EastCoastBastard

yeah, there is some pretty good beer here in NZ. Montieths and Mac's are two of the bigger/best distributed small breweries. If you're around christchurch/parts of the lower south island, there are some excellent microbrews - Green Man and Emmerson's are both quite good. I think there are about 4 or 5 microbreweries in christchurch, Three Boys, Aviator are two that I can think of off the top of my head. Wanaka (you should definitely head there)has a microbrewery too. I would stay away from the Montieth's Ale Houses (kind of a restaurant). I've had one of the worst meals of my life in one. The Speight's Ale House is better. Speights is one of the bigger breweries in NZ and makes a decent beer. The Gold Medal Ale is their classic, though they make a few other decent beers too. On the north island, beer pickings are slim(mer), but Epic is very good, and New Plymouth is supposed to have a good brewery but I've never tried it, or know what it's called. I'd disagree that the beer is shit in NZ.

sweet!

Green Machine? Goblins (like the green goblin) Dragon (route at index called the Green Dragon) Gecko's? Sticky

Hitchhiking is very common here, but becoming less so. If you do, be prepared - Kiwis are AWFUL drivers - they love to pass on blind corners, love to ride people's bumpers that are going the speed limit. I've had a couple "Holy Shit" moments while hitchhiking in NZ. On the subject of driving - it takes a lot longer to get from A-B than it would in north america because the roads are so twisty. Less so in the South Island, but still. Roads are a lot less driver-friendly than the roads in NA. Another thing you'll find - all trail signs are in hours to such and such a point. Never in km. Always in the time it'll take you to get there.

Jon and Blueserac have some good tips. I see that you absolutely hate going to the climbing gym - what about a "gym" gym? You mention how weak your upper body is - I believe that being stronger (to a point) will make you a better climber. If it's lack of muscle holding you back - go out and get some muscle. Mike layton's book has a lot of good exercises that are climbing specific - though it's good to round things out so you don't over-train one area. There might even be some pdf's of a draft floating around on here if money's too tight to purchase a copy. Even buying some cheap dumbells on ebay, or making some out of sand and OJ bottles will open up a world of exercises that will definitely help your climbing. I'd invest in some rock rings and do exercises on those. Rollies? A rollie bar is another great torture tool, and super cheap to make, just get an old broomstick and some cord, and one of those sand-filled OJ bottles. That'll help your grip strength too. I know that's not specifically helpful for crampon technique, but it'll help with your overall comfort level In the off-season/can't get to the ice - do you have any nice wooden telephone poles or non-native trees that you could climb? It's a good approximation of vertical ice. Hope that helps

Hey As Jon pointed out, I do live here now, been living here for 6! years. You're spot on to skip the North Island - for what it sounds like you want to do - the north island is terrible. My main recommendation is to go to Castle Hill. it's the only thing, climbing wise, that NZ has to offer that is world class. Great bouldering (and I don't even really like bouldering). It's phenomenal. The rest is largely worse than you'll find in north america - the rock is crap, for the most part, the weather sucks and conditions generally conspire against you. For some light alpinism, I would recommend the NW ridge of Aspiring. You're really coming at the wrong time of year for doing glaciated peaks - at the end of summer. If you were willing to get a helicopter and fly in somewhere, there would be more options, but as it sounds like you're walking, you can skip most of the glaciated terrain on aspiring by approaching via Bevin Col. The NW ridge is quite easy, a little 4th class rock, some steep snow. The SW ridge is a little harder, snow to about 70 degrees, WI3/3+ at the crux. Wanaka's a cool place - some good sport climbing, close to aspiring, nice atmosphere. Nice camping. Go to Red Star Burgers. Ask where it is. I'd skip Queenstown - it's a tourist trap. The climbing's not that good (I don't think). The camping at wye creek is okay - no water/toilets. The remarkables (a mountain range just outside queenstown)have some of NZ's only decent alpine rock - the traverse of the remarkables is kind of a classic easy outing. They grade things differently here (Eubank grading system) I think the crux on that is about a 14, which is like 5.6 The Darrens - a granitic mountain range at the southwestern corner of the south island. Amazing looking mountains, but they get 7 METERS of rain/year. Best not to plan anything here. If you insist on driving to Milford Sound like all the tourists, you will drive through them. Check out the Chasm (a tourist stop), it's cool. There is also some good cragging along this road - crags are called babylon and the chasm. Abel Tasman, at the north end of the south island is supposed to have some great diving and beach hiking. I've never been here, so I can't comment, but the pictures look nice. That should give you something to get started. Some THINGS TO KNOW: 1. you cannot buy filter-coffee from a coffee shop. It's all espresso. 2. the Freedom Camping Law - it's perfectly legal to camp on any crown land that does not have a No Camping sign (or some other legislation) - basically you can camp anywhere. 3. ACC - Accidents Claims Compensation - This is amazing - pay attention to this: ALL people in NZ, whether you're here for 30 seconds or a lifetime have complete accident coverage. Let me phrase this another way - if you have an accident in NZ, trip down the stairs, hurt yourself on some high peak, get hit by a car, whatever - if it's an accident you are covered, from the moment the helicopter/ambulance arrived until you're done with physio. It's free, there's nothing to buy into, nada. Just say the magic words "I had an accident". In all honesty, I'd skip NZ - aside from Castle Hill, it's way overrated as a climbing destination. But since it sounds like you've already bought your tickets, and australia is underwater, please feel free to PM me about any specific questions you might have. hope that helps Graham

I've got an expired WFR, and I'm currently in vet school. My first aid kit usually consists of: some gauze pads, some stretchy bandage material, a few band-aids/tape for things like blisters, some codeine/paracetamol and ibuprofen. like somebody else said, my priorities are stopping the bleeding, stabilizing a fx, stabilizing the patient as best I can and getting them out of there.

I don't have any to sell, but I just thought I'd mention some other bindings that will take climbing boots - I had a lot of trouble with my silveretta 404's - the DIN heel piece always released on me - it was an incredible pain in the ass, so I now use Fritschi FT 88's - they're from the same era, but work a lot better. And they cost me $20 on ebay. They're heavier, and you have to step out to switch between ski and touring mode, but they work so much better than the 404's that the added weight doesn't bother me. The old Ramer bindings will work as well. if you're not familier with Lou Dawson's site www.wildsnow.com , he's got an AT-binding museum that might be worth looking through to see what other options there are out there other than the silveretta's. hope that was helpful

The are climBubu tools - the tab at the top of the page somebody linked to says so. I'd bet Grivel has just put their name on them for distribution etc. purposes.

Actually, Jon, I'm pretty sure those were the X-dry's that Ian was climbing on.

I tried to fly with a rope in my carry on - domestically, within the US - and I was made to check it, after a big ordeal. I usually don't have problems flying with other gear, as long as it's not sharp - like ice screws.

I don't work for anybody (this is true, I'm a poor student), but I too would say that your best bet for actually learning how to climb is to take a course. A guided trip is an almost guaranteed summit, but I doubt very much that you will learn very much other than what the guide needs to teach you so that you don't kill them or yourself. I have guided people up the Coleman-Demming (the standard route on Baker)and I doubt very much that any of the folks I was guiding learned much except how to put one foot in front of the other - and some of them had a lot of trouble with even that. I'm sure you could corrupt that "if you teach a man to fish..." thing to climbing, but I'm too tired to think of a good version

I've been pretty happy with the MEC Exorcist pack - pretty comfy, carries skis/gear well and is a nice size for day tours.

I would try some skin wax http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/ski/skins/glop-stopper-wax hope that works for you

The glove I have, the Stratos (just checked to make sure they are actually BDry- they are) is made of a 3-ply gore-tex like material, but the seams are not taped, and there are quite a few seams, in addition, there is none of this material behind the leather palm, so water, despite numerous layers of snoseal and nikwax, will eventually soak completly through - probably through the seams that run through the palm as well. It sounds like some of these other BDry gloves actually have a complete liner and are not just chunks of supposedly waterproof fabric sewn together. I've never bothered to check whether water will soak straight through if I held a drop of water just on a small, non-seam strewn area. On the upside, they climb well and have a very durable palm - I use them pretty much solely for cold cold days, or for rapping so I don't trash my "good" soft-shell gloves, but as far as waterproof goes, they're complete rubbish.

I've got some BD Dry gloves that are absolute shit. Any opportunity they get to soak up water, they do. I treat them more like soft-shell gloves.

Have you guys seen the MEC Expedition Stretch Hoodie ? It's pretty much identical to the R1 minus the pocket. Similar/same weight of fleece with some lighter/stretchier pannels in the arms. It also doesn't have a nice little zipper cover at the chin, but that's a pretty minor annoyance. For the price, it's not perfect, but I love mine. The NWAlpine hoodie looks sweet too, but I also think the zippers are way too big, I do like how the zipper goes off to the side.

No, sadly, I didn't. 2 of us got sick and the remaining person turned into a flower-picking nancy with 10 days left in the Santa Cruz. I don't think I would have taken them on a route I was planning to bivy on, but any one-day climb where I was headed back to a tent and a sleeping bag I would have taken them on (Artesonraju or some of the routes on Talliraju), but not the Italian ridge. I also tend to have warm feet - most people I've talked to say that the trangos are cold boots, not insulated enough for xyz, but I've always been pretty okay with their warmth - the only time I haven't it was -25 C and we should have been home watching TV anyway.

I went down last year with my Trango extreme evos and some scarpa alphas in case it got chilly, but I never used them. The sportiva's were sweet even on the summit of alpamayo. My feet were chilly, but so were my partner's in Spantiks. I'd probably take something a little warmer next time, but I'd also feel comfortable bringing the trango's again.

Yeah, that's why I'm a little miffed, and looking for some different boots. The flex hasn't changed since the day I bought them - so it's not like I've trashed them. I've seen some Baturas that were easily flexed too though, about the same size. I thought the hypertraction looks a little funky too. AAI liked them though... I've emailed kayland about the M11/hypertraction, and they said that they are both completely rigid (I shouldn't be able to flex them at all), but the hypertraction is stiffer. Great customer service by kayland - super prompt replies.

Thanks Dane - I don't have big feet - 44's in the Trango's. And I'm a lightweight - 183cm and 76kg as of yesterday. I've been in Cyborgs for years. I have certainly changed my climbing style too when moving from plastics to leathers, and now that I'm climbing harder stuff. Good to hear the kaylands are pretty stiff and fit narrow feet well. Graham

I've got a question for you, Dane (or anybody else with opinions on boots) - I've got the trango extreme evo, been climbing with them for 3 seasons now, and I think they're great except: the sole flexes when I'm frontpointing. I can actually flex them with my hands (both hands) if I'm holding them. What gives? It's a little disconcerting while climbing, but it hasn't stopped me. I'd far rather have boots that didn't flex at all. My previous boots were the original thinsulate/leather yellow Trango Extremes (circa 2003), and before that, Nepal Tops (and before that, plastics). Neither one flexed when I climbed, but these do. I've also noticed friends' Nepal Evo's flexing a LOT, and Batura's flexing too. I'm planning on getting some M11+'s this year if I can find someplace to try them on, as I've been told they're quite stiff, and they look pretty similar to the trango's which I really like other than the stiffness. It seems like boot stiffness is decreasing at the same time that fewer and fewer people are using rigid crampons. So, do you have problems with boot flex on steep ice? Did I get a bung pair? What's your opinion on this? Any comments on the M11+? Graham

JonH, as a former eastcoaster, westcoaster and in-the-rockies-er, you'd be a mad fool to leave the east coast to go ice climbing. The ice climbing is absolute world class - you NEVER have to worry about avalanches, about thermal inversions, chinooks, whatever. the concentration and quality of routes in the east is absolutely phenomenal. I'm actually going to be flying from Canmore to NY just to get a week of ice in this winter. Poko, Smuggs, the Lake, Pont Rouge the list goes on. You want some big routes on granite? How about Parc des Grand Jardins (Quebec)? Mont Saint Pierre? Fuckin' A. I spent last winter in the rockies - yeah it's awesome, but the amount of climbing you do is going to be limited by ALL the other factors that are eliminated on the east coast, with the exception of Mt. Washington - "Can't do PC or Mixed Master today 'cause the avy hazard is too high, let's go to Haffner again" "Oh the Parkway's closed today, let's go to Whiteman's (a 2 hour ski)" How far do you have to walk to get to the base of positive thinking? Maybe 10 minutes. Last call? maybe 10 minutes. Ragnarock? maybe an hour. Remission? 10 minutes.. Do you like walking? Or climbing? Do you like high quality ice on bomber rock (Pont Rouge excluded)? Do you like wasting bluebird days because the avy danger is too high to climb the route you want? If you want to climb ice - stay on the east coast man, if you want to climb peaks, well that's a different story. Graham

Looks like Koflach is back, and resurrecting the previous boot shell style (which I thought was better anyway) Koflach

Haha yeah, a LOT of people got fooled by that - there were even angry letters to the editor of the Climber (magazine put out by the NZAC). It's just on that line of believable/unbelievable. Of course, they actually did install some bolt anchors on the NW ridge of Aspiring (easy trade route) for the guides to use instead of slinging manky horns, but those got chopped by some purist. It's a strange place