Training Log Archive: Stijn

Dusky Day 4. I decided to skip the 2-day out and back leg to Supper Cove, hoping to rather time better weather at the next pass section so that I could summit some more peaks and take in the views. So now I was properly solo and had the trail and remaining huts to myself :)

Today's route is very prone to flooding and many people end up waist-deep wading big sections of it. But the river was nice and low for me so I had a wonderful day enjoying the ancient moss-draped forest at a nice sloww pace. Best hut (minimal sandflies!).

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646736

Dusky Day 3. Slept in and got a late start to try get to the next hut as late as possible (back in the forest so sandfly prison). Did a bit of exploring to another lake on top and generally took my time before plunging down into the trees after lunch. Heinously steep 900m descent with extended sections of tree root "abseiling"! Very glad conditions were pretty dry when I did it.. Got to the hut at 3pm to a moderately tolerable sandfly situation.

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646825

Dusky day 2. Much better going today - more in my element. One 20min detour when I lost the path and started following a trap line set of ribbons. Heavy going eventually convinced me something was wrong so I turned back. Climbed out of the tree line to a beautiful plateau, dotted with lakes. Looking very Scottish. Reached the hut just after 11am so decided to do some exploring...

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646519

Highest peak in the area was Tamatea Peak (1640m), so that's where I went! Picked the obvious tussock ridgeline from Lake Roe and kept heading up. The top was heavily snow-covered so I wasn't sure if a safe route would be available, but once I got to the final saddle, I was able to take a careful route by kicking steps up the snow slope and then scrambling the exposed rocky ridge to the summit. Phenomenal alpine views from the top - so really worth it to gain some altitude :)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646394

Dusky Track Day 1. Beautiful hour-long boat ride to the end of Lake Hauroko where we were dumped and instantly surrounded by swarms of sandflies! Good thing is that as long as you're walking, they can't keep up (lazy buggers). I was planning to double-up straight away and go up to Lake Roe hut but had to eat humble pie as soon as I tried to push the pace on the "track". Very rooty, big sections of knee-deep mud and lots of tree-fall which was frustrating to smash through/over.

So very frustrating at first until I just embraced the fact that 2km/h was my max pace, took it easy and forgot the idea of doubling up. This day was entirely in the forest, following the Hauroko river with a strong feeling of heading deeper into the backcountry.

I had expected to be solo, but was sharing the hut with 3 others. We would all walk at our own paces during the day though. Unfortunately the hut was a little sandfly-infested so we had to cover ourselves from head to toe (in the heat) to keep the bloodsuckers at bay until nightfall when they thankfully went to sleep!

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move188646705

Booked boat transport and all set to do the Dusky Track, starting Monday! It's a marked track, with basic huts but goes into the heart of Fiordland so is infamous for being wild, remote and prone to flooding. Suposed to take about 8 days but I'm hoping to do it in 6 days to beat a storm which is looming at the edge of the forecast. Bracing myself for loads of mud, sandflies and off-trail alpine exploration, all on my ace!

Mouth-watering pics here: http://www.southernalpsphotography.com/Tramping/Fi...

C • Jealous!!! 1

Went for a run along the flat part of the Kepler Track. Really cool forest singletrack!

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move187748174

Hike up to the ridge from Arrowtown to summit some peaks. Big Hill (1137m), Brow Peak (1456m) & German Hill (780m). Great views and an awesome section for 3km along a pathless ridgeline. Super-hot again today - thought it was supposed to be rainy & windy in NZ??

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move187499852

Moving from Wanaka to Queenstown, so while Craig took the car around and did some MTB, I ran there instead via the Motutapu Track. Beautiful singletrack but man those hills took it out of me - 2800m ascent in the first 27km!! Lucky all gradual downhill from there, including a few km of easy kloofing :)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move187343142

C • Great run 1

Looong hike back down, reversing days 1 & 2. Close to 2000m of descent. With celebratory beers and burgers back in Wanaka on our minds all the way down :)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move186926328

Perfect clear, starry night when we woke up, which was exactly what we needed for an adequate refreeze of the snow, especially on the crux 400m 50deg snow face called The Ramp. We set off at 3:30am pretty close to a guide with his client, which was pretty useful in making sure we found the correct start of the route.

Some trepidation at the start of the ramp when the guided pair took out 2 axes each and proceeded to front-point their way up the face. We only had one axe each and with it being pretty pointless being tied together on a steep face (no protection so both would fall if one person slipped), we put the rope away and soloed up the face.

The next 2 hours were pretty terrifying for me as only the points of my crampons and half my axe was digging into the extremely icy snow. Full focus the entire time as one slip would result in a quick slide and plummet over the cliffs below. Really exhausting on the calves and toes as well.

Much relief when we got to the top and then it was an easy 500m vert trudge up the less steep NW Ridge to the summit. Amazing views, much jubilation, but now to get down. We didn't want to downclimb the ramp in the same way so were considering the other more rocky route, but the guide we bumped into recommended that Craig lowers me full rope lengths down the ramp, I hammer in a snow stake and then belay while Craig downclimbs with both our ice axes. So that’s what we did! 8 pitches of it, for 4 hours, constantly wondering whether these snow stakes would hold a 120m slide by Craig anyway... I also dropped a glove at one point, which disappeared over the edge but had a spare pair in my pack anyway.

Much relief when we crossed the final crevasse at the bottom if the ramp and then it was just a slow trudge through soft snow back to the hut.

Such an epic day!

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move186926368

C • Epic! 2

We were planning on taking the Quarterdeck Glacier to access the main Bonar Glacier and Colin Todd Hut but a guide at French Ridge told us that the avalanche risk on the shorter Breakaway Glacier had eased off so we took that instead.

Cloudy morning but luckily no rain so snow conditions remained firm enough. Took a slight detour to scope out the access to The Ramp route which we'd be doing in the dark the next day. Thought we'd have the hut to ourselves when we arrived but 6 more people arrived via helicopter that afternoon.

Spectacular setting!

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move186926387

The big walk-in to Mt Aspiring! Convinced Craig that the helicopter option was a cop-out (and hugely expensive). Turns out we were the only party of about 10 groups we saw that walked in and out without using the chopper.

Gorgeous hike anyway, up the Matukituki Valley to French Ridge Hut, with a steep, rooty 900m climb at the end.

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move186926352

Rode some really fun singletrack in the forest near Forrest with Craig & Matt. Right on the edge of my (extremely limited) technical ability so felt like I was just surviving the drop-offs, roots and tight turns most of the way down..

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move185909480

Gravel road ride through the forests in the Otway National Park with Craig & Matt. Worked a bit on the initial 10km climb but then some fun swooping downhill to the coast. Narrowly avoided 1 x Tiger Snake.

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move185909471

Couldn't sleep (jet lag) so set off at first light to check out Melbourne's version of the Spruit. Fun singletrack running up to something called Dights Falls but should rather be Dights Weir ;)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move185589012

Exploring Melbourne - Richmond, Fitzroy Gardens, Downtown, Yarra River, MCG. Nice modern city :)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move185346736

C • Melbourne 3

Fun last session at CityRock with Rob, Murray, Fred & Matt :) 18L,19L,22,20,19L,20,19.

Nice chatty run with Vaughan, Alex, Steph and the rather energetic hounds! :)

TE 3.8 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move184719135

Fred and I set off to climb Long Bolt to Freedom at Swinburne, an 8-pitch route up the northern pinnacle of Rensburgskop. We got 2 pitches up and then the bag and rope we were trailing behind us got properly stuck in a crack. Much admin and faff to go back and free it, by which point it was already pretty hot so we called it and abseiled back down to the ground. Some lessons learned..

17,12,12.

Last day of work on Tuesday - in the Berg on Wednesday evening :) Did a lekker long hike with Fred up Around the Corner Pass and down Judge Pass from Injisuthi Camp. Did a bit of running early on but mostly hiking for the rest of the day. Turned out to be super-hot!

Nice to do 2 new passes with a light and fast approach.

TE 3.2 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move184630389