WyeCreek 2016

24 Aug - 3 Sept.2016

If you don’t succeed at first ….we had a whole year to reconsider out first expedition to the steep icefalls of Wye Creek on the South Island of the Great White Cloud in 2015, which came to be known as the 80Percent trip, where a lot of things almost got done. A lot of projects were started but not many very completed. So we needed one more shot at Wye Creek, one more attempt at setting the record straight and conquer some of those things that we could not finish last year. With a fresh mindset, a whole new crew and even a couple of training sessions on our ice-climbing training tools we were ready to do it all again in the last week of August 2016.

“We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand – and melting like a snowflake.”

This year repeat offenders: Mark, Roman and Will were joined by Jason to make up a team of four who would attempt the impossible: to fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run, then ours will be the world forever or so we thought. So we set out with 40 kg of gear each barely making it through immigration to arrive near the marvelous shores of lake Wakatipu overshadowed by the aptly named Remarkables. There was no time to waste and once we checked into Anto’s place at Quail Raise in Shotover County our preparations started right away. Shopping first and this time we could go all out and purchase that extra bit of Salami, sprinkles for our backcountry cafe latte an extra jar of anchovies and even a custom-made toilet that could potentially withstand gailforce winds of the malicious variety. Why you aks, because hiking in through the Remarkable skifield, the Wye Creek saddle and downward to the steep valley floor of Wye Creek had taught us one important lesson – helicopters are faster ! This time we were glamping at the ice in style, and kept our energy for better goals at the ice.

By the afternoon of the first day, Thursday we were ready to head to the best gear store in Queenstown: Small Planet where all your gear fetishes come true. Our cash cards barely survived but we managed to escape to our favorite pub at the wharf to contemplate our first full day of action in NZ over a full rack of pork ribs and Parmigiana. Friday was business time and it was an opportunity for something new. Mark had discovered not one but two independent dry-tooling crags at the shore of lake Wakatipu near Jacks Point called the Pink Palace for its pink dots marking the ice-axe placements and the Den of Iniquity with its outrageous roofs overhanging the lake. Needless to say we visited them both.

"If you own a stove bring a lighter"

This was something knew for us and after dispensing with the scary but short warmup: Pink Panther M3 with only two bolts we moved over to try the classic steep Pleasure palace M5 3 bolts. It took us a while to get the hang off thrusting our sharp ends into tiny pink holes – no puns here move along – but we got the hang of it pretty quick and quivered with excitement (sorry!) Everybody aced their first M5 but the prospect of something harder was looming large since there was no more ‘easy’ stuff around. Our final and hardest effort was Rub it till it's pink M6 with 5 bolts which was a tour-de-force up a steep overhanging face with large reaches requiring delicate tool matches. Let’s just say that Mark was the only one who got the first move and the rest is just unsubstantiated rumors. .

"On a 60 meter rope do not climb for 65 meters"

Fairly pleased with our first effort dry-tooling we headed straight for the second crag along the lake: the Den of Iniquity which had nothing easy for us but we had read that the first route has been free-climbed at grade 19 so it was a no-brainer really. The cliff was daunting hear overhanging the lake and after a short lunch we threw ourselves at the easy grade 19. Well it wasn’t quite as easy as we thought and the notorious Schist quite literally melted between our fingertips. If crumbling rock is your thing you will love this place. Barely enough time to try a second route a rain front was chasing us off the lake back to our car. But we still had some daylight left and juice in our tanks before our helicopter ride the next morning so we headed straight to the local climbing gym to show the local gun what we are made of.  Let’s just say we kicked some bud that afternoon even though the competition was a local eight year old doing laps on the big roof. Never mind three crags in one day was pretty good and we drowned our sorrows with some local ail for the real adventure was about to start…..

"One bottle of jack Daniels honey is not enough for four people"

We did not waste any time and on our third day Saturday our Squirrel helicopter arranged with Over The Top Helicopters was waiting at Queenstown airport. The helicopter alternatively can take six people or four blokes like us with some serious luggage.. After the morning winds eased a little we took off and punched straight through the Remarkable range towards our valley destination at Wye Creek. This is when Will and Roman put there sneaky plan into action. Since the helicopter had to fly back to Queenstown anyway we approached the pilot and ask him whether he could take us along on his way back and dump us at the nearest high peak. He was happy to oblige and we just left our gear with Mark and Jason and then headed off on a free heli-ski ride.

"If you take two way radios use them at least once"

The pilot dropped us off just below the West face of the Remarkable ranges on a high panoramic plateau that overlooked Queenstown and the lake. Untouched deep powdery slopes curled downhill in gullies all the way to Wye Creek. Will and I could not believe our luck and carved downward one of the steepening gullies. It got steeper and then steeper again until we climbed down and found ourselves looking down a steep precipice. It was time to put our furs on and ski back uphill. By this time the sun was burning down on us as we tried to find the correct gully down to the icefalls. We hit the jackpot on the next gully and caught up with Mark and Jason building their tents in the sun. The ice was glistening behind them and I was wondering if the tents could wait? Reason prevailed and we did the boring things first, but then it was straight up to the far left side of the icefall where we ran into Paul Rogers teaching an iceclimbing course to two sportsclimbers? We had a few priorities left from last year, one of which was what we called the dog face and looked like a gaping mouth. Jason’s Nomics got their first ‘real’ workout and everyone led their first pitches of thick heavy ice.

"If you have a GPS bring it along"

"Do not buy more than three pairs of climbing shoes"

The highlight this year was our plan to multi-pitch ice climb and link one pitch into the next with V-threat natural anchors and our lovely collection of ice-screws. There were many highlights but in brief Mark’s outrageous 65 meter lead on a 60 meter rope with only eight screws is a feast of endurance: he said he just couldn’t stop and had to keep going it felt so good. His poor belayer Jason had to climb up five meters so that he could get to the anchors.

"Small planet rehab centre"

Special thanks go to Paul who was incredibly generous and after seeing our crappy gear lend us brand new axes, two sets of crampons and a whole variety of other tools to be returned later!  He also gave us a free lesson which gave us some new tips and we started to feel the flow of the ice under our axes. Finally Will and Roman needed a little summit so three pitches of verticality got us to the top of the icefalls with big smiles on our faces.

"Never order the full rack of ribs on Queenstown"

At night Will heard the icefall tumbling down and several ice-avalanches indicated that the warm sun marked the end of the season. We ventured over to the crown jewel – the Iron Curtain where a waterful punches through some amazing roofs. The ice looked fragile, fractured and with large fissures running through it. Thanks for pulling the plug Will. Mark and I sat at the bottom of the first pitch and gazed up a long time at the perfectly blue column disappearing into the blue sky .... maybe next year.

"Never bring a vegetarian along they will eat all you meat"

Another day of multi-pitch ice climbing saw us bombarded randomly with shards of ice breaking of all around us, it was getting a little dicy around the ice so we called the helicopter to pick us up a day early – how nice that was. The limo came on command and the pork ribs never tasted better that night after three days of ice-climbing.

"Nulgen bottles do not contain Apple juice late at night"

Tuesday 29 August was a bonus day and we divided into two teams: Jason and Mark would climb the amazing peak of Ben Lomond covering the entire skyline behind Queenstown. Their eight hour turn-around time with crampons and minimal gear is not bad for a day off. Roman and Will opted for one of the local crags called Hawks Nest with is a short drive from Queenstown past the Jardines Bouldering Field. Hawks Nest is aptily named perched high above the lake with dream belay ledges overlooking the enire lake. The rock was unquie heavily featured and with quarzite running through it. The grades felt very hard and here is a list of the classics:

1) Le Cul-de-Sac 17 easish warmup

2) Folie a Deux 18 second warmup not so easy.

3) Drillere Killer 21 tough mantle move to start (until Will found the secret hold) and the balancy move to finish.

4) Schistophrenia (24***) amazing moves tough to find the correct sequence.

5) Fantabulous (22***) steep pumper to half way and then into a ferocious slab, Will found the right sequence again.

Saturday morning came all to quick and it had been nine days of straight adventuring without a day rest not bad for starters. There is already an idea formenting about next year.....

Always remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons...