Climbing in the Remarkables and at Wye Creek, Queenstown, NZ

It was nice to find time for a climbing weekend with my friend Lauren, after a little deliberation we decided  to do some traditional climbing in the Remarkables close to Queenstown. Lauren knew a couple of young ladies, Annika and Christina, who wanted to go sport climbing at Wye Creek and were willing to share the cost of petrol. Gasoline is twice as expensive here as in the states so the more the merrier. We left my place on Memorial Ave in Christchurch in mid-afternoon for the 6 hour drive to Queenstown; a beautiful drive down into Otago and by the Southern Lakes. We were fortunate to have a beautiful day and stopped at Lake Pukaki to stretch our legs and take a few photos.

The intrepid explorer Lauren Brown discovers Aoraki (Mt Cook)

Mount Cook across Lake Pukaki

Annika, Christina, Lauren, and the Vagabond

After the break we jetted on down to Wye Creek, another 3 hours or so,  and set up camp for the night. Wye Creek is in the Remarkables Range about 12 Km south of Queenstown so there is a nice view across Lake Wakatipu. 

Sunrise over Queenstown and Ben Lamond across Lake Wakatipu.  

I talked about climbing Ben Lamond in the February Blog, "Travelling in the Southern Lakes". The walk goes up to the saddle between the two higher peaks and then ascends the ridge on the left. A couple of day later I circumnavigated Ben Lamond with my bicycle, going up the Shotover River Gorge and then down by Moke Lake before riding the road back into town. 

After breakfast, Lauren and I drove up to the Remarkables Ski Basin for some alpine climbing above Alta Lake and below the summit of Double Cone. 

View of Queenstown and the Kawarau River Valley from the road up to the Remarkables Ski Basin

Lauren walking up to Alta Lake towards Double Cone

Alta Lake and Double Cone

Lauren contemplating the face and scoping out routes

Lauren on the sharp end looking for somewhere to place protection. The rock is beautiful schist but doesn't offer many competent placements so tends to get a little run out. 

Lauren climbing up pitch 2 with Alta lake below. My camera decided to stop opening the shutter completely :(

We had a fun climb hoawever getting off the crag got a little interesting with a bit of tussock climbing and gully scrambling. As we hiked out around Alta Lake and down through the ski area we saw a pair of Keas or alpine parrots who were interested in the construction equipment at the ski area. The Kea are known to be mischievous and love to break into things. We enjoyed the views as we drove down the ski basin road and back to Wye Creek to meet the ladies who were sitting in the parking area enjoying some nachos when we arrived. The next morning we walked up to the crag to do some sport climbing. We couldn't ask for a more lovely place to climb. 

Wye Creek Crag from the parking area. 

Christina leading and Annika on belay. 

Christina on lead, you can see the beautiful schist with the different colors and wavy patterns. 

This is me on a convenient ledge before heading up the headwall of the Mission, grade 16 (5.8ish)

View from the crag across Lake Wakatipu you can see the prominent roof on the left which where the next few photos were taken.

Lauren getting ready to climb a 23 (5.11d)

Vagabond belay

Lauren working the moves

Annika showing us how it's done, grade 23

Annika almost around the corner

Up on the vertical face, you can see how steep the roof is from this photo. 

Annika taking a break and showing off her lovely smile. She climbed this route three times so earned her break. 

Christina climbing a 21(5.11b/c)

Christina photo op before turning the corner. 

Final clip before getting on the upper face. 

This stream flows down beside the crag and is a main water supply for town. 

The trail goes along the top of the water pipe and is one of the more interesting approaches I've seen. We stopped at the intake and filled our water bottles. Most places in the mountains of New Zealand you can drink right out of the streams.

We had a great weekend with beautiful warm weather but were all fairly knackered on the 6 hour drive back to Christchurch.