Guessing the wind speed

Wildest winds I've experienced were on a foolhardy, exploratory look at conditions up at Walker Pass. We were planning on going from the Hawdon to the Edwards with a group of gung-ho YWAM students. It was wild down in the valley leaving Hawdon Hut, but these guys weren't gonna take no for an answer so we made the climb towards the pass, getting as far as the knoll at the bushline - cresting the knoll was an experience not yet forgotten!!! Forecast was for gale rising to severe gale, not sure how strong it was when we stood there. Heres a link to a pic I took as best I could in the conditions: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/105356576777391680406/albums/6108974238019982401/6108974240331209458?pid=6108974240331209458&oid=105356576777391680406

Travelling along the ridge between Maungahuka and Kime in the Tararuas I was blown of the ridge and down the side about 3 metres. As I fell a stalk of tussock went up my nose which started to bleed. It was so cold my nose kept dripping and because I was walking into a gale force southerly the drops of blood blew up over my face (although I did not realise at the time) I finally made it to Kime hut which was occupied. As I walked in everyone looked up to see who it was and must have thought that I had been attacked by an axe murderer as my face was covered with dried blood. Maybe they thought I was an axe murderer as there was a stunned silence for a moment until they worked out that I wasn't coming to do them in. The other place I have had trouble with wind is a very exposed section of ridge above Cattle Creek hut in the Ruahines. I ended up crawling for about 70 metres as walking was totallyimpossible

The terminal velocity of a skydiver in a belly-to-earth free-fall position is apparently about 195 km/h. Surface wind speeds approaching this value are going to be very problematic. Gustiness and sand blasting greatly add to the trauma of wind.

A pocket anemometer is pretty a pretty cool thing to carry around. It's great for bragging rights. I bought a small digital one years ago that also doubles as an altimeter for navigation and barometer for weather forecasting. The trouble is that when the wind is _really_ blowing, the last thing that you might feel like doing is to stop, carefully extract the gizmo from the top of the pack and stand still while getting bombarded by ice pellets/bits of rock etc that are usually flinging along. The one time I've managed to do this was in a NW'er on Barron saddle, where we had to hold ourselves flat on the ground during gusts or get blown over. Steady windspeed was about ~100-110kph so gusts (not captured) could have been up to ~130kph or more. In terms of what really big blows feel like, my best guess is based on an experience in Murchison hut during a norwester. Every time a big gust went through it sounded like a jet was landing on top of us, throwing rocks and whatever onto the outside walls. Several times the whole hut lifted several cm off the ground (it doesn't have traditional foundations) and then slapped down again. I was too chicken to open the door and stick my hand out into it at the time. Next day when the whole thing had blown over the windspeed read ~110kph with gusts of 130-140kph, so who knows what it was at its peak - but walking in it wouldn't have been a heap of fun.

With the 4wd club I belong to we were doing a cleanup for DOC on Onoke spit Wind was strong. Had the 4wd facing with the wind and opened the back to put some rubbish in. The fine gravely sand was bad enough around the legs but the wind was depositing the stuff on top of the dashboard inside the car.

Has anybody ever been turned back from an objective by wind? Heading for Long View Hut up the upper Pohangina River once, the wind was mad even in the valley, so I assumed up on the ridge it would be much worse. Chose to go anyway, but ended up wishing I hadn't. Dived for some handfuls of tussock a few times. Mighty glad to make that hut.

not quite, but I've come close several times. its always an option, always consider your options...

Yes - forced to turn back several times. Most memorable were: 1) Tarn Ridge (Ruahines). Overnight loop from Rangi roadend. Crawled/crouched/scampered last several hundred meters to the biv. Sat there for an hour or so waiting to see if wind died down, then scampered back to Daphne. Had another attempt at getting out via Longview / Tunupo but was tussock clinging all the way from the bushedge to longview. That saddle cops the worst of it - it seems. A very noisy night in Longview hut before finally making it across Tunupo to Iron Gate in the morning. Swam the river and walked out via Rangi, checking my trapline down the front face as I went. 1 day late for work. 2) Florence stream. Heading for Lake Roe. Up the spur between the 2nd and 3rd lakes in the 'staircase' from Florence to the tops. Wind was averaging ok, but strong, strong gusts requiring crouching / tussock clinging - which was fine ... until I hit the snowline. No more tussocks to cling to. Never have made it to Lake Roe. Another attempt via Jaquery got rained off, resulting in 3 nights camped in an old shelter with 3 walls remaining - across the Jaquery from Historic Clarke Hut - hut in view, Pom and gear getting progressively more wet, and unable to cross.

as mentioned earlier we turned back from Mitre with less than 400 metres to go because of the wind

Got stuck in Tarn Ridge Hut (Tararuas) for five days. The winds were not the very worst I've experienced, but I wasn't prepared to either head south over Girdlestone or back north over the Waiohine Pinnacles. Being on my own, with low clouds keeping visibility under 20m - I judged it best to sit tight. In the end I ran out of food and had a bit of an epic getting down a steep spur into the head of the Waingawa to Arete Forks. When I finally got home a few days later it turned out the right decision because the wind pretty much kept it up without break for another fortnight.