Save it for a rainy day

So it is raining buckets outside (metric buckets, which are more voluminous). Therefore there is no fun in the sun to be had so I'm here at the "Uni". I've just carefully considered what to do with my spare time. Read up on some Biochemistry? Retool my lab report? Nah, I'll post some of Victoria's pictures! My NZ accomplice works her craft well in her artistic and beautiful shots. On top of this she has an eye for detail and fun. It's also nice to get away from the patented J. Gradek Random Boulder Shot (TM) every once in a while. Here's a few that are a little out of order FYI.

The endangered yellow eye penguin. We saw thirteen that evening as they came ashore. We were the only ones freezing our butts off out there that day, but they have a really cool hide (bird hut) to view them from at their secluded beach. They were quite a ways off, but still a remarkable experience.

Wellington Zoo: gets the point across doesn't it?

A white cheeked Gibbon

Awesome shot of a shag (cormorant for us Americans) at the Moeraki boulders

Milford Sound: Woot!

Kea

Fox Glacier: some more shots

A couple nice Castle hill shots


One last hellboy shot

The Map

For anyone who is interested, here is the route we took around the South island (highlighted in pink). It felt like a lot of driving and this really sends it home. Ok, back to Biomechanics.

Winter Trip: Castle Hill

Although we only the better part of a day there, we had clear skies while checking out the bouldering mecca of Castle Hill Basin. It's a pretty cool place to check out even if you aren't a climber. It's set in a high mountain basin with gorgeous vistas about 100km from Christchurch. The area is chalk (bad pun) full of strange, slopey boulders in just about any shape you can imagine. If you are a climber, well, let me just say that at noon every day I face south and pray to the rock gods...

Limestone is a very unusual rock for bouldering. It normally is to fragile to form good boulders. Since the rock medium here is limestone, exposed rock is subject to chemical erosion, similar to what forms limestone and marble caves. CO2 forms carbonic acid with water and dissolves such rocks. This makes the rock smooth, as this weathering erodes any sharp edges and recrystallizes the precipitate on the cooler undersides of the boulders. Thus, the rock here is unlike any other. The climbing is full of bizarre friction moves on heinously smooth slopers and manteling on pockets that are way to small. The one problem with the place is that a lot of the problems (boulder routes) were lowball (short).

Victoria hiked around and wrote postcards while I scrambled around climbing every thing I could. We just spent the day at Spittle hill. This area is about 1/4 the size of Castle Hill and is smaller than Flock Hill, a few km away. It still boasts 1800+ problems. It's everything a climber asks for. Epic, graceful climbing in an area with stunning scenery. Ok I'll shut up now. On to the pics. One last thing though, everything here is much harder than it looks.

One of the best Pictures, mid morning

Everything on the south faces was bitter cold and snow covered. That left me only 900 or so problems to climb.

Victoria during our initial exploration of the area

Giant golden face with a few routes on it

This V4 I eventually bagged. Start in the hole and gun for the lip.

Falling!

Sweet success

Slopey V2 topout

V7 that took my ego down several notches

Self portrait whilst heel hooking the cyclops boulder

find Victoria in the picture if you can

My attempt at an artsy shot

The submarine boulder (no really, it's called that)

Deposits up close on an overhang

Way to many of them. I didn't even scratch the surface

A V3 with snowy holds on the shady side. I wisely chickened out.

Self Portrait

Lacing up for the cyclops (V5 I think)

It is way way WAY harder than it looks. Those are the slopiest huecos (holes) I have ever seen.

~Cheers

Winter Trip: West Coast

After a couple of awesome days in Milford Sound we packed back into Hellboy and rallied over Haast pass to the west coast (stopping in Queenstown for a brief hour to get coffee *jitters*). We woke up on a pretty beach, took in the views of the Southern alps from the west and checked out the Fox glacier. It was definitely one of those places we both felt required a lot more time to explore, but hey, this is usually the case.

Gneiss stuff *ba-dum Tshhhh!*

Moraine and talus as a result of glaciation

An utterly massive boulder in the Moraine (pile of rocks a glacier leaves behind for you flat landers). Sadly, glacial melt water and hypothermia separated me from what could have been some epic bouldering. *sigh*. A person could easily stand in the shady area on the left.

Perma-stubble

Ice blocks, some were the size of pumpkins

Glaciers can move feet per year, so we had to scram after this

The sign says do not taunt glacier with snowballs

A wicked ice cave we were way to cautious to get close to

We are probably standing at the terminus of the glacier 5 years prior

No my tongue did not stick to it.