mountr

Mt. Rolleston
While skiing down at Mt. Hutt, we met up with our friend Frazer who lives in Christchurch. I expressed some interest in wanting to do some mountaineering and Frazer said, "Let's go this weekend, mate!" So that was that, and two days later, Frazer, Damian, and I were trudging up Rome Ridge, making for the summit of Mt. Rolleston (2275m), the second highest peak in Arthurs Pass, and easily accomplished in a long day. Up to this point, my mountain climbing had been limited to some yuppy weekend warrior hikes up Mt. Shasta. Sure we had ice axes, but we never really needed them. Well, the climb up Rolleston found me nervously kicking steps with my crampons while weilding an ax in each hand and doing a bit of three point climbing. Scary, but truly awesome stuff. This was easily one of my top NZ experiences and I want to do more of the same!

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Gathering gear from the Danger Wagon. A good alpine start - nice and crisp at 6:00 on a winter morning.

We finally made it above the treeline as the sun was starting to show itself.

The goal.

That's Damian on the right and Frazer on the left. They helped me out the whole way and I was grateful for their experience and patience. This was a walk in the park for them.

A tough little section - crampons and rock don't mix well together.

The summit shot. We couldn't have asked for better weather. A bit of lunch and then it was time to head down into Otira Valley.

Going down proved to be rather tricky in some spots, but fast and fun when we could do a bum slide, as the kiwis say.