🏔️CMC News - May 2024
West Coast Skyrunning, Amazon Peak, AGM, Expedition Fund applications open, and more!
Your monthly update for the Canterbury Mountaineering Club
What’s been happening in the mountains this month:
🏃♂️CMC SkyRunning Series - West Coast Best Coast
🤝AGM
🏔️Peru Expedition Talk
🗻Amazon Peak CMC Club Trip
💰CMC Expedition Fund Applications Open
✍️From the Editor
Welcome to the new format of the CMC News! I am taking over the publications role for the next year following on from Ed Cromwell’s great work over the last two years putting together the CMC News & Mountaineer journal, thanks Ed. Let me know what you think! Feel free to send through any short trip reports & photos to be included in next month’s edition. Thanks! Alastair.
Your new CMC News Editor at the base of Unknown Col, currently dreaming about the upcoming skimo season.
📸Rose Pearson
🏃♂️CMC SkyRunning Series #2: West Coast Best Coast
The inaugural CMC SkyRunning Series in Arthur’s Pass was a great success, featuring a Vertical Kilometre (VK) up Avalanche Peak, followed by a Sunday SkyRun across the craggy tops between Coral Track to Mt Bealey. This month the series was back again for round two: in wild Westland.
Kate Morrison whittled down the final VK and Skyrun combo from endless options to decide on Mt Tūhua and Gerhardt Spur.
13 vertical aficionados from the CMC turned up to test their pre-winter ascension fitness on the muddy Mt Tūhua, featuring 1000m vertical gain in only 3.8km. The same fiends followed this up with a 35km traverse of the Diedrich Range from Gerhardt Spur to Mullins Hut and out the Toaroha valley. This route had everything from steep bush ridge approach, some exposed Westland-style scramble tops, two remote huts, hot pools, and a slippery river exit.
This is the perfect type of activity for the pre-winter season. Great to see so many CMC on the West Coast getting after it!
Check out Kate’s video on Instagram summing up the weekend:
🤝CMC AGM + Peru Expedition Talk
The club's AGM was held last week at Pioneer and was a great success.
Lively discussion over some pressing updates including an overhaul of the CMC website to allow hut bookings, which will be a significant but important investment. Lodge fees for Kennedy & Wyn Irwin also due for increase due to higher running costs.
The CMC welcomed new committee members: William Sturch as Secretary, Simon Binney & Ciara Corrigan as Trips, yours truly in Publications, and Max Jenkins taking over Website.
Congratulations to our new CMC President Alida Van Vugt! Alida is a prolific force in the CMC, a rabid trad climber, transalpinist and mountain lover, she excels in getting out there and not taking herself too seriously. She led our recent CMC submission against the Fast Track bill, and has served as multiple previous roles on the committee including weekly climbing nights and secretary, she is the perfect person to lead the CMC. Go Alida!
The AGM was followed by an excellent presentation by Jamie Macalister on his trip to Peru last year with Ben Mangan which was supported by the inaugural CMC expedition grant.
Committee
We need YOU for the CMC committee!
We still have a few more spots needed to be filled in CMC committee! Club nights, Instruction and Mid-week Climbing are all vacant and need YOUR ENERGY to bring these important services to the club.
Please email secretary@cmc.net.nz or president@cmc.net.nz if you're interested in being a part of the committee for next year, or want to know more. We're a friendly bunch and always keen for new faces and ideas.
🗻Amazon Peak - CMC Club Trip
Ben Ellis led a superb club trip to Amazon Peak (2486m) last weekend, which is nestled in the heart of CMC country in the Armoury Range. The team of 8 experienced crisp mornings, wet boots, a high snowy biv, classic early winter (bit of everything) conditions and the you-know-what skies. The team owe a big thanks to Erewhon Station for allowing access over their land.
Paul Hersey also attended this trip and will be considering its inclusion in his new Grade 1 and 2 mountaineering guidebook that he has been slaving over.
💰CMC Expedition Fund
The CMC is proud to support members to undertake mountaineering expeditions in New Zealand and overseas. Each year the fund provides the winning applicant with $1000 in funding for a mountaineering expedition. Last year’s fund went to Jamie and Ben for their Peru trip.
Expedition Fund applications are open again for 2024! You have 6 weeks to get your submission in, applications close June 26.
To sign up, head to the CMC Expedition Fund page, download the form and email it off. Very easy!
Need some inspiration for your expedition? South American Andes is a great place for a first expedition: Peru, Bolivia, Chile. Climbing trip to Patagonia or Canadian Rockies. Alaskan Ranges. Himalaya… Check out the CMC Mountaineer Journal archives for ideas.
✍️CMC Trip Reports
I will be posting trip reports on here as they come in to share our members’ alpine heroics. Have you been on a mountain adventure lately? Get your story published in the new CMC Substack!
Catch up on some of our recent articles:
📖Canterbury Westland Alps Guidebook Update
The Canterbury Westland Alps cover all the mountain ranges between Aoraki/Mt Cook and Arthur's Pass. The Canterbury Westland Alps guidebook, compiled by Geoff Spearpoint and Yvonne Cook, was last released in 2010. It is now due for an update. Geoff Spearpoint needs the community's help to revise the book with all the latest changes of the last 14 years.
Geoff is in especially interested in:
New routes
Topographical changes to the mountains, such as rockfall or glacial changes
Changes to access routes: slips, scrub growth on access routes
If you have any information at all, please get in touch with Geoff Spearpoint, ggeeooffss@gmail.com.
📸Photo Competition - Aurora
This month’s crowd-voted photo comp is for those bright lights that appeared over the weekend. I am still processing through the stages of denial, anger and grief that I missed them, but if you (or your camera) saw them I’m really happy for you. Vote below for your favourite shot captured by your fellow CMC members:
Clockwise from top-left: Tom Garden, Ryan Domenico De Dominicis, Peter Taylor, Shaz Davis.
🧗Climbs Log
CMC Members are still out there clocking summits through the shoulder season, and recording them on the CMC Climbs Log, with some especially prolific members:
Peter Blakely recently climbed Earnslaw, Mt Travers and Fairie Queene
Lorraine Johns has been paragliding up a storm, flying off Mt Bowen, Mt Taylor, and climbing Tapuae-O-Uenuku, Mt Adams
Julia Valigore & Eric Skea ticked Mt Park and Mt Ambrose in the Mungo catchment in what must have been a wild west coast transalpine traverse.
If you have topped any summits, record them in the CMC Climbs Log!
📸Peter Blakely
❄️See you next month!
Winter is almost here, so avalanche conditions will soon become a key factor in deciding on our next alpine trip. Make sure to check MSC Avalanche Forecast before heading out.
Please send through any photos or trip reports through to publications@cmc.net.nz and I will post them up here in the next issue.
📸Ben Ellis
ℹ️CMC Information
About CMC News: The CMC News is the official journal of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club: PO Box 2415, Christchurch 8140. All feedback welcome – please email publications@cmc.net.nz.
Meetings: CMC Club nights are held on the third Thursday every month in the Clubroom upstairs at Pioneer Sports Stadium, Lyttelton Street, Spreydon. Turn up 7pm for socialising, 7.30pm start. Beer and other drinks are usually available for the donation of a gold coin. Any suggestions for club nights email clubnights@cmc.net.nz.
Facebook Group: Check out the CMC Facebook Group to see member’s photos and general discussion.
Instagram: Check out what CMC members have been up to on the CMC Instagram.
Website: Head to www.cmc.net.nz for club information: hut payments, membership, trips, climbs log & more.
