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Buller weekend, 2/3 July

gfdonc

12-Jul-2004
10:14:01 PM

Two Days at Buller or: “Dude, where’s my ice-axe”
Friday pre-dawn saw the convergence of Ant - aka Anthony - aka “The Peruvian”; Mark - aka Banana Chicken, and Steve - aka GF Donc at Steve’s house courtesy of Jane’s taxi service. Ya can tell someone’s in lerv when they drive their boyfriend from Elwood to Alphington at 5:30am ..

Trip was uneventful with the obligatory stop at Mansfield for egg ‘n’ bacon muffins at the takeaway, with The Peruvian requiring two attempts to get his ordered meat-free. At the overnight car park we had to fend off the Buller taxi service who kept wanting to take our gear up the mountain and charge us $12 for the privilege. In the end it was decided the Horse Hill chair was the best option for those with more money than fitness, so Mark headed off solo on-foot with a plan to meet at the top of the summit chair, while we took the stroll down the road to the chairlift.

About 100m into the trip my boot-sole decided to part company with the plastic bit that was holding my foot. Apparently 20-year-old adhesive don’t work too good. Luckily Ant had brought two sets of boots “in case” so we headed back up to the car for me to borrow his Scarpa doubles which were (only) 1/2 size too small. Before we could get there the other sole separated, good decision eh?

Take two and we were on the chair then topped out in the usual Buller whiteout and soon enough caught up to Mark who had beaten our mechanically-assisted but gear-disrupted time with ease.

Outside the ski boundary we made the summit ridge to find the rap-pole, dropped packs and made 3x55m abseils in clearing conditions. I took first lead, and headed up steep firm snow to a rock bulge and the first of many knifeblade placements.

Conditions were good with a firm crust of icy snow that could be broken through but only by trying – front pointing was easy on the ice sections and the rocky parts were crusted with rime. A pitch each with some great photo ops and we were back on top for some lunch, then investigated possible campsites. Eventually we settled on a small col west of the summit that offered only token protection from the wind. Plans to do another climb were scuttled by the lateness of the hour.

The original plan was to take no food but hike back to the village for beer and pub grub. On the ridge, though, the thoughts of a walk down and back were being weighed against the option of the emergency rations of soup and noodles until Mark walked up and said “So, are we going to the pub?”.

With GPS and headtorches at the ready, and wary of Buller’s whiteouts, we hiked back up to the summit and down onto the runs, playing Hansel and Gretel with a couple of half-empty cans of something with raspberry and vodka left in it that were left behind by some skiers (makes great snow markings!). At The Arlberg, crampons and axes beside the table, we fortified ourselves with the jug of beer each, a plate of food and then a couple of shots at the bar ‘for the road’. I was hoping someone would hold that summit ridge steady for me on the return.

The sky had cleared and we made our way back up the runs under a full moon with no need for head-torches. Such a magic night! Plans were soon hatched for a moonlight climb, fortunately rejected as a bad idea when pissed. At the tents the weather clouded, the wind came up and we battened down the hatches and crawled into bed.
6:45am there were voices and bashing on the tents as Team Two, comprised of John K, Jono and James arrived, after driving up and camping in the valley the night before. The wind was howling enough for JK to make an aborted attempt to crash into our tent, we kicked him out to make space for a brew. Sick of waiting in the wind they headed down the ridge to find some ice while I fired the espresso pot into action.

After packing up in a gale that wanted to tear our possessions away and hurl them 2000’ down the south face we headed after the others. Following footprints in the mist we started down steeper slopes only to see my ice hammer part company with my harness and take off down the slope. What the ..? I had clipped its leash into a ‘biner when packing up, only to rack the biner later but forgot to reclip the leash. The hammer gained speed and disappeared from view in the foggy conditions. Shit!

“I’m going after it”. Ant offered a belay but I felt comfortable front-pointing down with one axe (firmly held this time) until I reached a 10m rock band about 50m down. Skirting around this was reasonably easy and I was convinced I’d found an impact point in the snow at the base but still no sign of the hammer. Seeing other footprints I yelled to the others to follow and kept going. Eventually, around 200m down the hammer had come to rest, pick stuck in the softening snow.

We followed the footprints west around a buttress and found tool marks in a small icefall. UHF time, got John on the radio to get the surprising response that they’d given up and were back at our tent site! Too foggy, too loose, too soft, they bailed with the plan to have lunch in Mansfield. But more on that later.

We kept traversing around until a rope was needed then decided to head upwards on mixed rock/ice and softer conditions than Friday. Mark’s first lead, then I gained a steeper corner/gully system which gave a couple of moments for contemplation, and Ant got us back onto safer ground. The weather wasn’t being kind with stiff winds and little viz. Back at the packs we were hungry for more, so traversed down and around onto the south face where we roped up again and led a couple of pitches of steeper rock/ice with some good tool placements.

Meanwhile John was SMSing and phoning with updates of their plight. Their car had broken down 14km from Mansfield and they were getting towed. By the time we hiked back to the car (with some help from the Blue Bullet chair) they had been towed into town and were trying to get the car fixed, with the distinct chance of being benighted in Mansfield. Never say die, though, they made some makeshift repairs and by the time we got to them were ready to hit the road. Not much of a climbing trip for them though!

More pics to follow when I can finish the second film and scan them, you know the drill..
- Steve

Paulie

13-Jul-2004
12:38:37 AM

Still, must have been fun! Thanks for the entertaining story.

Paulie

James

16-Jul-2004
8:25:54 PM

nice pic's & story Steve - we were a bit bummed out by the warm day hence bailing early. Hopefully we'll get up there again soon.

ant

28-Jul-2004
6:41:21 AM

Hey Steve, Great write up. Will have to pick my game up for the Peru trip report.

gfdonc

5-Aug-2004
11:11:30 PM

More pics now at
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~stoal/buller
More to come when I steal a few more minutes.
Anyone recommend any pic management software that produces web photo albums?

nmonteith

6-Aug-2004
9:07:08 AM

Photoshop has a great 'create web gallery' funstion. If you can't be bothered shelling out $1000 then I recomend signing up to something like smugmug.com or pbase.com

IdratherbeclimbingM9

6-Aug-2004
9:14:20 AM

Good stuff gfdonc, (both the write up and the pics).
Good enough to sound enticing (almost*), ... even with the minor epics!, (or maybe because of them?).

(* I don't handle cold too well as I find my fingers go all 'putty', but want to try snow camping / bivvying sometime).

ant

6-Aug-2004
9:53:08 AM

Nice Steve.

A5, there is still plenty of winter left - Steve, what do you reckon about another trip in early September (before I find a job)

gfdonc

6-Aug-2004
12:03:53 PM

Hey, gringo! Too much time in 'net cafe's, not enough on the mountains?

Am skiing from the 13th Sept. The weekend before that is possible.

Neil, I own a copy of PaintShop Pro and also Photoshop LE (came with my film scanner). I've never bothered installing PLE, but I wonder if it has the gallery feature?
Thanks

nmonteith

6-Aug-2004
12:21:29 PM

Photoshop LE has 'most' of the functions of the normal photoshop. It is by far the best and most popular photo editing program on the market today. Install it and give it ago!

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