Mountain
Tai Poutini Polytecnic
Date:
18/09/2013
- Sunrise while going up Mt Rolleston
- Looking over towards Goldney Ridge
- The group at the summit of the Low Peak of Mt Rolleston
Mountain Instruction
Date: 16/08/2013
Trip Name/location: Temple Basin Mountain Camp
Clients: 9x Buller Hish School students & 2x Karamea Area School students
Instructors: Rhys Hillock, Hugo Reid, Watson Green, Ru Kraal, Lenny McGirr
Duration of the activity: One full day
Weather conditions: The weather stayed overcast throughout the day, mild temperatures.
A short narrative which shares your learning and highlights: This day went really quickly and we only got an hour outside with the student as we had to pack up and leave the lodge. One thing that I learned is that we should of pushed the students harder to get ready quicker so we had more time outside as we ran out of time to do things when we got there.
Trip Name/location: Temple Basin Mountain Camp
Clients: 9x Buller Hish School students & 2x Karamea Area School students
Instructors: Rhys Hillock, Hugo Reid, Watson Green, Ru Kraal, Lenny McGirr
Duration of the activity: One full day
Weather conditions: The weather stayed overcast throughout the day, mild temperatures.
A short narrative which shares your learning and highlights: This day went really quickly and we only got an hour outside with the student as we had to pack up and leave the lodge. One thing that I learned is that we should of pushed the students harder to get ready quicker so we had more time outside as we ran out of time to do things when we got there.
Date: 15/08/2013
Duration of the activity: One full day
Weather conditions: Weather cleared in the morning and
stayed clear for the day, rain and snow falling at nighttime.
Variations in environment conditions eg snow conditions: Wind swept snow had been
deposited on the leeward side of the snow slopes.
A short narrative which shares your learning and highlights: Today went well, we headed
back to the lodge in the morning and then in the afternoon we took the students
out and they did a transceiver search activity and they built snow mounds to
produce a shelter. The students really enjoyed searching for a hidden
transceiver in the snow and they also enjoyed building snow shelters aswell. I
learned that in some teaching areas it would be better for a demo to show the
students how to do what we are trying to tell them. We should of done a demo on
how to the whole search for a transceiver, as we had only just talked about the
different stages of searching for a transceiver.
Date: 14/08/2013
Duration of the activity: One full day
Weather conditions: Clearning in the morning, light winds,
turing during the evening bring snow and strong winds.
Variations in environment conditions eg snow conditions: Fresh snow from overnight
made it good for walking around without crampons with having a layer of fresh
snow ontop.
A short narrative which shares your learning and highlights: Today went better then the
previous day because we did better instruction and everybody knew what the plan
was for the day. Today we walked up to the shelter that we were going to sleep
in tents overnight by and we continued up to the ridge near Bill’s Basin, which
was really good for the students to practice their skills. In the morning we
taught the student how to self arrest on a good and safe slope and all the
students really enjoyed this which was great.
Date: 13/08/2013
Duration of the activity: One full day
Weather conditions: Clear in the morninng, but becoming
overcast throughout the day, in the afternoon we got snow and moderate norwest
winds.
Variations in environment conditions eg snow conditions: We received about 10-15cm
fresh snow during the night.
A short narrative which shares your learning and highlights:
Today
went well in the morning but in the afternoon we tried to teach the students
too many skills for the mountains. I learned that it is better to only teach
the students a few ideas and to spend a good amount of time on it before moving
onto the next skill. Between the instructors we didn’t have very good
communication, which stopped the flow of our teaching and made the day not go
so well.
Mountain Personal
Date:
30/05/2013
Trip location:
Arthurs Pass, New Zealand
Group Members:
Rhys Hillock, Hugo Reid & Ru Kraal
Duration of the activity: 0915 - 1600
Weather conditions:
Great day, blue sky, light south-west breeze along the ridge, warm
temperatures.
Variations in
environment conditions eg snow conditions:
The depth of the snow increased as we got higher in altitude , as it was fresh
snow it was really powdery and our feet sunk through it, which made it hard
work to walk through.
Route conditions and
if they changed over the day: We started off on a
easy and well used trail through the bush to the hut, after the hut we started
walking along the ridge above the tree line, at the top we went off trail and
bush bashed down to the valley to walk out.
A
short narrative which shares your learning and highlights: We had another really good day, we started off
walking along an easy track up Bealey Spur until we reached the hut. After the
hut there was a weak trail that we followed up the ridge to the high point 1545,
we continued along the ridge before following another ridge that dropped us
down into the Waimakariri River. We knew there were a few steep guts on the
right that we knew we had to miss, so we sticked to the main ridge on the left.
Bush bashing down this ridge with snow on the trees and ground made us all get
very wet and we cooled down a bit until we reached the valley floor.
- Looking back at our foot steps along the ridge, just
before heading down into the bush
Mountain Personal
Date:
29/05/2013
Trip location:
Avalanche Peak, Arthurs Pass, New Zealand
Group Members:
Rhys Hillock, Hugo Reid & Ru Kraal
Duration of the
activity: 1030 - 1500
Weather conditions:
Really nice day, blue sky, moderate south-west breeze in exposed places, warm
temperatures.
Variations in environment
conditions eg snow conditions: The depth of the
snow increased as we got higher in altitude , as it was fresh snow it was
really powdery and it enabled us to run down a small snow slope just down from
the summit.
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights:
We had a really good day with great weather and great views as we headed up
Avalanche Peak. The snow got deeper the higher we went, which at some points
make it harder to walk through. Going along the ridge at the top was a lot narrower
then I was expecting but it was ok as we took it slow to get around the spots.
On the way down we managed to use the snow to our advantage and it took a lot
less time to get back down to the car park.
- Top of Avalanche Peak looking Southwest into the Crow Valley and beyond
Mountain Tai Poutini Polytechnic
Date:
2/03/2013
Trip location:
Franz and Fox Neves
Group Members:
Tutors: Paula Roberts & Jamie Robertson
Students: Ari Kingan, Ru Kraal, Hugo Reid, Lenny McGirr, Watson Green,
Rhys Hillock
Duration of the
activity: Six full days
Weather conditions:
Overcast, some light rain at times
Variations in
environment conditions eg snow conditions: Ice
not as firm in the morning due to temperatures not too cold over night.
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights: Pioneer
Hut to Chancellor Hut 0900 - 1200. On this day the weather was closing in so we
decided to leave the hut a day early and head down to Chancellor Hut and then
get helicoptered out before the weather turns nasty. We did glacier travel down
the Fox Neve, were we had to negotiate crevasses. Once we were off the glacier
it was an easy walk over tussic to the hut, where the helicopter flew us back
to Fox township.
- View from Pioneer Hut
Date:
1/03/2013
Weather conditions:
Blue ky, hot, light breeze, cloud increasing in the afternoon
Variations in
environment conditions eg snow conditions: Good
layer of firm ice on the surface from overnight freezing, softened up
throughout the day with the sun.
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights: Pioneer
Hut to Lendenfeld Peak (3194m) 0500 - 1500. We had an early morning start to
take advantage of the firm ice conditions, arrived at the base of the climb
around 0730 and did 3 pitches up steep terrain. Changed over to glacier travel
once on easier ground up to Marcel Col, did another 5 pitches up the ridge to
the shoulder then changed to a walking belay on flatter ground to the summit.
Arrived back down at the hut at 1500. The ice was very firm going up the
sholder so we were able to use ice screws for anchors, on the way down we
rapped off and down climbed the steep sections.
- Summit of Lendenfeld Peak looking at Mt Cook (right) and Mt Tasman (left)
- At the summit looking towards the West Coast
- Climbing partner Watson walking up to Marcel Col
Date:
28/02/2013
Weather conditions:
Blue sky, hot, light breeze
Variations in
environment conditions eg snow conditions: Freezing
overnight gave us a good firm ice layer on the surface, softened up over the
day.
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights: Centennial
Hut to Pioneer Hut via West Hoe Pass 0730 - 1030. We packed everything up and
moved huts. Glacier travel around the crevasses, finding the best and quickest
way to get from point A to B. We did crevass rescue in the afternoon,
praciticed prusiking up the rope, which was very hard. We learned the assisted
hoist method and how to hold a fall, which is also quite hard. In the evening
we preped for Lendenfeld Peak, figuring out the route and times for the climb.
- The rest of the group almost at Pioneer Hut
- West Hoe Pass
Date:
27/02/2013
Weather conditions:
Blue sky, warm, light winds
Variations in
environment conditions eg snow conditions: Good
ice conditions in the morning, sun softened it up in the afternoon.
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights: Centennial
Hut to Meteor Peak (2624m) 0715 - 1330. Today we continued to practice glacier
travel, we did 5 pitches up to the summit using snow steaks, ice screws and
cams to create our anchors and runners. We down climbed and rapped off to get
to the base of the climb.
Date:
26/02/2013
Weather conditions:
Slightly overcast, light breezes, hot
Variations in
environment conditions eg snow conditions: Firm
ice on the top in the morning, sun softened it up throughout the day.
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights: Centennial
Hut to Moonlight Peak via Graham Saddle (2700m) 0830 - 1600. Today was the
first day of glacier travel, so we learned what to look for when on a glacier,
trying to find the easiest route around the crevasses. Did a recap on snow
anchors on flat-ish ground before heading to the base of the climb. We did 2
pitches up the the saddle then did some scrambling up to the summit. We learned
that simple calls between you and your partner need to be directed at them and
simple.
- Centennial Hut looking towards Mt Aurora
Date:
25/02/2013
Weather conditions:
Blue sky, hot, no wind
Variations in
environment conditions eg snow conditions: Once
we arrived the sun had made the snow quite soft already.
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights: The
first day, got in a helicopter and flew up the Fox glacier and around to
Centennial Hut, learned afterwards that the flight up is a perfect time to have
a look at the conditions around where we will be climbing and access around the
neves. We re-learned how to rope up for glacier travel, using the ‘Kiwi Coil’
method in the hut that afternoon.
- Amazing sunsets from Centennial Hut
Mountain Tai Poutini Polytechnic
Date: 7/09/2012
Trip Name/location: Temple Basin, Arthur’s Pass
Group Members: Tutors- Dave
Williams, Zak Shaw Students- Rebecca Reidie, Tim
Read, Conor Livesey, Jono Irvine, Hugo Reid, Kristin Tisdall, Logan Froriep, Jeremy
Black, Watson Green, Rhys Hillock
Duration of the activity: Ridge walking session in the
morning
Weather conditions: Strong northwest wind in
exposed places (80km/hr), overcast with rain and snow falling.
Variations in environment conditions: Soft snow on the top few
layers with a firm layer about 20cm down.
A short narrative which shares your
learning and highlights: We practiced walking along ridges while ‘roped up’ using
the kiwi coil, where we used body belays and natural anchors during the harder
parts of the ridges.
Date: 6/09/2012
Duration of the activity: One Full Day
Weather conditions: Very strong northwest winds
(80-100km/hr), overcast with rain and snow falling.
Variations in environment conditions: Snow was soft on the top
layer with a firm ice layer about 15cm down.
A short narrative which shares your
learning and highlights: We learned how to ‘rope up’ using the Kiwi Coil method in
the classroom. We practiced more avalanche searches where we used the
tranceiver and probes to search for a buried tranceiver. We built a snow
shelter big enough for a tent and a cooking area by using blocks of snow to block
out the wind.
- Grey clouds that brought the rain and snow
- Walking up along the ridge
Date: 5/09/2012
Duration of the activity: One Full Day
Weather conditions: Moderate northwest winds
(50km/hr), overcast with light rain and snow.
Variations in environment conditions: Snow was firm in the morning
from a low overnight temperature but as the day went on the snow softened up
due to the rain and warmer temperatures.
A short narrative which shares your
learning and highlights: Learned and practiced how to build solid bucket seats for
body belays. Built snow streaks and T slot anchors and we tested them to
failure. Practiced lead pitching up snow slopes and rock sections where we put
our anchor building skills to the test when we belayed our climbing partner.
- Looking out over Arthur's Pass
Date: 4/09/2012
Duration of the activity: One Full Day
Weather conditions: Light northwest winds
(30km/hr), overcast with some snow falling in the afternoon.
Variations in environment conditions: Snow was soft on top due to
warm air temperatures, and it had a firm layer of ice 10cm down.
Incidents/Injuries: One member of the group
injured their shoulder while practicing self arresting.
A short narrative which shares your
learning and highlights: We learned and practiced the different techniques of self
arresting including stopping yourself with no ice tools, and using the ice
tools and sliding down in different body positions. Practiced walking around on
different slope angles with crampons on, using different techniques including
the French technique, front pointing, and daggering/north wall. We also had a
mock avalanche burial where we had to use our tranceivers to find them.
- At the bottom of our first climb
Mountain Personal
Date: 5/09/2012
Trip Name/location: Ice climbing at Fox Glacier, West Coast
Group Members: Rhys Hillock and Amara Bradley
Duration of the activity: One Full Day
Weather conditions: Overcast with rain at times, cold temperatures
A short narrative which shares your learning and highlights: We set up some climbs today using ‘V’ threads and an ice screw for the anchor. Continued to work on good and easy placement of our feet and tools. We walked around the glacier a bit today working on travelling on ice and making sure we had solid and safe foot placements.
- Looking down at me belaying Amara up
- Heading to the top of the climb to dismantle it
Date:
4/09/2012
Duration of the
activity: One Full Day
Weather conditions:
Overcast with light rain at times, light wind on glacier, cool temperatures
A short narrative
which shares your learning and highlights:
Set up a few different climbs using a ‘V’ thread and an ice screw for an anchor.
Worked on foot and tool placement to make it easier for the climber to get up
the ice.
- Walking up the glacier to find a spot to climb
- Creating a 'V' thread anchor
- Celebrating at the top of the climb
Mountain Tai Poutini Polytechnic
Date: 11/05/2012
Duration of the activity:
One Full Day
- Looking through an ice hole at me climbing
- Looking up the valley towards Fox Glacier
- Looking through an ice hole at me climbing
- Looking up the valley towards Fox Glacier
Date: 10/05/2012
Duration of the activity:
One Full Day
Weather conditions:
Overcast with some rainy spells, cool
A short narrative which shares your
learning and highlights: Continued to work on walking with
crampons over the glacier. We learned different techniques for ice climbing,
which require less moves and energy to get to the top of the climb. Learned how
ice screws work and how to use them to set up anchor systems to top rope off. We tried climbing up some climbs with only
one ice tool and we also tried with no tools to really concentrate on using our
feet to get up.
- Lenny halfway up a climb
- Watson reaching for a good placement
- Watching some climbers and belayers at work
Date: 9/05/2012
Duration of the activity:
One Full Day
Weather conditions:
Overcast, cool with an occasional warm wind
A short narrative which shares your
learning and highlights: We learned how to fit our crampons to
our boots and making sure the leashes on our ice tools are the correct length.
Learned how to put all the gear that we needed onto our pack and making sure it
wasn’t going to fall off. We practiced walking with crampons on, throughout the
glacier. We practiced doing some boldering around the glacier, getting
comfortable with the crampons and learning how to use the ice tools.
- Bouldering around the glacier
- Getting use to walking with crampons on
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