Date:11/04/12
Mission: Middle Earth
Crew: Ari, Lenny, Ru and I
Instructor: Heidi
Weather: Light drizzle
Plot: Today was Middle Earth, aptly named after Lord of the Rings, and it didn't disapoint. A tight squeezy start followed by a 35m pitch, then an amazing cavern with some splendid formations. Then came an intense section of squeezes that wound on down to Smaug's Hall, where we stopped for lunch and gold, then scrambled back up, as the rain outside was due to pick up.
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| Awesome stalagtite formations |
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| Hard men |
DOWN THE CORKSCREW!!
Date: 10/04/12
Mission: Corkscrew
Crew: Ari, Lenny, Ru and I.
Instructor: Heidi
Weather: Fine
Plot: The focus today was rigging, and after a knot session on the deck of the hut, we hit Corkscrew Cave, which has plenty of pitches of varying heights and styles to have a go at. It was a dry cave, and it was good practice at anchor making in the cave environment. We spent 3 hours going down, then raced back up into the dusk.
Crew: Ari, Lenny, Ru and I.
Instructor: Heidi
Weather: Fine
Plot: The focus today was rigging, and after a knot session on the deck of the hut, we hit Corkscrew Cave, which has plenty of pitches of varying heights and styles to have a go at. It was a dry cave, and it was good practice at anchor making in the cave environment. We spent 3 hours going down, then raced back up into the dusk.
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| Ru about to rig with the classic double anchor 'figure 8 with bunny ears' knot. What you can't see is the 25m abyss in front of him. |
INTO THE ABYSS
Date: 09/04/12
Mission: Harwood's Hole
Crew: Ari, Lenny, Ru and I.
Instructor: Heidi
Weather: Fine two days then drizzle on the 10th.
Plot: Due to incoming weather we decided to slide down Harwood's Hole on Monday, which rated as a pretty intense introduction to SRT (Single Rope Technique). A casual 175m abseil became my first caving experience, and needless to say the boys and I were a tad shaky at the top! Post abseil we went through the Harwoods and Starlight caves, which involved some cool bouldering around the deep blue pools of cave stream, and a few tight squeezy sections before we entered the world again into a stellar Golden Bay afternoon.
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| Dropping into Harwood's Hole - New Zealand's highest cave abseil at 175m. Feeling....vulnerable! |
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| Hard Men of the caving world. Ari, Lenny, Ru and I.
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