MT EGMONT, MT RUAPEHU SUMMITS

How flexible are you with the time you have to attempt them? Are you only considering them for weekends or will you consider Mon - Wed? eg 22nd - 24th. Do you have any transport available? I ask because i would be prepared to try to alter plans in place to fly back from ChCh to Brisbane on the Sun 21st to instead fly to Auckland for eg. early on the 22nd. Weather permitting, scale both peaks Tues & Wed and fly to Brisbane from Auckland Thurs. I've summited Taranaki twice and Ruapehu three times. Plenty of experience. Could provide the tools as well.

Hi aardvark, thanks for your reply. That sounds like a good plan to me, time off during the week isnt a problem. I can pick up and drop you off again at Auckland airport, and provide a place to stay. By tools, do you mean crampons and axe? or do we need more to do these summits? Cheers, lostone

It is unlikely crampons and axe will be used late March but not worth going all the way to the top to find you'd be better off with them and didn't take them. Other items e.g rope and harness, are not necessary for the routes we'll likely take. Kathryn and i will have these tools on the Sth Isl from the 7th. Do you have boots with a good stiff midsole for climbing or are they very flexible above the toes? An articulated crampon would better suit the more flexible boot. I have both but it will depend on what we take beforehand. I'll still need to coordinate the extra time off work and the flight changes.

I have a pair of Asolo, sasslongs? I think they are. They are quite a firm boot, but dont have the lip at the toe for crampons (if I have to get another pair of boots I will). So at this stage I will wait to see if you can manage the exta time. Have a great time down south, Im heading for Southwestland myself in a couple of weeks. Thanks, Dave.

P.S, Fri 19 to Mon 22 could possibly suit me better, but see what time you can manage.

I can't be that flexible at this point in time i'm sorry. I should have made it clearer in that i already have a flight booked and paid for with my partner from Q'town on the early afternoon Sun 21st to link up with a flight from ChCh already booked and paid for on the same afternoon to Brisbane. I was proposing staying in ChCh myself on the Sun night to get a $59 flight with Air NZ arriving appx 9am Mon in Auckland and paying whatever charges and upgrade necessary to subsequently fly from Auckland on Thurs. This was likely more affordable than returning from Brisbane for a following long weekend for appx $500. The Sasslongs are essentially a backpackers boot according to Asolo themselves. They would no doubt get you to the summit but would require an articulated crampon which will flex somewhat with the boot. If you are determined to do more than these two peaks a more dedicated boot would last longer doing it and perform better overall in trying circumstances. I had a friend use a similar boot for 4 days in Westland, primarily on Fox glacier and Mt.Brewster and he felt less secure when practising on vertical ice walls whilst on Fox and due to wet conditions and glacier dust the boots lasted little more than two weeks after.

Not all crampons require the lips on the boots.The articulated ones i have use a strapping system. They take a little longer to afix and could be susceptible to strap damage from sharp rocks. There are dozens of crampon options out there and everything has +'s and -'s. What are you going to do in Sth Westland?

Thats ok, see if you can make the original dates 22-24. I will work around that. The Asolos have served me well so far, mostly alpine work, if I destroy them on the summits then I will upgrade. Am heading to Southwestland on a hunting trip, we are heading in to the head of the Cook valley, shes rugged in there. If you can make it, and your partner wants to join us, that will be fine with me.

I wouldn't mind trying the hunting thing sometime. It provides a good reason to access the more rugged and remote locations. I imagine a hunter would see Westland as a premium area for the craft. I'd best not push my luck on the holiday thing again before March. If you want to e-mail, i have a hotmail acc using flashmick017. I'll let you know soon how i go coordinating things for march. Regards Mick