Guide News

One of the interesting things here at Aspiring Guides is watching the wild variety of places and activities that people do.  It is a bit of a hub with adventures constantly coming and going.  Every day there is interesting and thought provoking reports coming back from all over the world.  Emails from two guides today.

Guide Tony Donaldson is in Afganistan training locals in avalanche safety. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gByWfW3fZ68

 Guide Steve Parker is in the Kaikouras playing recordings of Keas in the the hopes of attracting them for a population survey. http://www.keaconservation.co.nz/projects-research/

What a great country!

With Mount Aspiring being one of the most popular big peaks in the country, it could be a concern about overcrowding at Colin Todd Hut over the Christmas period.  Guide Aritza Monesterio and his client Deian flew in December 23rd to join the festivities at Colin Todd Hut.  What they found was an empty hut and the whole mountain to themselves.  With a Christmas Eve summit success on Aspiring, they sat out two days of bad weather and then walked out over French Ridge staying at French Ridge Hut before returning to Wanaka on day 5.  They did not see another person for the entire trip.  We had to reassure them on their return that no there had not been a nuclear holocaust or some other disaster, it's just New Zealand!

Humans vs Nature; Score One All

Nature struck first with a cruel blow when it sent an avalanche into the newly constructed bridge in the Upper West Matukituki Valley.  After having been in place for a decade the bridge was destroyed in 2011 in a once in a hundred year event.  In another once in a hundred year event this winter the bridge was again decimated.  Nature 1 : Humans 0

However in a cunning reply this week a tramper managed to light an out of control fire in the East Matukituki Valley that burned over 100ha of sub-alpine plant life.  This is no easy feat in a rain forest and the first fire in over 30 years of tramping in this area which we previously regarded as unburnable.  Nature 1: Humans 1

We are nervously awaiting nature's next move.

Interesting climbing at Mt Darby 2531m

It's not all about Aspiring & Cook!

Tim Steward, NZMGA Climbing Guide is our master at finding out of the way and interesting places to climb.  Mt Darby which is climbed from Barron Saddle Hut is an interesting mixed route on snow and rock.  Far enough east of the main divide, it can get quite different weather patterns than those peaks further west.  Getting out is a traverse of the Sladden & Metelille glaciers and then the Annette Plateau & Sealy Range back to Mueller Hut for a sweet glissade off the tops down to Mt Cook Village.   

Enjoy the photos from the trip.

 

What all the best dressed mountaineers are wearing this summer!

It's hot on the ice!

It's easy to be fooled into thinking that it's going to be cold if you're walking around on a glacier.  Often the reverse is true.  In fact, as Whit our chief guide likes to say...there's only 2 temperatures on a glacier, boiling and freezing.   And at this time of  the year if you add UV radiation off the scale and you have all the ingredients to be boiled like a lobster.  So what do all the best dressed mountaineers wear to combat this?

Take a look at our very attractive model for our Summer 2013/14 collection to see for yourself!

Stylish!  We call it the Bedouin Look!

Better Late Than Never

Click for Cascade Saddle Ski Tour September 2013

Guide Fabien Passaro just sent in a video from a tour we did in Sept..  This is a spectacular area, and guess what,  you don't have to ski to get there since it is a popular summer route.  Starting in Wanaka and ending in Glenorchy and Queenstown this is a great trip for people wanting to try a New Zealand hike on their own (with a little help)  Click for  Cascade Saddle Assist

Skip your Cafe Latte for a week and give this kid some money, he deserves it.

I was on the coast just south of Fiordland and I saw a guy walking with an enormous pack, but what caught my eye was the quiver of arrows.  With his huge pack, youth and general cleanliness,  I was tempted to pass him off as some adventurer who had no idea what he was getting into but I could not have been more wrong.

We started chatting and he told me that he was walking all the way around New Zealand. It took moment to sink in.  Not "walking the length of South Island" as many have done.  Not "walking the length of New Zealand" as a few have done. And following the coast?  No one does that.  And to circumnavigate the whole thing (quick google check 14,000 kilometres)?  Yeah, right.  And the arrows? "I am am trying to live off the land." We were clearly dealing with a delusional character here.  From the clean clothes and happy smile I was guessing that this was the first day of the trip and he would not make it to Invercargill.  "So when did you start" I asked.  "February, up at the top of the North Island".  So this cat just spent 9 months walking the west coast in winter, "living off the land", and he was only half way.  As my mind tried to process this I couldn't quite accept it.  "So what did you do about the rivers?" I mumbled searching for something to say. "I just use the raft I am carrying.  I'm Brando and here is my card". 

I see a lot of people in the mountains of New Zealand who pull off amazing feats. And if that was the end of the story it would be amazing enough.  But there is a lot more to Brando's story.  Check out his story here.  He said he was raising money for charity and that he had just graduated from high school in Cromwell, was at a bit of a loose end and thought he would do something he could sink his teeth into.  He said he had dyslexia and it made a lot of things hard to do for him but that this was something he thought he could do.

If you want to contribute to his charity (Ronald McDonald House) you can do it here.   DO IT!