Expedition Reports

Brammah Glacier Expedition - Kishtwar, India

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Tim surveys the morning view from our partially buried tent after our second night at 5100m on the North Spur of Flat Top.

Creator:

Reg Measures

In mid-September 2018 I teamed up with Tim Elson, a member of the newly invigorated Alpine Climbing Group in the UK, for an expedition to the Brammah Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir, India. We'd identified two amazing looking objectives: the 1600m high North Spur of a 6100m peak called Flat Top, and the South Face of the Kishtwar Eiger, a peak various recorded as somewhere between 5600m and 6000m depending on the map.

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Expedition Reports

Twenty Five Mile Creek Ice

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Twenty File Mile Falls. WI4R, 100m. The main flow in the centre of the cirque.

Creator:

Ben Dare

A multi-pitch ice climbing crag located at the head of Twenty Five Mile Creek – a tributary of the Rees River.

This was an area first spotted during a scenic flight in the winter of 2016, but wasn’t properly explored until June of 2018 when three routes were climbed. The cirque at the head of the Twenty Five Mile Creek catchment sits directly below Twenty Five Mile Saddle and contains at least ten separate ice lines. Including the main flow of Twenty Five Mile Falls - a 100m WI4 route. This is marked as the 98m waterfall on the topographic map.

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Expedition Reports

Yosemite - One Month of El Capitan

El Capitan

El Capitan

Creator:

A. McDowell

Yosemite Valley saw a true Kiwi invasion this spring season, swarming to the most famous big walls in the world. Our attention in this expedition was unequivocally focused on the greatest of them all, El Capitan. Over the course of the month, our group would go on to climb the Motherstone by six different routes, for a total of 15 El Cap ascents between them.

Yosemite was the second of the NZ Alpine Team’s official training trips, the first being Canadian Rockies. These two destinations are the most convenient for kiwi climbers looking to gain mileage & experience ice climbing and big wall climbing as a foundation for larger alpine objectives.

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Expedition Reports

Patagonia - Tierra del Viento

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The Torre Group at sunrise

Creator:

Dan Joll

After our first exhausting failed effort on Punta Herron, our motivation for a second attempt was drained, none of us thought we would be returning anytime soon. This was our main objective, but the thought of repeating the twelve-pitch approach traverse beneath Standhardt only to find Punta Herron unclimbable again was a risk our sore bodies dreaded, now four weeks into the trip. But spotting the bone-dry north ridge of Punta Herron from Mermoz rejuvenated our psych, and after five days of Chalten extravagance we were rearing for a second attempt.

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Expedition Reports

North Face of Cholatse - Equipment , Clothing and Route Beta

Cholatse, view towards the NE and NF on the approach trek

Creator:

Daniel Joll

The following outlines our acclimatization schedule, climbing equipment and clothing used for an ascent of the North Face of Cholatse. You can find a video of the ascent here

Rack

12 ice screws , various sizes but with two stubby screws

Single set of cams, green C3 - #2 Camalot

Single set of wires #1 – 7

4 x pins , 2 knife blades and two angles

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Expedition Reports

West Ridge Mt Sefton (3151m)

La Perouse and Aoraki/Mt Cook from Mt Sefton

Creator:

J Morris

I recently snuck off from a social tramping trip to the Copland Hot Pools to make a solo ascent of the West Ridge of Mt Sefton. The easiest route on Mt Sefton (MC 2+), the West Ridge provides a straightforward snow climb from Welcome Pass. The route either follows the reasonably level Douglas Neve to where a final snowslope leads to the summit, or else a much more interesting and crevasse free option involves gaining the ridge crest shortly after Welcome Pass and sidling a beautiful sharp snow ridgeline until the final summit slope.

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Expedition Reports

Cerro Torre - Ragni Route

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Kim Ladiges on the Ragni Route Cerro Torre , this was taken during a failed attempt where we turned around due to bad weather

Creator:

Daniel Joll

Man Spooning – Verb , two men locked in the spoon position during an alpine bivy. Depending on the participants, usually a function of age and or temperature, man spooning may take several seconds, minutes or even hours to begin. Once both parties have accepted the terms on their situation, man spooning usually continues until it’s time to start climbing. It is not common to hear the expression “Lets manspoon” this is usually a silent agreement.

Scroll to the bottom of this story for a video from this and other previous attempts on the Ragni Route

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Expedition Reports

El Capitan Nose In A Day Beta

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The Nose El Capitan Yosemite

Creator:

Daniel Joll

The Nose, El Capitan, Yosemite. Beta for climbing the "Nose In A Day" (NIAD)

The Nose on El Capitan has to be one of the world’s most popular big wall climbs. Climbing the route in traditional big wall style and in particular, climbing the Nose in a day (NIAD) is a popular rite of passage for climbers from around the world.

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Expedition Reports

Canada Ice Climbing 2017

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Nemesis WI6 on the Stanley Headwall

Creator:

Dan Joll

The New Zealand Alpine Team is spending three weeks ice climbing in the Canadian Rockies around Canmore, Alberta this January. Follow this blog for day-to-day updates and all the latest photos from the trip.

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Expedition Reports

Peru Expedition 27 May - 30 June 2016

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Artesonraju, Paron Valley

Creator:

Wikipedia

There's an immense satisfaction in seeing the fruition of many years of hard work, perseverance and the continual acquisition of skills garnered from climbing in New Zealand and abroad. Nothing demonstrates this tremendous New Zealand climbing ability better than the four first ascents on Taulliraju (5830m) over the past two weeks.

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