Newsletter of the New Zealand Alpine Club Wellington Section

No. 755, October 2012
Vertigo
Newsletter of the New Zealand Alpine Club
Wellington Section
www.nzalpine.wellington.net.nz
www.facebook.com/nzacwellington
Christine Latimer seconding on the first
pitch of Aftonroe, Banff National Park.
Image courtesy of Kevin Patterson.

Next section night: 8 October, 2012
ALPINE QUIZ
Venue: Tararua Tramping Club, 4 Moncrieff Street, Mt. Victoria, Wellington
Registration starts at 7.30pm
The theme of the quiz will be none other than…. alpine! That’s right! Because we know you guys
love mountains and you rock in general. So do you think you can stand alone, or do you prefer
to team up with others? Participation is open to all! For those who would like to join forces, teams
can be formed upon registration. Alternatively, you can come and enter as a team. In any case,
start thinking about a team name now because you will need one!
Even though we would like to see you all on the evening, we would especially like to welcome
those who have joined the Alpine Club recently. This will be a great way to meet other members
of the club.
$5 per person (including pizza and beer!)
Come on down for a night of great fun! Hope to see you there!
ALPINE QUIZ
Come and test your
alpine knowledge
against your fellow
climbers. Rock on!
Monday 8
October 7.30 pm
Venue : TTC
4 Moncrieff Street
Entry $ 5 per
person (including
pizza and beer)
Club nights are at the Tararua Tramping Club clubrooms, on the second unimpeded Monday of
every month. New and prospective members are welcome. Meetings and talks start at 8.00 pm
with club business and tea & coffee afterwards.
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Aftonroe (5.7) – Banff National Park
Kevin Patterson and Christine Latimer
While in Banff we were treated to some fantastic
rock climbing. Much of it was on crumbly
limestone, however, which made the presence
of bolts on many of these climbs a welcome
attraction to this trad lad! One of the many
pleasant themes in Canada so far has been
the number of moderate routes available in the
5.5–5.9 range (Ewbank 14–18). Often in the
USA these routes have been less than 10% of
the climbs at a typical crag meaning they have
been overcrowded, as the majority of the rock
climbing population is unable to lead climb
above 5.9 (Ewbank 18).
One of the best climbs I had done for a while
was the multi-pitch route Aftonroe (5.7), about
10km north of Banff on the Lake Louise highway.
It was also easy to find (opposite a wetland)
although a bit of an uphill grunt to get to the
base of the climb (about 30 minutes’ worth). As
this crag has only been bolted in the past month
there had not been a lot of traffic on it. The
holds were solid (unlike other limestone crags)
and the rock was still grippy and unpolished.
Also the bolts were relatively close together.
The climb started as a good 5.7 (Ewbank 16),
then eased to a pitch of 5.6. The crux came on
the next pitch (5.7 [Ewbank 16]) but was really
only three or four moves out of the pitch. Five
more pitches (nine in total) saw us at the top
after 2.5 hours. The last pitch was a nice warm
down at 5.3. All of the pitches were 5.6–5.7
except the last one (5.3) and one in the middle
(5.5).
After a quick summit photo (the skies were starting
to darken), we prepped to rap the route.
After one rap the skies then opened up as a
thunderstorm with lots of lightning swept down
the valley. It took us about an hour in heavy
rain to rap the route and get back to the car. All
in all a very enjoyable day out.
For those wanting to do Aftonroe, see:
http://arthurwaterson.files.wordpress.
com/2012/06/aftonroe_0.pdf
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Notices
New fees at Unwin
New fees have been set at Unwin. These are as follows:
• Member $20.00/night - October to May inclusive
• Member $15.00/night - June to September inclusive
• Non-member $30.00/night - year-round
• Member and non-members’ children under 5yrs - free
• Members’ children (5-18yrs) - $5.00
• Non-members’ children (5-11 yrs) $12.50/night
• Non-members’ children (12-18 yrs) $15.00/night
• Member day-use of Lodge facilities $10.00
• Shower use only $5.00
To make a booking or find out more, please contact the lodge managers, Chas Tanner and
Katrina McKenzie
Phone +64 (0)3 435 1100
Mobile 027 817 6860
Email unwin@alpineclub.org.nz
2013 Climbing Camp
Annual NZAC Climbing Camp 2013 registrations now open - See here for details and registration
form download:http://alpineclub.org.nz/annual-climbing-camps
Youth in Asia
This team of maturing Club members originally intended to climb in Tibet this year but difficulties
with obtaining permits have prevented this. They are now leaving in early October for the
Yangma Khola. This valley in Nepal, west of the Kangchenjunga massif, looking in the direction
of Makalu, has very little mountaineering history.
The team has permits to attempt two unclimbed peaks, Chaw (6,404m) and Suyaokang (5,960m).
Both mountains are on, or near to, the Tibetan border. Neither looks impossible to scale but
Google Earth has a proven record of telling porkies. The group is truly representative: a tight three
from Wellington, two Southern Men and even a token Jafa (Paul Maxim, Geoffroy Lamarche,
John Nankervis, Nick Shearer, John Cocks and Martin Hunter). NZAC has just given a generous
grant to the team from its Expedition Fund. There will be no audience for this expedition... no
real-time blog or website. But we promise to report when we return in mid November.
Warning from a Club Member
Anyone who owns a Garmin GPS and intends to continue to use it in New Zealand must not
upgrade their firmware.
Garmin have recently released a firmware update for many of their GPS products. After updating
a 60CSX to V4.00 we have been advised that a big change that Garmin do not warn us of – all
third party maps (such as FreshMaps and Memory-Maps) are BLOCKED so you will find that your
maps can no longer be viewed on your map-capable GPS. Garmin will now only support their
maps – which they sell for US$220.
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Wellington Section 2012/13 contacts list
Position Name Email alias* Phone
Chairperson Dan Pringle chairperson
Vice Chair Vincent Zintzen vicechair
Secretary Bridget Janse secretary or CM2 04 293 6351 (h), or 021 133 8237
Treasurer Matt Knarston treasurer
National Rep
vacant
Patron
John Nankervis
Trips vacant Trips
Other Committee Members
Simon Williamson
Julian Davidson
John Yu
Other Roles:
Gear vacant gear
Personal Locator Beacons vacant PLB
Instruction Coordinator
vacant
Instruction - AIC
vacant
Instruction - Rock
vacant
Library Joke Meerkens library
Newsletter Editor Steve Minchin newsletter or SM
Rock Drill Overseer Kristen Foley drill or KF
Website Jeremy Tries webmaster
* Email address is: alias@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz eg. secretary@nzalpine.wellington.net.nz
Any membership, Distaghil Sar Fund, or general queries should be directed to the secretary
Any media queries should be directed to:
03 3777 595 National Executive Officer Sam Newton sam@alpineclub.org.nz
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If undelivered please return to:
NZAC Wellington Section
PO Box 1628
Wellington
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