New Zealand, all expenses paid

[goatboy]

One item of note from the NZ website you mentioned:

 

FIXED LINE GUIDING on Tasman (!)

 

Fixed Lines for Guided Parties on Mt Tasman from November

(01-Apr-2008)

 

 

 

A new guiding operation will offer climbs of Mt Tasman with clients clipping into fixed lines. The Rarakiroa Guiding Company are offering climbs from November this year. Company director Steve Rainsbury says he and lead guide Bryan Anderson came up with the idea of fixed rope guiding in New Zealand when guiding in the Himalaya two years ago. "We were assisting clients on fixed lines on a freezing day on Makalu and grumbling how much more fun it would be to be doing it back home in the Southern Alps instead."

 

The company says it already has a number of overseas climbers lined up for the first climbs in November after they were granted permission by the Department of Conservation to run the service late last year. "Logistically, the service we are offering is a little different to conventional Southern Alps guiding. We needed permission for clients to be dropped off and picked up at the base of the route by helicopter, and more importantly to be allowed to drop guides, ropes and other equipment high on the mountain. Since we are fixing pretty much the entire length of the climb it is a lot easier to work our way down."

 

Clients will be helicoptered to the base of the Stevenson-Dick Couloir on the Abel Janszoon Glacier at about 2700m. They then ascend the couloir to gain the north-west ridge at about 3300m and then the summit at 3497m. Clients will clip into the fixed lines using a jumar and there will be guides stationed on the route to provide assistance. "The couloir is about 45 degrees, which is achievable for most people with the security of a tight rope, although it certainly takes some effort, and the final ridge to the summit isn't too bad for a ridge on Tasman and can be easily protected by our guides. By using fixed lines and helicopters, even those without mountaineering experience should be able to reach the top of an iconic New Zealand mountain in a few hours. We have essentially chosen a route that is direct and away from other climbers. We need our guides to have a route of their own to work on. We are offering a true mountain experience to people who would otherwise never wear a pair of crampons or swing an ice axe. The idea is that you don't have to be an elite climber to experience the best the mountains can offer."

 

Rainsbury says that although Mt Tasman was always their first choice for fixed line guiding in New Zealand they have also been looking at routes on Mt Cook. "Despite Rarakiroa (Mt Tasman) being the best climb in the park, there will always be a demand for Mt Cook."

[goatboy]

Joke's on me. I just looked at the date of the post (April Fool's Day) and realized it's all a joke. But I wouldn't put it past them!

[EastCoastBastard]

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

[goatboy]

First, let me say that I love NZ and hope to go there again someday.

 

There's a real interesting confluence between wild alpine terrain and civilization (i.e. huge glaciers with huts on them, very remote places with helicopter access, a tiny island with tremendous vertical relief, and a culture that embraces the wild and the touristy all at once...)

 

That's why I believed it MIGHT be possible. The bolts on Aspiring are a good example. But why let helicopters land at Bevan Col, and have a hut at Collin Todd, if you're against a single small bolt in a rock?

 

(Cue the predictable, droning rants for and against bolting. My point is more about the cultural intersection between the wild and the tamed, which of course includes bolting, but is much bigger)