Awesome photo of Aoraki/Mt Cook

Photo via REUTERS/The Christchurch Press/John Kirk-Anderson

I recently posted about a Japanese climber who died on Mt Cook while his friend managed to hold on until the rescue helicopter was able to get to him.

I was looking through the Boston Globe's "The Year 2008 in Photographs" collection and came across the above image of the rescue. I assume the orange sky indicates that the rescue took place at sunrise. Hopefully I won't get in trouble for sharing the photo here. I did use the credit!

If you want to see the rest of the amazing photos in the collection, follow this link.

Backcountry New Year's

Rather than spend another New Year's Eve sitting around with a few friends waiting for the clock to tick over, we've opted to get out of town and go for a New Year tramp.

Not being the sorts to do things half-way, we're going to be on a 5-day tramp from December 28-January 2. Having not really done any multi-day tramps since last summer, I'm pretty sure this is going to be painful!

Discomfort aside, I've been mulling over the New Year's Eve part of the tramp. It would be nice to somehow mark the occasion, and I'm sure the other trampers at the hut that night will be feeling festive. But what can you do to celebrate New Year's Eve when it requires carrying whatever you need for three days before?

I'm thinking a bit of alcohol may make its way into the ol' backpack - but not the traditional bubbly. It's both too heavy to carry for three days in a glass bottle (and won't be bubbly if we remove it from the glass bottle) and not particularly nice to drink at room temperature. A bit of fancy chocolate or something is also a possibility. But I'm not sure what else.

So if you have any suggestions, I'd love to see them in the comments down below! Have you ever celebrated New Year's in the wilderness? What did you do to mark the occasion? Did you dress up? Light fireworks? Make a gourmet meal? Go for a midnight swim? Snowball fight?

Meanwhile, the dehydrating of dinners is already underway!

Makara Revisited

Last weekend, with another hot, sunny day on our hands, we headed back to the Makara Walkway. We walked this coastal route last year with a couple of friends, and it was interesting to see the changes over the space of a year.

First of all, part of the inland section of the walkway heading towards the clifftops has been completely overtaken by thistles. I'm not sure why they're suddenly so dominant, but they make it less than pleasant to walk through narrow stretches of track. Thankfully I wasn't wearing shorts.

After making it through the thistles, we were rewarded with a bird's eye view of a small pod of orca (killer whales) hanging out not far from shore. While we were pretty high above them, you can more or less make out the orca in this picture from the black body and dorsal fin, and the white spot in front of the fin. This was my first encounter with wild orcas (Marineland doesn't count)!

The inland section of the track is also a working farm, and the farmers are indeed doing some work. I came across this section of what used to be fence. It looked a bit like deconstructionist sculpture to me, so I captured it for posterity.

We descended from the inland section down to the coastline, and followed the rocky beach back to the beginning of the track. This is hard work as your feet sink into the stones and pebbles with every step. One the way back, I saw two dead puffer fish on the beach. I didn't even know there were puffer fish in New Zealand! This one looked pretty cool, so I snapped a picture of him (or her, not that it matters at this point) just 'cause.

So there you have my big day at the beach, in the form of a photo-essay. Or does a photo-essay need to have a point? Well, I may not have a point, but I do have a pointy fish!

Climber Dies on Mt Cook

Photo: New Zealand Herald

Tragedy struck New Zealand's highest peak again recently.

Two Japanese climbers got stranded on Mt Cook at 3700 metres on the mountain in appalling conditions for seven days until a rescue could be attempted. After five days a bag of supplies was dropped off to them, but at some point their tent was either buried in snow or blew away, and the pair spent their last night in the open.

When a rescue helicopter reached them, one of the climbers, Kiyoshi Ikenouchi, was dead. His companion Hideaki Nara was suffering from frostbite but was still able to walk.

While not one of the world's highest mountains, Mt Cook is apparently a very challenging one to climb. Accidents and severe conditions are not unusual.

Recently there have been a string of deaths on Mt Aspiring, not all that far away from Mt Cook. All three died from falls in different areas of the mountain.

It's times like this I'm somewhat grateful for my own lack of ambition when it comes to mountaineering. While you could potentially have a fatal accident while out tramping (and many do) it's much less likely than when you're a peak-bagger. I'm happy to crane my neck looking up at those mighty summits, enjoying the view from the bottom!

OK - having written the above I am proved somewhat wrong by not one but two trampers dying in NZ last week! One was crushed by a boulder, which must have involved either remarkably bad luck or the victim doing something very, very dumb. The other died crossing a river, which isn't that unusual except that his companions seem to suspect he actually died of a heart attack while crossing the river - and that's pretty unusual. He was in his seventies and very experienced.

Fabulous Feet

Some of Dirty Girl Gaiters' customers

Sometimes with hiking gear, we get so focused on being practical and technologically advanced that we forget about wearing stuff that is just plain fun!

Thankfully there's a gaiter company out there that hasn't forgotten to have fun, and they're spreading a bit of colour around the great outdoors.

Dirty Girl Gaiters use colourful fabrics and patterns to keep rocks and dirt out of your shoes while allowing you to express your most fabulous side.

These are not heavy-duty gaiters to wear on a mountaineering expedition. But if you're a trail runner or lighweight hiker, the stretch fabric may do well enough to keep your feet happy. Or maybe you just want to wear them as a fashion accessory!

Hats of to Dirty Girl for making hiking fun. And thanks to Tom at Two-Heel Drive for bringing them to my attention on his Christmas wish list. (I wonder which fabric he'd pick? I'm all for the "cherry on top".)

Take On Camping Bites the Dust

I'm officially a victim of the recession! Last week my contract for writing "Take On Camping" was turfed, along with the entire "Take It On" series. Publishers, like everyone else, are looking to slash costs - and apparently how-to books aimed at women are on the chopping block.

On the bright side, I can now spend less of my spare time writing about camping, and hopefully more time actually doing it!

Sympathy gifts of free camping gear or alternate book contracts are welcome ;o)

Are you staring at my widget?

I added a new widget down the right-hand column of this blog today. It's a little counter that shows you how many other people are currently reading the blog, and what countries they are in.

I just thought it was kinda cool...

A Bit Like Home

Last weekend the weather was a bit unpredictable, but rather than stay inside all day we took a walk on Sunday in part of Wellington's awesome urban green space.

We decided to walk the Ngaio Gorge Track, which follows the Kaiwharawhara Stream through the suburbs, in a narrow park between steep hillsides. (Maori place name pronunciation guide: Ngaio = n-eye-oh, Kaiwharawhara = k-eye-far-ah-far-ah.)

It reminded me a bit of Toronto, where I used to live. Toronto has no mountains or major natural landscape features (except for Lake Ontario, which is not good for hiking!) but what it does have is lots of ravines.

Most of the urban trails in Toronto wind along through the bottoms of ravines. Many are interconnected with cycling paths, picnic areas and other conveniences. They aren't exactly remote, but they do a surprisingly good job of making you feel removed from the city.

The Ngaio Gorge was a short (a couple of kilometres each way) stroll with not much to challenge the hiker, but it was a pleasant enough path through regenerating native bush, with reminders that this ravine has formerly been used for a number of different things including factories, and national defense!
There are a lot of sewer-related constructions which take away that "back to nature" feel a bit. However, you can't ask too much of the urban trail.

All in all, it beat the hell out of sitting in front of the TV all afternoon.

When You Can't Escape

The best laid plans... on hold.

Just when I thought we were on the verge of getting back into the wilderness, backpacks and all, G. has had a bad flare-up of the tendons in his arm. That puts any kind of hardcore activity on the back burner for a couple more weeks at least.

I've had my own challenges with injuries that took tramping off the menu for weeks at a time. A few summers ago, just after Christmas, I injured my foot while we were taking a casual stroll through a vineyard! Little did I know that what I thought was an ankle sprain was actually a small stick embedded in my foot and causing infections galore.

So what do you do when you're stuck at home with an injury? What's the substitute for getting out there and being active?

Here are my suggestions:

Shopping - This is one I've been doing a bit too much lately. New sleeping bag, new tarp, new hydration bladder. But even just window shopping for gear, or catching up on the latest gear reviews, can keep your head in the camping world while you're unable to participate.

Planning - Take out your guide books and maps, and start deciding where you are going to go as soon as you are able. What new areas have you been meaning to check out? Which of your favourite routes have you not done for a while. When you get the all-clear to head out, you'll be ready to roll.

Armchair Travel - So maybe you're in no shape to climb Everest at the moment. But you're more than capable of renting the DVD of "Into Thin Air"! Other armchair classics for the outdoors include Touching the Void, Grizzly Man, Deliverance, Into the Wild, and if you feel like extra cheese, The Blair Witch Project. After seeing so many trips turn out badly you'll be glad you're stuck at home!

A Good Book - Whether it's Bill Bryson's attempt at the Appalachian Trail (A Walk in the Woods), or Caroline Hamilton's all-woman expedition to the South Pole (South Pole 2000), you're sure to find a paperback adventure to keep you occupied for a while. I particularly enjoyed A Blistered Kind of Love, the tale of a young couple walking the Pacific Crest Trail written in alternating chapters by both of them.

Social Networking - The buzzword of the decade! The number of outdoors forums out here in interwebby-world is astounding. Get interactive, join a conversation about something you're interested in. Or just lurk in the background checking out other people's discussions. Heck, if you're really desperate you could read people's outdoor blogs! (I mean, um, anyway...)

So there you have a few suggestions for the next time you're stuck at home due to an injury, illness or just a period of bad weather in your neck of the woods. If you have a favourite book, movie or time-killer that keeps you in the wilderness mood, let me know in the comments.

Why? Why? Why?

Today I've been writing some of the paddling section of "Take On Camping" with basic info on canoe camping.

Today I have also been feeling like crap - sore throat, stuffy nose and sleepy - thus I am grumpy and going to take it out here with a rant of sorts.

What I want to know is why did canoe camping never catch on in New Zealand? Sea kayaking is relatively widely practiced, but there is basically one place in the entire country where it is common to get into a canoe and paddle down a river. (It's the Wanganui River, which is one of the "Great Walks", despite the fact that you don't walk it. Don't get me started on that one!)

At first I chalked it up to cultural differences. After all, Canada is far away from here, maybe canoes just never caught on in this part of the world. Then I realised that the people of the South Pacific have been travelling in canoes for centuries! The first people ever to reach New Zealand did so in an ocean-going canoe, and so did all of the settlers who followed. The waka is a major part of New Zealand culture!

So that leaves me saying - WTF??? Why can't I go to one of the many, many rivers and lakes that are used for all kinds of recreational pursuits in this country and rent myself a canoe? I don't mind if it's a Pacific-style canoe with an outrigger. I could deal with that. It would take some practice, but I'm sure I'd learn how to control one eventually.

But no, apparently there's no demand for that. So I can try to cram my gear into the tiny hatches of a kayak, or I can stay on dry land when I go camping.

Anyway, that's my rant. Thank you for letting me vent. I'll try to be more positive in future posts.