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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Mount Cook has been the crown jewel in the New Zealand mountain chest since people first realised it was the biggest mountain in the country. It is where Sir Edmund Hillary learnt to climb before becoming the first person to scale Everest in 1953 (the same year the Mt Cook region was declared a...
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mountains
climbing
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The buildings of Mount Cook Village blend into the landscape, their green and brown roofs designed not to distract people's eyes from the mountains that tower around it. The only thing that distinguishes the village from a jumbled pile of rocks that has tumbled down from the summits is the...
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transport
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Day three was easy compared to day two. But the best thing was that we didn't have to get up until 7am... pure bliss.
It was a leisurely stroll down the Cinerama Col. The mountains we had towered over the previous day had reclaimed their rightful position of towering over us.
Even...
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mountains
climbing
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
There have been 70 people killed while climbing Mount Cook, and the fact that I am here writing this proves that I was not one of them. There is a memorial near Mount Cook Village that remembers these people, and you would think that, perhaps in the back of your mind, you would remember them when...
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mountains
hills
wilderness
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The descent was relatively straightforwards. We just followed the same line we had used to come up. Our crampon marks lay like a traintrack under the sun, and our steps were still well formed in the ice. We roped up for the descent. I never trust myself when going down. I was tired, my eyes felt...
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mountains
climbing
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
After lunch the climbing got a bit tougher. We had to ascend a vertical ridge, pulling ourselves ever higher with our ice axes.
We climbed unroped, each aware that the other could plummet at any moment, leaving the other alone at the top of the bottom of the world. It is a thought that...
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mountains
climbing
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The warm sun touched our necks as we pulled ourselves onto the West Ridge. Mt Tasman rose seemingly from just across the valley, its massive flanks fat and inviting. During a break I traced my finger up its glaciers and faces, planning my next trip, dreaming a dream of snow and ice while snow and...
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mountains
climbing
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I awoke just before midnight to an unusual sound. I lay in the darkness, my eyes closed, trying to place it. It wasn't rain or snow. It wasn't an avalanch. It wasn't the sound of breakfast.
It was Pubdy eating nuts.
He was studying a picture he had ripped out of a Where's Wally...
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mountains
climbing
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I was up at 5am, as the morning chorus of creaks, groans, and farts echoed from the slumbering hostel. I brewed up and munched on muslie and condensed milk. Pubdy joined me a few minutes later, scratching his bum and moaning about mountains and mornings.
There was a faint glow behind the...
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mountains
climbing
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I almost forgot to take gas cylinders. How was I going to get a brew going up on the mountain without gas? Luckily, I met an American guy in the hostel the night before my climb who had a couple of spares. He was unwashed and kinda stupid, and he had an accent that would make paint curl, but he...
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climbing
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The mountains were still there when the sun came up, so I decided to go for a walk.
The Hooker Valley walk is mostly flat - well, more kind of flatish - and took about 4 hours return. Greyness was everywhere. The rocks, the water, the sky, the ice - everything had a grey look about it. On...
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walks
mountains
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
It was another early morning, and steam rose from the cows in the field as I thumped warmth into my body. And I was wearing another wetsuit.
This time I was white water rafting, and my hosts from the previous night were doing their best to tip me out of the inflatable craft.
Now, I...
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rafting
fun
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