Two weeks of fine weather....

As always in Fiordland, no matter how prepared you are, the weather has the final say about what you climb. This is what we have done in the last fine spell-

First we went into Sinbad Gully - and free climbed Shadowland!



A short Chopper flight took us up to the head of Sinbad Gully, into a
beautiful hanging valley surrounded by a cirque of 300m walls… some of
the cleanest, steepest walls any of had seen in this part of the
world! As the sound of the Helicopter subsided we realised what a
remote place we had been left in… we only saw one plane (from a
distance) in the 4 days we spent there.

That afternoon we headed straight over to the base of the cliff and
made short work of the first 2 pitches of Shadowland. At 19 and 20
they were a great warm-up for the rest of the route, even though they
were a little wet (from the water falls pounding off the top of the
cliff). We fixed a static rope to the ground, and headed back for
dinner.

The next morning we jugged up to the ledge, then Derek and I led the
next 2 pitches while Paul and Craig aid-climbed ahead and re-bolted
the fifth pitch. The 3rd pitch was a beautiful sustained grade 23
seam; then the 4th pitch continued up the same crack system, but
stepped it up a little to grade 26/27. Derek climbed the left variant
of the 5th pitch, which ended up being grade 25/26, and while Craig
headed up the Lightening Bolt crack, I figured out the right variant
of pitch 5. It was a little harder at grade 27 with some great moves
in a shallow corner with small finger locks. By this time it was
getting late, so we fixed the static and called it a day.

The 6th pitch… the "Lightening Bolt" crack is the most obvious feature
on the route, and ended up being a stunning pitch to climb. A corner
crack leading around the base of a square-cut roof and into another
sustained corner, which went at 22 and ended at a grassy ledge. From
there the 7th pitch headed up a just over-hung crack for 30m. This was
one of the most beautiful pitches, fairly sustained grade 26, climbing
the crack and small edges.

The next pitch was a short steep and rather powerful, grade 24
climbing. At the top of this we realised that it was getting on and we
only had two pitches to go, so Derek tackled the 9th "Bombay Chimney"
pitch, while I jugged past to try to finish the route. The Bombay
Chimney was a desperate 27, requiring some crazy knee bar action. I
headed up the last pitch, expecting to find some amazing water-worn
jugs, but instead it was a deceptively steep corner crack leading to a
few of the promised jugs in the last few meters of the route.
Unfortunately I fell off within meters of these jugs and was forced to
retreat to the ground, as it was getting dark.

The next morning Derek and I did the 250m jug, up to the base of
the10th pitch, and managed to finish the route with another sustained
grade 26 pitch.



Then with one rest day of rain we went to the Ngapunatoru Plato to attempt to climb on Kaipo Wall. This is New Zealand’s biggest wall (1300m) and is fearsome in size and location. The Team made camp right on the top of the wall



and then the first afternoon rapped down 200m and all climbed out again. Below us the wall drops away out of sight for 300m before if ledges out on to easier ground (800m of scrambling?). The next day the rigging team of Paul and Craig went down first and fixed another hundred meters of rope and Mayan and Myself rapped all the way down the head wall to the snow. The first three pitches are relatively easy (sub 20) climbing; then there is 200m of wall that overhangs 10-15m. The climbing was sometimes very marginally protected and was a lot harder than expected (24, 23, 24, 25). The last was climbed just as it was getting dark and afterwards we speed up fixed lines to the top.



After this we went straight back in to Sinbad Gully - after seeing the potential for amazing new routes we had to go back.
Kester Brown hopped in to take photos, film and belay. We met a climber Steve who was super keen to learn about the ways of the Darrans and the Force so suddenly Sinbad Gully did not seem like such and inhospitable place.

Hanging out in the Biv.

Paul, Craig and Steve cranked out 200m of a new route to the right of Shadowland and freed most of it at grade 21! (Incredible on such a steep wall). Mayan and I headed up the steepest, hardest bit of wall we could find with the aim of reaching a seam 150m up the wall. We got four pitch's up in two days and the next day free climbed them - the rest will have to wait until next year!

We where very lucky and had three alpine gecko sightings! They are very rare in NZ except on Sinbad wall it seems!

Shadowland

The Team accomplished the major project of the trip and free climbed the MEGA line Shadowland in Sinbad Gully.



The weather is so good that I do not have time to go into more detail - off to Kaipo Wall in the mourning and more climbing.....

Armageddon – The End of the Project…

With the recent sub optimal conditions the team has spent the time since Sabre training at the crags and equipping new routes. But with a great day on Friday we had the opportunity to finally finish off the project on the Mates Little Brother. This great little wall is accessed via homer saddle by running along the ridge then traversing across the face, about two hours walk. With Mayan still resting her knee we recruited Stefan Hadfield for the attempt. All went well and I quickly climbed the third pitch that had thrown me last time – very tricky slab climbing nonsense. Stefan took up the challenge of the intimidating and long last pitch, 55m with four bolts and a few cams. He fought through the pitch valiantly and soon we were on top! The two new pitch’s make the climb a very hard and serious undertaking; 21, 28, 28 and 25. Craig was there taking photos and scooping so we then spent the afternoon equipping another monster line for the next fine day…

TORA TORA TORA

First major mission accomplished, an entirely new line, climbed ground-up on the North West face of Mt Sabre. This is the first time the main part of this huge, dark and imposing face has been climbed for 30 years. We managed to it in the best style, each pitch was on-sighted and placing only natural (removable) protection.

A reasonable amount of cloud lingering on the Western faces led to a slow start with much deliberation about how to best use the approaching fine weather. JC had come to the Darrans for an adventure fix, Mayan wanted climb something big, rad and scary and Derek needed to be convinced that there would be enough hard climbing to warrant the walk.

Finally, after much coffee and deliberation we decided to head into Lake Adelaide with the intention to free-climb the ‘Kamikaze’ line the following day; this intimidating route was first aid-climbed in 1975, and has not seen a repeat. It was three o’clock by the time we had sorted gear, divvied up the load into our three packs and started up the track. As it turned out this late start set the mood for the rest of the trip.

We made reasonable time, but still only got to Phil’s Bivvied by 8pm. We were all a little tired and were lured into staying there, in comfort, rather than heading up to camp at the base of the route, as we had planned.

We left the bivvy at a leisurely 7am and headed up the steep snowgrass covered approach slabs, stopping with every 100m of hight gain to re-scope our proposed line. We stashed our gear at the base of the buttress and continued up to the base with only two small camelback packs containing a little food and water. We stoped just before crossing the last small snow patch to reconfirm exactly where we thought the ‘Kamikaze’ line went. Information on this route was sketchy at best, we had several ideas of how to climb it and all the starts were wet. Derek suggested attempting a new route on the beautiful, steep orange unclimbed buttress to the right, it did not take us long to agree.


Mayan opted to throw herself in the deep end by choosing to climb the first pitch, which ended up being considerably harder than any of us expected and the crux of the route. We started up the middle of the buttress, but were soon pushed right into a weakness, just to the side of the actual buttress. We continued, alternating leads climbing up faces, rooves and corner systems on adequate gear. We were all surprised by the immaculate rock, lack of gardening and varied nature of the climbing. Half way up our route and quite late in the day we briefly considered rappelling down and returning the next day. We quickly decided to “punch” for the summit, as this was by far the Rader and more adventurous option. With the clock ticking we decided to continue up the slightly easier looking ground using a much faster method of climbing…”simul-climbing”. In this way we managed to climb about 220m, until the climb eased off enough for us to scramble up the ridge to the summit.

It was 8pm by the time we reached the summit. We stoped there for just long enough to grab a bite of food, drink our last sip of water and enjoy the incredible view of the central Darrans in the soft evening light. Then we were back on the go, well aware that we did not have enough gear to sleep up there, and that we had a long, steep descent ahead of us that needed considerable concentration. We scrambled down the steep, blocky ridgeline, until we found the first of the temporary rap stations. Darkness descended on our third abseil, but after another abseil and some more down climbing with head-torches we arrived safely in the chasm between the base of the cliff and the steep snow slope.

We had opted to climb light and left all our boots at the base of our route, only bringing one ice axe between us three. Unfortunately the snow had just hardened up a little too much to down-climb with only rock shoes, so we opted for the slow but safe method of tying our ropes together and rappelling 120m, then belaying the last person down. We did this twice then scrambled down the wet slabs to our bivvy site (the only flatish spot for miles); finally arriving at about 3am. At this point JC was on a roll and decided to try to climb back up to retrieve our boots, unfortunately he got disorientated in the darkness and after up and down scrambling in circles, he returned empty handed.


The next day we awoke to the blazing sun a about 8am, all feeling a little beaten up and with feet that definitely did not want to be squeezed back into climbing shoes, but very satisfied that we had completed a new route on that notorious face and got down to tell the tale!

After retrieving our boots, we had yet another late start for the trek back over Adelaide and Gertrude saddle to Home Sweet Homer! While heading down to Phil’s Bivvy (right at the start of the walk) Mayan’s knee started playing up, making for a very slow gruelling day and once again we had to pull the torches out, arriving back well after dark. The following day the rain set in, and we were able to send JC back to Australia content.

The Mission Begins!

We head back to the Darrans today to make the most of the next fine spell of weather. First on the cards is the Project on the Mates Little Brother, a steep wall the towers over the homer tunnel and the Cledeau Valley. We are lucky enough to have the extra energy of Jonathan Clearwater along for a week. Craig will meet us there and next week we will hopefully attempt Sinbad.



Picture: Mitre Peak with Sinbad Gully to the left

The Plan

Welcome to the Rock Solid team blog!

We are recipients of one of this years Sparc Hillary Expedition grants. Our aim is to free climb three big routes in Fiordland.

Our objectives are:

1. The first free ascent of Shadowland, an 11 pitch route on the Sinbad gulley wall.

2. The first ascent of a free route through the big roofs on the north face of Mt Moir.

3. First ascents of free routes on the remote Kaipo wall.

The expedition kicks off on January 14th - as our friends Tom and Anna enjoy their first day of married life, we will endure the 10 hour drive from Christchurch to Milford.... perhaps with a late start :-)

Stay tuned for regular updates....

The Rock Solid Team

Paul Rogers


Occupation: Mountain Guide

As well as possessing a refined partiality to steak, red wine and rabbit hunting, Paul is one of New Zealands alpine rock climbing legends. He has been at the forefront of climbing development in Fiordland for over 13 years and is a connoisseur of clean, high quality granite.
His experience, both as a guide and rock climbing pioneer will be invaluable to the team.



Kester Brown


Occupation: Aerial theatre technician

Kester has enjoyed climbing in a very diverse range of styles for over 14 years. His favourite things include cranking long steep routes in beautiful mountain environments, packing the coffee bong and capturing New Zealands natural landscapes on film.




Mayan Smith-Gobat


Occupation: Professional climber

Mayan is a force of nature. Fresh from the climbing world cup circuit in Europe, her guns may have to be set on safety lest the holds on all of the walls in Fiordland be crushed into dust....

Craig Jefferies


Craig is a mountaineer, author, teacher, longtime Fiordland afficianado and general recreational enthusiast.