Here some memorabilia of Alpinism during the last decade: youtube legendary Doug Ball who spent considerable time climbing with mountain guide Gary Dickson aka Gaz from January 2006 until August 2009.
Doug Ball, 79, on Mt Aspiring, New Zealand
Doug at 80, climbing a few peaks over 4000m in a week in Switzerland
Doug climbing high above the Dossenhütte, Kingspitze in the back ground
Doug had climbed Mt Cook Aoraki with his wife Peggy and many other peaks, but never Mt Aspiring. He got thwarted twice while climbing with Gaz because of conditions and weather but third time lucky and for a brief time he was considered the oldest climber to have sumited. He must have been an inspiration … more
Based at Centennial hut for some more alpine climbing
He sent us these lines just recently …”I use a slide show of my mountaineering photos as a screen saver so that my memories are not lost but are refreshed every day. Alpinism and Ski certainly made an enormous difference to my life. What would have become of me if I had just thrown in the sponge after Peggy died? I have so much to thank you both for and am not likely to ever forget it.”
keep going strong Doug
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Alpinism & Ski, Alpinism adventure, Alpinism in Europe, Alpinism in New Zealand, Alpinism Wanaka New Zealand, climbing, climbing in Switzerland, climbing Mt Aspiring, Europe, Mount Aspiring ascent, mountain guiding NZ, mountaineering, New Zealand Mountain Guides, NZ, Switzerland, Wanaka New Zealand
Kea entertainment while camping at Cascade Saddle
Hoheria in full flower allong the Dart Valley
A South Island Robin in the Dart Valley
Taking advantage of a good weather window during last week, Iris and Bu finally got to go over the Cascade Saddle, a wonderful 3 day trek from the Matukituki Valley to Glenorchy. Dropped off and picked up by Alpinism & Ski’s chief guide Gaz who’s home a few days between mountaineering trips.
Glacier Guiding Instruction
Icelandic mountain guides, instruction and assessment
Glaciers in Iceland: still there and white
News from Iceland: not too much rain and glacier guiding training and assessment went well. The Swiss Alps have seen plenty of snow and rain – Iris escaped to sunshine in Greece – and the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere is on Monday 21st, also the official start to summer. Looking forward to our climbing and mountaineering here the next couple of months, however, ski touring in New Zealand in September is on our mind too. Gary will be running the scheduled trip from 20-25th September and we are looking for 4 keen participants. Get in touch if this is for you.
Alpinism & Ski team Gary Dickson and Iris have arrived in Switzerland where summer is just starting. Glacier guiding training missions in Iceland are next for Gary. Alpinism adventures in the Swiss alps start with rock climbing in Leysin and surrounding areas, then off to Chamonix in France for the Mont Blanc.
Views over Fiordland National Park, with Tutoko in the back ground on the left
Beginning of the week the weather was just perfect for a little excursion to Fiordland. Iris with mate Rene from Queenstown hit the road down South and stayed a night at Homer hut. Next morning with brilliant sunshine, we climbed up to Homer Saddle. The valleys on the Milford side of Homer tunnel were clagged with fog, a spectacular view. We climbed Macpherson and then crossed the glacier towards Mt Talbot. The Talbot ladder turned out to be a rock wall with no ladder – Iris expected to see some via ferrata set up like in Europe. The scramble over to the other side did not take too long and more amazing views awaited us. Gertrud Saddle with the beautiful small lakes was below and as the fog seemed to kreep up we kept going to avoid having trouble to find the track leading down to Homer hut. A seven hour round trip later we were pretty pleased and hit the road back home.
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