Just returned from a climbing trip to NZ. My mate and I went up onto the Fox Glacier with a view to grabbing some summits. The weather is always the boss and very unpredictable at this time so we were lucky to get two perfect days up high. Day One was a big slog climbing up onto the top of the main divide ( 3000m ) From there we had intended to keep on going up to the summit of Mt Lendenfeld which was at the top of a thin ridge about 200m higher. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to make this as it was late and we needed about two and a half hours each way to climb the ridge as it was bullet hard ice which is unusual for this particular ridge which normally has a solid cover of snow which means you can solo it quite quickly….ANYWAY (solo means to climb without placing protection)
Next day we got high on some near vertical ice and came out after 200m of climbing with calves bursting on top of another ridge on the divide. Spectacular views and salami sandwiches for lunch! A long abseil and then a down climb to get back onto the glacier and after falling into a couple of crevasses we got back to the hut….nice to get high on ice!!
Some other dudes were high on a different type of ice when they broke into our van on the last night of our trip….they took pleasure in up tipping my pack so i was finding small possessions all over the shop (like my house keys hanging in a bush!) These fuckheads ended up with my new camera ( so sorry no pics ) and my ipod and my mate’s laptop as well as a bunch of my clothes (including all my thermal underwear….the fucking weirdos)
It is such a bad vibe when you have been robbed… hard to feel happy….FUCKERS!!
