Ice climbing with Marty Beare at Black Peak - Jul 07 (Chris Smolka, Victoria, Australia)

A mate and I went to NZ for 10 days got back on Sunday:

Skiing was the plan as well as a 3 day ice climbing course at Black Peak (Behind Treble Cone) courtesy of Aspiring Guides.

We hoped mainly to ski club fields such as Craigieburn, Broken River and Mount Olympus as there are some 50 degree plus pitches to be had! However as they are having a poor ski season so far we were confined to the resorts, where the snow quality was ok but the cover marginal and my brand new race stock Atomics got the absolute guts ripped out of them :-( on top of this there were no moguls to speak of either.

Prior to the trip I'd had IMO a large fall (7-8m) at the You Yangs and very badly jarred my ankle and feared the worst, so I was nervous as to how it would perform. So we took the day off before the course to rest it further and this was wise. I'm pleased to say the ice climbing didn't worry it at all. Always the way though, I either get the flu or do some damage before I go on any trip...........................

That aside the ice course was all I could have hoped for and more so I thought I'll try to regale y'all with a trip report though I warn you it won't be as entertaining as the posts from Stugang!

Pre the departure we met at the Aspiring Guides office in Wanaka where we expected 2 other people to join us and to be introduced to our guide/instructor for the three days.

The guide was there (Marty Beare) but there were no other people and much to our delight we found it was just going to be Anton and myself attending this particular course, off to a great start already. The gear was checked over and packed up, I had two new ice axes to christen that my folks bought back from Europe so I was hanging to take some swings.

We decided on a decent meal before this odyssey and by far the best place to eat in Wanaka is The Reef, may I recommend especially the Green Lipped Mussels in a cream, garlic, shallot and spinach sauce - just out of this world.

The next morning it was off and the folk at the motel said we can leave our car parked on the premises; people are kind of nice in NZ like that.................

We drove out to the base of Treble Cone which was the chopper departure point and out pilot was a young lass probably about 25. The weather was very cloudy and we went for a drive to see any holes in the cloud that may allow us to punch through up to the hut, it was not looking good and we feared we'd lose a day or have to start again tomorrow this would have been ok but we were chomping at the bit to get crankin'. The pilot said she was prepared to have a rekky in the chopper which was really cool of her as that could have been a waste of money at her expense! After 5 mins she found a hole and we pushed above this inversion cloud and were confronted with brilliant sunshine and a vast array of stunning vistas. The Gods were on our side!

The Hut itself sat on a mound about 350m below the 2289m summit of Black Peak, safe from avalanche and with a view to take a thousand pictures of. The Hut itself was about 2.5m x 4m roughly and had 4 beds (with surprisingly comfy 5 inch foam mattresses) and a small kitchen area, it was very nice indeed and a welcome change from a tent. However, if we'd had the full compliment of attendees it would have been very tight! And drying space which we had plenty (with our reduced numbers) of would have been at a premium.

It was off to the crag which could be seen about 300m below our vantage point at the hut, roughly a 1.5 km hike from the hut, rather steep too! First up we simply top roped some routes which Marty led to set up for us. These were vertical and on plastic ice about 25m high. I managed to nail both the routes and the new axes performed superbly, some excellent advice was provided on technique but this was just a day to sink the gear into the ice and make as many vertical miles as possible, we then did some variants off the top rope and a little ice bouldering. The routes we did us WI3/4 and rather sustained and were probably the hardest climbing we did on the course. Before this course I'd probably had about 3 solid days worth of ice climbing.

Then it was 5:30 and darkness was falling on the clearest of days, Marty took off to get dinner on the way and Anton and I trudged the approx 1 hour back to hut under a magnificent carpet of stars in complete silence and isolation, this was just magic.

Dinner was a great stir fry type dish of fresh vegetables chicken rice and pumpkin and by gee cabbage has never tasted so good. I strictly said on my booking form No Tofu please and Marty kept ribbing me about this new chicken flavoured Tofu he had etc...

He was a really nice guy and just looked after us beautifully so all we had to worry about was getting the most out of our climbing, naturally we helped as much as we could but he was a master of hut living. The Hut was also super warm courtesy of the cooking the lantern and the big three burner gas stove which was left on for an hour after dinner to really toast the place up, initially on the top bunks we were sleeping in shorts and tee alone, eventually it cooled and further layers were added. I slept poorly the whole time on account of ankle pain and way too much tea that was drunk.

Next morning it was out fairly early and we went to the same crag this time we began climbing in the morning and did this beautiful WI3 section with very knobbly and brittle ice which required small placements and much hooking it was so much fun to climb! Then we began lesson in ice screw placement, v-thread system, Ice anchors and further technical climbing analysis. Towards the end of the day we led a very low to the ground 30m ice traverse to get the hang of placing gear and setting up things quickly as time is the key factor with this activity, the spindrift blowing down really helped make this exercise seem more real. It was a superb learning day and I found many techniques I can also apply to rock. Again 5:30 came around way too fast and Marty took off and we again proceeded up the ridge to the hut. It was again perfect clear sunny weather, though in our cool grove we felt no ultra violet impact! Marty thought the weather would change tomorrow and a few wispy clouds appeared as we entered the hut.

Dinner was a similar affair and like the night before we were full to the gunnels. (Never short of food on this trip!) We then conned Marty into telling us some tales of his experiences and derring-do. Incidentally he is off to Climb Changabang on Aug 12th I think, via the unrepeated Boardman and Tasker Route on the W/NW face. A very committed undertaking to say the least. He was going to send me a web address of the expedition and I will post here when I have this.......

We woke again to a perfect day, couldn't believe it and Marty said we had been spoilt! We cleaned the hut packed a heavier pack and headed down to a different crag one that would be in the sun! This was a longer walk and we began climbing about 10am again we began with a few warm ups then I was asked to lead a small pitch with a small section of WI2 in it where Marty had placed the pro for me, The ice here was easy but did have a lot of water running underneath so it made it quite nerve wracking as I waited with each blow for the whole wall to peel off. I made it and was happy to have done this. We then spent time working further on ice technique and climbed some long steepish pitches in glorious sunshine, just sublime!

Then did a very brief bit of mixed bouldering on very crumbly alpine rock which was awesome IMO, mixed is very cool but hard on the tools! After that is was time to descend to the chopper pickup we waited for about 15 mins and then the bird descended from the sky and all too quickly after a spectacular flight we were back at the farm and heading back to Wanaka. The topic of conversation took a turn for the vulgar as Marty was telling all and sundry how I was entirely responsible for filling the poo tube, couldn't help it I said when the view from the outhouse is so beautiful one should make an effort! However, I fear I will be infamous for these deeds and may have a new nickname when I next hit Wanaka! 

I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to consolidate their climbing and hit some really decent ice as it would be tailored to your ability; the environs are also so beautiful!!!

Hope to go back in summer and maybe climb Mt. Rob Roy with Marty and Anton again!!

The picture above is me leading my first ice pitch !