Pito Peak, Arrowsmith Range NZ.

The following is a report from the New Zealand branch of the club sent by Rob Hill.

The forecast was less than inspiring, but March 26-29 2010 was when the trip had to be due to family and work commitments of the members. We were Shane, myself, and Joan, a Kiwi born in Durham.
We started off up the Cameron Valley, heading for the Arrowsmiths, an offshoot of the main divide in New Zealand's South Island. We were heading for Pito Peak, 2419m. Joan and I had attempted it earlier in the year, but failed, due to leaving too long an approach on the summit day. So leaving the Cameron Valley, we crossed the Wild Man's Brother range, and descended into the South Ashburton valley, which led up to a glacial basin at the foot of the Arrowsmiths. Joan and I had to wait while Shane, in true new Kiwi fashion, took his boots off to cross the river, then we ruefully continued past the comfortable hut which had proved to be too far from the summit on our last trip.
There were plenty of good camping spots near the start of the climb. The Nor'-West wind got up magnificently during the night. Modern tent design is wonderful, allowing tents to duck out of the wind, but
nevertheless the whacks on your head from the roof and walls of your tent during gusts doesn't make for a good night's sleep. The wind was still up in the morning, and it wasn't until 8am that it dropped enough to make a start worthwhile.

The start was approx. 600m of fairly steep scrambling, over tussock, rock, and spaniards*. this led to relatively gentle basins, then a final rubbly climb to the summit. In retrospect, Spring would have been a better time for the climb, when the rubble would have been snow-covered. The summit view was indistinguishable from that often obtained from a Munro- that is, sleety, claggy drizzle. However, we were all delighted to have got there.

During the descent, a truly mystifying noise began from the ridge 100m. or so above us, resembling a swarm of bees hugely amplified. We didn't know what it was, and so prudently scurried behind a large boulder. There was no wind where we were, but the others could see debris flying higher up the ridge. I can only think that it was a williwaw, or small whirlwind, the kind that regularly removes roofs from groups of a few houses here and there in New Zealand. Shane offered thealternative view that it could be a portal to another dimension. either way, we were well out of it.

* In NZ Wild Spaniards, genus aciphyllum, are an alpine plant, grass-like, but with astonishingly sharp spines.

Langdale

On Saturday the concensus was to go up to White Ghyll Crag. Clive & Jago did Slip Knot and Gordian Knot while Christine and Nick and Colin and Bev along with Bev's son Brad climbed the Slabs Route 1 and Christine and Nick followed that with an ascent of Slip Knot.

Jago on Gordian Knot first pitch.

On Sunday one group comprising Clive, Jago, Nick and Christine went to the pleasantly situated but little frequented Kettle Crag while Colin, Bev and Brad headed for Scout Crag.
It was our first visit to Kettle Crag and found the routes a bit scrappy albeit with good rough rock. Clive led Minor Slab, which was a pleasant VS but with modest protection and Cristine led Red Slab (HS) as introductory routes. Jago then went on to lead Red Slab and Semerikod (VS) with various followers.

Christine belaying & Nick climbing on Red Slab

Evening Meets

We held our first evening meet on Wharncliff and being first to arrive I soloed 4 routes including The Nose on the prow and Scarletts Climb before John Ganley arrived. I soloed a couple more routes including Suspense (5b) and John warmed up by soloing Tensile Test (5c) and a few more before setting about leading.
John led Great Buttress Arete (E1 5b), Trapezium (E1 5c)and Just a Minute (E1 5b) in short order before dusk fell. Meanwhile Christine and Nick arrived in time to do Remus and Fly Wall. A good start to the evening meets and I was well satisfied with a full Ganley with the man himself.

Biking through Teruel, Castellon & Valencia.

We spent last weekend biking along an extremely varied linear route from the remote highlands of Teruel right into the city centre of Valencia. The majority of the route was along the path of a disused narrow gauge railway that was originally built to carry coal from the interior of Spain to the industry and ports on the east coast. Therefore, the terrain was non-technical although for the most part off-road.

We took the bikes on the train to our starting point of Mora de Rubielos, an ancient village situated on a high plateau at over 1000 metres above sea level.

On the first day we completed a route of 60km that took us across the highlands of Teruel and down into the province of Castellon where we spent a night in the historical town of Segorbe.

On the second day we biked 55km from Segorbe, via Sagunto and then down the coast to the city of Valencia where we cycled right into the heart of the city centre to the railway station to catch the train back to Gandia.

The sting in the tail was the road from Gandia back home, a route of 14km from sea level up to 375metres. Furthermore, having biked over 100km on rough tracks without incident, I managed to get a puncture riding through the centre of Gandia!

Walking & Birding in Aragon, Spain.

Over the Easter weekend we took the campervan to the province of Aragon in northern Spain, where the river Ebro has been dammed to form a huge system of reservoirs - known locally as the 'Aragon Sea'. This is the area of Spain with the lowest population density, and it shows! In addition to the vast reservoirs, the area comprises wide open heathland, most of which is completely wild and uncultivated.

The walking in itself is very interesting as the sensation of truly wide open space is special.

However due to the very low human population, the wildlife, especially bird life is exceptional. The nature of the landscape and ecosystem particularly favours birds of prey.

Highlights of the trip were :

Red Kite.

Black Kite - lots of, including one that we watched as it took a fish from the lake.

Booted Eagle.

Egyptian Vulture.

Woodchat Shrike.

Black Eared Wheatear.

An area to be recommended and one that we'll return to.

Additional photos of Sweden that I was going to include in my previous blog, but I hadn't failed to navigate the technology!

Spring time in Sweden

On the 16th of March I returned to southern Sweden to climb with my friends Henrik and Torbjorn. Sweden has also had very good snow and ice conditions this winter, however by the time of this visit the temperatures had risen and the spring thaw set in. The Swedes were keen to start their rock climbing season so we first headed to the woodland crag at Valberget. Where Henrik led Lil Sis a Scandinavian grade 5 in cold conditions. That evening we spent the night camping in a clearing above the crag. My enjoyment of this natural woodland far from road noise and light pollution was crowned by a beautifully clear night sky, that had us lingering outside the tent until the temperatures dipped (-10) and we sought the warmth of our sleeping bags.

The next day we travelled to the nearby crag of Kopegarda where we found some warmth in the afternoon sun. I led Bullshit a Swedish three star grade 5 and Henrik led Rukramman a two star 5-.

Then in the evening we camped at Kullenberg, which is famous for its sea cliff climbing and has something of the atmosphere of Gogarth.

The following day Torbjorn made a welcome return to leading by climbing Tobrud a three star Scandinavian grade 3, which he did extremely smoothly considering the severe knee injury that has limited his mountaineering in recent times. I led Svenskerruten grade 5- and Henrik finished off our trip by leading Tobrud Diekte grade 4.