awwwww. isn't it magnificent? all full and with all that technical sort-of looking gear. (unfortunately, this picture isn't even that good since the flash went off because it was early early saturday morning)
but. anyways.
last weekend was my pack's first trip! it performed magnificently - really comfy to wear and, as you see, beautiful too. thank you parents!
right, i wasn't going to gush over my pack anymore.
last weekend i went with two guys from the tramping club (rich and evan) to the east matukituki range near mt. aspriring. it's in the southern area of the southern alps, near wanaka. the plan was to climb mt. sisyphus and camp in wilmot saddle (almost directly below)
we left early friday afternoon and got to the park around 6:30 - and walked along a track for about two and a half hours until we found a camping spot. we didn't get as far as we wanted to, mostly because the track wasn't very well marked, and in the dark, well, we got a bit lost. but, camped at a great little place along a river, made dinner, and went to bed in rich's 2-3 person tent. a 2-3 person tent means it's really tight with 3 people. and then original plan had been to have 4! it could have been really interesting ...
the next morning, we continued along the track until we got to aspiring flats. it's ... remarkable. there you are, walking along a track in the forest and then boom! out onto a flat surrounded by snow covered peaks rising steeply around you.
stunning.
then it was up rainbow creek,
[sorry for my hand/camera case - the sun was runing my picture]
and up a rather steep ridgeline to wilmot saddle. it got a bit snowy and slippery near the top, so we used our ice axes and crampons - my first time using them. it's incredible how much better i felt with crampons strapped to my feet. i have bad footing to begin with (always tripping all over myself), and they just offer so much more security. the main safety instruction? "don't stab yourself with them"
[sidenote for concerned parents/readers: we did go over proper safety things before using all the technical gear. how to fall properly and use your ice axe to stop yourself. avalanches. and so on. thankfully, this being both evan and i's first time using all this stuff, it wasn't anything too technical (i.e. not a lot of snow or any crevaces or anything.]
i got to the saddle first since evan and rich had to stop to fix something with evan's crampon. i love the feeling of reaching the top alone. after all the hard work to get there, you can just stand there and ... soak in the feeling.
[the side of the saddle we didn't go up. overlooking ruth's flat]
[the peak farthest to the right is mt. aspiring]
[the volta glacier]
[rich and evan coming up the saddle]
we (the boys, that is. i wanted to go up that night) decided not to go up mt. sisyphus that night because it was "getting late". it's one of the peaks that creates the saddle, and would have only taken about 30 minutes to reach the peak. but we decided to get up early and climb it the next morning, so we made dinner and, because it was so freaking cold, went to bed. at ... 7:30.
sadly, when we got up the next morning, sisyphus (and the whole saddle for that matter) was covered in a big cloud, so there really wasn't any point in climbing it - no views, you know? disappointing, but it's ok. the views from the saddle saturday night were still amazing.
we went down the same way we came up, and geeze, it was a lot steeper than i thought:
this country is absolutely incredible. everywhere i go is beautiful, stunning, and so so different from the other places i've been.
i'm doing a ton of tramping this last month (god, how is that possible?). i can't wait. and, somehow, i'm still not doing so much this country has to offer. but .. i figure ... everything i don't do or see this time is just an excuse to come back again.
[ice formation along rainbow creek with avalanche debris (we saw some avalanches on the way up - pretty cool (since they were far away))]
[rich and evan]
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