Rocky Mountain

Dusting of snow at the house.

Snowy Hospital Flat.

Summit of Rocky Mountain, knee deep in snow!

Back in Albert Town, relaxing in the community hot tub.

Tuhoys Saddle

Snow has finally arrived in NZ! Unfortunately, without a base for it to fall on, its still proving challenging for getting ski fields open. Snow is forecast for the next four days with high winds as a large Low tracks slowly off the south coast so there'll be plenty for the weekend, but that in itself will provide other challenges.

So, early on a Sunday morning, with snow falling at the house (but not settling) we headed up to Cardrona for a few runs.

After a wait in the bottom car park, the message came that the field would not be opening for the day due to the gale force winds at the summit so we assessed our options and went off touring instead.

The sun came out as we skinned up the Tuhoy Saddle track into the heart of the crown range. There was snow in the car park but is was thin.

Soon we had fantastic views across the valley to Cardrona.

Weather looking ominous north towards Wanaka.

Approaching the saddle.

A bitter wind was blowing on the saddle so we wolfed down our late lunch and heading back down the hill as the weather came in and it started snowing again.

By the time we got back to the carpark rain had washed away our tracks from the morning.

Arapellies

Whilst waiting for the snow to arrive (still waiting) we headed across the ditch to the Melbourne on the West Island to visit Mount Arapellies, arguable the best crag in NZ and one of the best and most famous trad climbing areas in the World! Fantastic rock, great gear, fantastic exposure and world class climbing, what more could you ask for!

A Kangaroo under Bard Buttress. They would roam around the campsite at night and be out grazing around dawn as we were heading out to the crags.

Tim pulling though the roofs on Tiger Buttress.

Colyfull Parrot.

Helen at the end of the famous akward traverse pitch on the classic The Bard (12).

Helen on the crux pitch of The Bard. Traditional 12.

Tim on Castle Rock.

View through Castle Rock.

Sunset at the Pines campsite.

Helenn nearing the top of the classic corner of Watchtower Crack, thank goodnes for size 5 Camalots!

Abseiling down the Watchtower Face.

Helen, not as gripped as Tim, on the runout section of the Bolga on the Watchtower Face. Take lots of small cams unless you are great at fiddling in small rps and peanuts and don't mind being 3m above your last one.

Helen on the first pitch of the classic

Watch where you're walking! Golden Orb spider.

Helen on the Golden Fleece Wall.

Moon setting at sunrise on Bard Buttress.

Sunrise at Mount Arapellies.

Elle De Beaumont, Franz and Fox Glaciers, Tasman and Mount Cook.

Arrowtown Tracks

Almost by accident we ended up exploring some of the walking tracks above Arrowtown. It turned into a 5 hour trip but offered great views and some interesting valleys, old mine workings and gorges to explore. The Remarkables and Lake Hayes from the top of Big Hill.

French Ridge for New Year

Ball Glacier

For Ruth and Peter's first overnight tramp we ended up leaving the car just before dusk to walk into Ball Shelter. A recent road washout meant we couldn't drive as far as we had hoped, even with Caddy.

So after a night camping outside the new (tiny) Ball Shelter, we headed up the hillside. to be rewarded with fabulous views of the Caroline Face of Mount Cook and up the Tasman Valley.

Minarets (centre left) and the Tasman Valley.

Swimming with Dolphins in Akaroa

A reciprocal Christmas present for the visiting members of the Alderson family was a trip in Akaroa harbour on the Banks Penninsular to go swimming with dolphins.

Me and Peter stayed on deck.

Whereas the girls went in the water.

Unfortunately they dolpins didn't want to play on this day, but we got some good views from the boat. I'll try and work out how to get a movie of them up soon.