 |
| Luca rapping down the North Ridge of Moir's Mate (Tom Hadley) |
6/11/2019 - 7/11/2019
Party: Luca Karjalainen, Tom Hadley
On a stunning Dunedin day, sunlight poured through the windows of my ANAT242 exam room. The final minute of the exam ticked away and we were all released from the hall. I packed up my pens, picked up a climbing bag and rope and stepped out onto Cumberland street to find Luca’s Subaru waiting. Off we go.
Our objective of the day was to try out the climbing at Lover’s leap, an imposing crag of hard graded trad routes on a series of towering basalt pillars. After making our way through the sheep speckled fields, we scrambled down a grassy bank to approach the impressive crag. Luca led the first climb of the day up "Crying Time" (18). He hoisted himself confidently through various hand jamming, smearing and stemming moves up to a well deserved ledge. From here, we lost the route a bit and ended up following a strenuous line up "Triple Threat" (19) to the bolts. We both revelled in the different style of climbing that Lover’s Leap presents as opposed to Long Beach. The rock was fantastic, the moves were exciting and the climbing constantly interesting. We also climbed "The Affliction" (18) which topped off an epic afternoon of sweet post exam stoke out on the Peninsula.
 |
| Luca on the approach to Lover's Leap (Tom Hadley) |
 |
| The stunning basalt columns at Lover's Leap, Luca in the middle (Tom Hadley) |
With all the exams behind us, Luca and I were keen for some bigger missions. The avalanche forecast was certainly not in favour of any snow related climbing due to risk of wet slides, so after much deliberation, we packed the car and headed for the Darrans Mountains of Fiordland. Early the next morning, we set off up the approach to Moir’s Mate along the razor sharp ridge above Homer tunnel. The Mate loomed above us, an impressive wall of black granite that seemed to shoot up into the sky. Upon arrival, the spring conditions posed a bit of a problem. The usually mellow rock ledge system used to access the climbs (such as Bowen Allen Corner, our objective) was covered with copious amounts of spring snow. After a few hairy attempts to scramble around the steep tussock beneath, we spied a direct line to the summit, the North Ridge, which become our new objective. We changed into rock shoes and began scrambling our way up the lower sections of the ridge. We flowed our way through bomber granite holds, making rapid work of the featured rock. As things got steeper, out came the rope. We ascended the ridge in three pitches, using the conveniently placed descent bolts, then simul-climbed the final ridge section. Giant granite spires towered all around us, huge monoliths of rock that seemed to pierce through the patchy cloud. The world fell away either side of the ridge as we continued towards the summit. Then we were on top, taking a quick snap before we began the long descent, following the descent bolts to the ridge and back to the car. The Darrans had been an exciting start to an epic summer ahead.
 |
| Tom on the approach, Moir's mate ahead (Luca Karjalainen) |
 |
| The snowfield blocking the climbs, red line was the attempted sidle, it didn't go... (Tom Hadley) |
 |
| Luca scrambling the lower section of the North Ridge (Tom Hadley) |
 |
| Obligatory summit photo (Piece of Granite) |
On our way home from Fiordland, we still had a day of workable weather, so Luca and I paid a visit to a lesser used Southland crag, Castledowns. Located 13km west of the thriving metropolis of Dipton, Castledowns has been heralded as Southland's finest Limestone crag. Luca and I parked on the roadside and spoke to a quad bike straddling Southlander who informed us that “There’s plenty of rocks to climb.” Once we got stuck into the climbing, we were not disappointed. Despite the eclectic location, the climbs were awesome. We spent several hours pushing our worn out fingertips into tiny divots in the limestone and smearing our feet across blank rock. Particular highlights were "The Castledowns Classic" (15) which tops out on a bulging spire of brown sandstone, and "Kingston Flyer" (19). Castledowns was a weird but strangely satisfying experience, like stepping barefoot in a cow pat. I’d recommend it to anyone as a way to break up the journey to Dunedin from Fiordland.
 |
| Tom topping out a climb on central area (Luca Karjalainen) |
 |
| Tom rapping of "Kingston Flyer" (19) (Luca Karjalainen) |
Comments
Post a Comment