wfinley Posted October 16, 2009 Posted October 16, 2009 Yet another where to go topic... I'm looking at taking 3 or 4 weeks off in December and am looking for suggestions on where to go. I am totally open to ideas anywhere on the globe. We're literally open to any and all climbing suggestions... from the Polish Glacier to cragging in Australia. We're moderate climbers... in the 5.7ish range and comfy on moderate snow / ice and at high altitude on moderate snow / ice. Any suggestions for a December trip? If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Quote
JosephH Posted October 16, 2009 Posted October 16, 2009 ...cragging in Australia. My vote everytime. Go to Sydney, head up to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains, and enjoy. Perfect, but then I'm a standstone guy... Quote
wfinley Posted October 17, 2009 Author Posted October 17, 2009 Australia does sound fun! Unfortunately my wife thinks that cragging is too "easy" so it's low on the list. Sometime back I found a really good website for climbing in Patagonia -- anyone know what the link it? Quote
Hugh Conway Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 Unfortunately my wife thinks that cragging is too "easy" so it's low on the list. so catch one of the dozen flights a day across the Tasman and go Alpine in New Zealand. Patagonia's great and all but the shit weather coupled with the shit infrastructure can lead to alot of time sipping mate with your thumb up your ass. At least if the weather sucks in New Zealand you can drive to the beach for the day or go bouldering at Castle Hill, then go back to the Alpine. Quote
upzmtn Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 http://www.erraticrock.com/ These guys rock. Quote
Jake_Gano Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 Billy, New Zealand was definately the first place that came to my mind. Granted, I've never been, but if I had that time off in December, that would be the first place I'd go. Quote
111 Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 redrocks and J Tree. we go there every dec/jen and the weather is generally very nice. if the weather is bad at one, try the other. Quote
EastCoastBastard Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 (edited) Man, what's up with people thinking that NZ is a good place to go for climbing? I thought that once, but now I know: It sucks. NZ has a lot of things going for it: nice mountains, easy access, good hut system, cheap helicopter flights, but there is one overriding negative: the weather SUCKS. Don't waste your time or money coming here (yes, I live in NZ - and I don't even bother going into the hills anymore, it's just not worth it). Most of your trip will be spent sitting in the rain. The alpine climbing can be brilliant. The weather's just usually too bad to actually do much. Oh and to Hugh C. - NZ is a very small island (not counting the North Island which is pretty lousy all-around), and as such any weather system that prevents you climbing in one area will likely prevent you climbing just about anywhere else. So you can't just "pick up and go somewhere else". Well you can, but you won't get any climbing done there either. Some of the sport climbing areas are so overhung that they stay dry in the rain. If you like: sitting in a nice hut in the rain, bushwhacking through heinous vegetation, being in the rain, looking at rain, crappy rock, then NZ is for you. Oh and if you like bouldering, then Castle Hill is great (unless it's raining...). If you actually like climbing, especially alpine climbing, then NZ is not for you. There is some good rock here, but it doesn't even compare with Australia or North America. The only worthwhile destination spot *might* be Castle Hill. The Anti-NZ crusader (aka EastCoastBastard, aka One Grumpy Climber) PS: Australia will likely be very hot in Dec. too hot to climb the locals say. But the climbing is brilliant Edited October 18, 2009 by EastCoastBastard Quote
Water Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 (edited) I'd go back to bolivia--dirt cheap, culturally interesting, diverse eco-systems, and big mountains. Edited October 18, 2009 by Water Quote
Hugh Conway Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Random other suggestions: -Madagascar -Sri Lanka (some climbing in the Knuckles range, great food) -Southern India (Hampi bouldering, other random bits) great food -Southern China (Yunnan/Sichuan) NZ is a very small island (not counting the North Island which is pretty lousy all-around), and as such any weather system that prevents you climbing in one area will likely prevent you climbing just about anywhere else. So you can't just "pick up and go somewhere else". Well you can, but you won't get any climbing done there either. Some of the sport climbing areas are so overhung that they stay dry in the rain. Patagonia has the same shitty weather, much bigger distances, much much much much crappier roads and airlines. So yes, you may not be able to pick up and go climbing in NZ, but you can pick up and go surfing, in to a town, taste wine, etc. do something with your day, which if you are in Patagonia is pretty much impossible because going somewhere will take fucking forever. New Zealand also has far more variety in food than Argentina (where if you don't want cheap excellent steak and wine, the food pretty much sucks ass) And yes NZ has got to many fucking Americans/Poms/Eurofaggots thinking it's a great place. Quote
ken4ord Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 ...cragging in Australia. My vote everytime. Go to Sydney, head up to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains, and enjoy. Perfect, but then I'm a standstone guy... Ha, that is where I am headed got any suggestions? As for the original question if not Australia, then I'd say South Africa. I been a on a couple short trips, but I can't wait to get back for an extended stay. Quote
wfinley Posted October 19, 2009 Author Posted October 19, 2009 Wow - thanks for all the suggestions! Lots to research and think about. Thanks again! Quote
Dane Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 CHAMONIX.................. Brilliant routes for any ability. Awesome hut system if you require their use...better to tram up, climb and then ski back down to town. Or tram up and down If the weather is bad just go skiing or go south to the Med and rock climbing. Down side is it will be a little crowded around the holidays. Quote
goatboy Posted October 20, 2009 Posted October 20, 2009 Man, what's up with people thinking that NZ is a good place to go for climbing? I thought that once, but now I know: It sucks. NZ has a lot of things going for it: nice mountains, easy access, good hut system, cheap helicopter flights, but there is one overriding negative: the weather SUCKS. Don't waste your time or money coming here (yes, I live in NZ - and I don't even bother going into the hills anymore, it's just not worth it). Most of your trip will be spent sitting in the rain. The alpine climbing can be brilliant. The weather's just usually too bad to actually do much. Oh and to Hugh C. - NZ is a very small island (not counting the North Island which is pretty lousy all-around), and as such any weather system that prevents you climbing in one area will likely prevent you climbing just about anywhere else. So you can't just "pick up and go somewhere else". Well you can, but you won't get any climbing done there either. Some of the sport climbing areas are so overhung that they stay dry in the rain. If you like: sitting in a nice hut in the rain, bushwhacking through heinous vegetation, being in the rain, looking at rain, crappy rock, then NZ is for you. Oh and if you like bouldering, then Castle Hill is great (unless it's raining...). If you actually like climbing, especially alpine climbing, then NZ is not for you. There is some good rock here, but it doesn't even compare with Australia or North America. The only worthwhile destination spot *might* be Castle Hill. The Anti-NZ crusader (aka EastCoastBastard, aka One Grumpy Climber) PS: Australia will likely be very hot in Dec. too hot to climb the locals say. But the climbing is brilliant Wow, East Coast... you are a Grumpy Climber. Okay, so you live there. Why is that, if you hate the weather and the climbing so much, by the way? I have to say, having been to NZ three times for a total of about 2 months time.... you're wrong about the weather. It is very variable from one side of the island to the other, and the weather may be bleak in one area and not bad at all in another (this comment is in reference to the South Island). I also disagree about your comment that it's just not worth it. It is actually worth every bit of it. New Zealand is fabulous. Maybe you're trying to paint a bleak picture to keep people like me away ... but it won't work. I'm coming back. New Zealand is outrageous. And yes, it has challenging weather and changing conditions... kind of like the Cascades do. Quote
EastCoastBastard Posted October 20, 2009 Posted October 20, 2009 (edited) Hello GoatBoy I'm not trying to keep people away at all, just trying to get people not to waste their time/money down here. I'm in NZ, since you asked, first for grad school (south island, Dunedin) and now I'm halfway through vet school (north island). I've been down here for 4 years now, two more to go. Why here? Vet school is cheaper, and it's fully accredited (so my degree is the same as from any north american vet school)and it's heaps easier to get into. Grad school was also cheap and at a well-regarded school, and I didn't need to take the GRE. I'm not saying that you can't have a great time climbing down here, just that the odds are heavily stacked against you. Maybe you've been lucky - it sounds like you have been. I have been highly unlucky - for four years. The vast majority of my climbing trips here (talking alpine climbing) have been extremely unsuccessful. Most of the time we can't even get to the climbs (weather), or the climbs are out of condition. I've been all over both islands, in all seasons. It's not uncommon to have 3 or 4 bad weather days/week when you're up at some of the huts (NZ has a great hut system, NZAC maintains a bunch of huts on various moraines/glaciers so the access to climbing is excellent). The Darrans - the only granitic mountain range in NZ (the rest is graywacke/shist - crap, with some limestone crags here and there) also happens to be a place where they get over 7 METERS of rain/year. And that's not far from Mt. Cook etc... You CAN get days where there's rain on the west ("wet")coast and it's sunny and dry on the east coast (Christchurch, Dunedin etc...), but generally if there's a front of any reasonable size it's going to cover a good proportion of the island(it's only like 200km across). And fronts of a reasonable size are pretty common. And the southern alps run down the west coast. As far as it not being "worth it" - I've finally worked out (after spending almost every holiday trying to get some alpine climbing done - works out to about 5 weeks/year) that it's cheaper for me to fly to Australia and go cragging where it's 90% guaranteed to be excellent vs. staying here where it's an 80% chance of me sitting in a hut reading old climbing magazines. If you're going to spend the time/money to go somewhere, it's worth it to go somewhere good. So yeah, I'm not trying to keep anybody away, but if you actually want to get some good peaks in, my recommendation would NOT be NZ. Edited October 20, 2009 by EastCoastBastard Quote
JosephH Posted October 20, 2009 Posted October 20, 2009 ...cragging in Australia. My vote everytime. Go to Sydney, head up to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains, and enjoy. Perfect, but then I'm a standstone guy... Ha, that is where I am headed got any suggestions? As for the original question if not Australia, then I'd say South Africa. I been a on a couple short trips, but I can't wait to get back for an extended stay. I don't have any specific recommendations, but when you stare out past the Three Sisters in any direction you are staring at about 500 lifetimes of brilliant FA potential - literally miles upon miles of rock. A short walk or drive in pretty much any direction gets you to untold bounty that is reminisent of alternating layers of Eldo and New River Gorge. You could go to one of the established 'climbing areas' to socialize or take the family, but otherwise it's just more wide-open unclimbed rock and cliff bands than I've ever seen anywhere. Pretty much paradise except for the dense flocks of parrots and giant cockatoos relentlessly gnawing awaying on the trim of everyone's houses and cars. Quote
LostCamKenny Posted October 20, 2009 Posted October 20, 2009 I don't have any specific recommendations, but when you stare out past the Three Sisters in any direction you are staring at about 500 lifetimes of brilliant FA potential - literally miles upon miles of rock. A short walk or drive in pretty much any direction gets you to untold bounty that is reminisent of alternating layers of Eldo and New River Gorge. You could go to one of the established 'climbing areas' to socialize or take the family, but otherwise it's just more wide-open unclimbed rock and cliff bands than I've ever seen anywhere. Pretty much paradise except for the dense flocks of parrots and giant cockatoos relentlessly gnawing awaying on the trim of everyone's houses and cars. Joe, do you ever sleep? Quote
JayB Posted October 20, 2009 Posted October 20, 2009 Yet another where to go topic... I'm looking at taking 3 or 4 weeks off in December and am looking for suggestions on where to go. I am totally open to ideas anywhere on the globe. We're literally open to any and all climbing suggestions... from the Polish Glacier to cragging in Australia. We're moderate climbers... in the 5.7ish range and comfy on moderate snow / ice and at high altitude on moderate snow / ice. Any suggestions for a December trip? If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Tasmania might be worth a look. Lots of cragging there, much of it right by Hobart. If you're into the alpine-suffering thing, plug "Federation Peak, Tasmania" into google and have at it. Sounds like there's lots of more moderate stuff there if you're into walking. If granite by the beach is more your style, check out the Freycinet Pinensuala on the Island's East Coast. Lots and lots of wineries, general beach activities and some decent food nearby as well. Tons of wildlife, hiking, etc to be had. Much more info here: http://www.thesarvo.com/confluence/display/thesarvo/Climbing If it all goes to hell you can cruise up north and vegetate on the white sand beaches at the Bay of Fires. Didn't have the time to do much more than look on a ten-day lap around the Island, but on balance it looked like a much more appealing destination for a longish, couples oriented climbing trip than NZ. If rock is an afterthought for you, then NZ may be the better option. Having said that, there's some reasonably good cragging around the Taupo area, and some chossy scrambling amongst beautiful scenery available in the Peaks on Tongariro National Park. We spent six months in Taupo and loved it, but I spent virtually all of my spare time kayaking and fly-fishing, despite having lugged a full rack down there, and we wound up spending the rest of our time chilling on the beach, soaking in the hot springs, hiking in the Beech forests, and general sightseeing. Lots of great info and photos here on the climbing in NZ: http://www.ericandlucie.com/New%20Zealand/New%20Zealand.htm Quote
JayB Posted October 20, 2009 Posted October 20, 2009 Hello GoatBoy I'm not trying to keep people away at all, just trying to get people not to waste their time/money down here. I'm in NZ, since you asked, first for grad school (south island, Dunedin) and now I'm halfway through vet school (north island). I've been down here for 4 years now, two more to go. Why here? Vet school is cheaper, and it's fully accredited (so my degree is the same as from any north american vet school)and it's heaps easier to get into. Grad school was also cheap and at a well-regarded school, and I didn't need to take the GRE. I'm not saying that you can't have a great time climbing down here, just that the odds are heavily stacked against you. Maybe you've been lucky - it sounds like you have been. I have been highly unlucky - for four years. The vast majority of my climbing trips here (talking alpine climbing) have been extremely unsuccessful. Most of the time we can't even get to the climbs (weather), or the climbs are out of condition. I've been all over both islands, in all seasons. It's not uncommon to have 3 or 4 bad weather days/week when you're up at some of the huts (NZ has a great hut system, NZAC maintains a bunch of huts on various moraines/glaciers so the access to climbing is excellent). The Darrans - the only granitic mountain range in NZ (the rest is graywacke/shist - crap, with some limestone crags here and there) also happens to be a place where they get over 7 METERS of rain/year. And that's not far from Mt. Cook etc... You CAN get days where there's rain on the west ("wet")coast and it's sunny and dry on the east coast (Christchurch, Dunedin etc...), but generally if there's a front of any reasonable size it's going to cover a good proportion of the island(it's only like 200km across). And fronts of a reasonable size are pretty common. And the southern alps run down the west coast. As far as it not being "worth it" - I've finally worked out (after spending almost every holiday trying to get some alpine climbing done - works out to about 5 weeks/year) that it's cheaper for me to fly to Australia and go cragging where it's 90% guaranteed to be excellent vs. staying here where it's an 80% chance of me sitting in a hut reading old climbing magazines. If you're going to spend the time/money to go somewhere, it's worth it to go somewhere good. So yeah, I'm not trying to keep anybody away, but if you actually want to get some good peaks in, my recommendation would NOT be NZ. ECB - where are you at? Palmerston North? Wellington? Auckland? IMO kayaking, fly-fishing, or beach oriented activities > climbing by a long-shot in most of NZ. Also found the beer there pretty disappointing, but most of the white wines were good and relatively cheap. Having spent a bit of time there, I'd agree that heading to NZ for rock-climbing is like like heading to the North Shore for the skateboarding. Possible, but hardly the best thing the place has to offer. Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 Wadi Rum, Jordan. You can stop and visit the ancient city of Petra carved out of sandstone on your way back from the Rum to the airport. Experience of a lifetime, highly recommended! http://www.rumguides.com/categories/8-climbing Quote
Pete_H Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 Alpental's usually going off in December. Vantage isn't too far from there either. Quote
EastCoastBastard Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 jay - I'm in Palmerston North, and yeah, I've heard the fly fishing is excellent, and the kayaking and surfing are pretty good. I don't do any of those though... Maybe I should start. I'm not sure when you were here, but there have been some pretty good micro brews starting up (two great older ones from Dunedin - Emerson's and Green Man, as well as a couple new ones from Wellington), but by and large, Kiwi beer is pretty lousy - around the same quality level as Wildcat or Bud. Back to the original topic - I've heard excellent things about Tasmania, and it should be reasonable temperature wise, in Dec. Quote
JayB Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 If you're going to be there for a couple more years you should definitely take up 1-3 of the above. There's supposedly a fairly active WW kayaking club at the Uni there, and some good entry level water nearby at a WW park on one of the local rivers. Lots of paddlers in Wellington as well from what I hear, and tons of good instruction coupled with intro-water in Murchison. Might as well embrace the rain. I was in NZ from Oct-March last year and the only micro-ish beer I ran into with any consistency was Monteiths, which was pretty mediocre and was priced in the upper teens for a six-pack. There were a couple of botique brews that were over $20 for a six-pack, but I had to boycott those. Funny thing was folks in both NZ and Aus were still convinced that all American beer was weak and terrible. Quote
wfinley Posted October 21, 2009 Author Posted October 21, 2009 Agreed -- you need to embrace the rain! (More videos here.) [video:youtube] Although to be truthful... I get pretty down when it rains for weeks on end. Living in a maritime climate can be frustrating (the '08 summer in Alaska was terrible -- rain almost every day) but every now and then you get that spell of good weather and it makes up for all those days in the tent! But that's what travel is for: to go climbing in dry places! Quote
Hugh Conway Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 I'd actually put the flyfishing in NZ as kind of crappy. Too over run by fat faggots helifishing Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.