plan.

Thanks for listening!