Nettlebed Camera Rescue Jan 22

This is the story of a successful cave rescue despite a 92 day response time! To explain:

Back in October I led a two-day trip through Nettlebed Cave; down Blizzard Pot, "overnighting" at Salvation Hall, then heading out the Nettlebed entrance 890m below the Blizzard Pot entrance. On the second day, at some point between Ancient Briton and Rockfall K, I managed to lose my waterproof camera. Carefully reconstructing my memories of where my pack was open led me to determine the bottom of the Overlander to be the most likely place to find it. Here I dropped my pack into the small streamlet at the base of the pitch and it was picked up by someone else in the party. Perhaps the camera could have fallen out here. As we were pressed to get out of the cave before our callout time and join the first night of the NZSS AGM, steps were not retraced and we headed out. This camera had some important photos on it pertaining to my PhD research as well as some other photos I would rather not lose (not to mention the camera!).

Luckily two separate groups were planning Nettlebed trips in the next two weeks so I gave a detailed description of the camera and where it could have been lost. Rewards were offered. Unfortunately both trips were canceled and my camera sat, hopefully, safely and quietly in the depths.

Months passed by. Months during which some photos of hard to reach rock outcrops were sorely missed. Nettlebed remained unvisited; a camera sat. It is a horrible thing to know where something is but to realize there are formidable obstacles between it and you (like a ten hour drive, a steep bush tramp, and several hours of caving).

January arrives and I find myself on the Ellis Basin expedition, all too aware of my proximity to my camera. I hiked out over the tops to Flora Saddle. So close! The next time I could be up this way could be a long time off. I set a callout time and got an early start the next morning.

Call to action! Rescue initiated! Scattered showers all night ensured a long hike through wet bush. I was drenched before long. Going downhill I found that I had veered off the markers on the ridge which amounted to an extra hour traversing obstacled bush to get back on track. After some time, I arrived at the Nettlebed entrance where an ominous fog emanated from the darkness. Luckily my in-cave navigation was far more effective and I had no trouble finding my way in other than some modest navigational wonderment initially finding the Prickly Tube. I passed through the slight constriction beneath the Overlander and intently searched my way up the stream. There, on a rock in the middle of the stream in its black neoprene case, I found my camera resting quite happily. I was thrilled to not have to return empty-handed (or to put on SRT gear and go further into the cave).

I made it back to the entrance in 45 minutes. The water level in the Pools and Ducks were very low and the dry gum boots were much appreciated. The Hinkle Horn Honking Holes were raging unlike I have experienced before. My small pack size made the squeezes quite easy to pass. I acted the part of a wet sponge on the slog back up the hill as lightning and thunder and torrential rain were apparently localized directly overhead. I have never before seen waterfalls dripping off individual trees before!

What was seen as a chore actually turned out to be quite enjoyable in the end. Somewhat amazingly, after charging the battery and allowing the camera to defog, the camera still works like new!

As the camera battery was thoroughly dead after sitting in a cold stream for three months, no pictures were taken. I realized it was kind of hard to take a photo of being joyously reunited with a camera anyway. Shown here are some recovered Nettlebed photos from the October trip.

Crystal Pool

The Salvation Hall couch

Ellis Basin Cave Expedition Jan 9-21

I emerged from the Red Hills and enjoyed less than 24 hours of civilization before I was off again to be flown into the Ellis valley with a team of 5 other cavers. Our goal was to push the Ellis Basin Cave System past its 775m depth to over 1km.

With the cave extending under 1800m peaks and a resurgence dived to an elevation of about 90m, the cave has a substantial potential for an internationally significant cave, let alone the greatest depth potential of any known cave in New Zealand. This is easier said than done as all the passages at the bottom of the cave are sumped (i.e. filled to the roof with water) and the highest portions of the cave require bolt climbs up walls of tricky and loose rock. The cave is one of the most physically demanding I have ever been in.

This expedition would last 3 weeks and was well-funded which allowed several trips with the helicopter to ferry our mountain of gear up to the Ellis. We set up camp in a beautiful bit of bush conveniently located next to the stream and the routes to the cave's entrances. Our camp was quite plush; we had a 3-room tent, generator, gas lanterns, whiteboards, a wall-sized map of the cave, a laptop, solar panels, and even a solar shower. We were well-stocked with caving gear (over 500m of rope, 200 carabiners and 50m of PVC pipe) and with copious amounts of food.

Above: View from North Twin along the Arthur Range. Tablelands in background. Note person at center right.

Ready for pickup. Arthur Range in background.

The entrance series in Exhalabur drops over 200m on rope. Several more pitches, handlines, climbs and traverses exist before pleasant walking passage gave way to a formation squeeze which soon after finds you in the top of a deep canyon passage with the main stream thundering below. The main streamway was wet and sporty with waterfalls and pools to avoid as best as possible. The cave has a little bit of everything.

I exited the cave on the first full day completely destroyed and it took me quite some time to do a simple task like dressing in dry clothes and to feel human again (I had not felt this spent since the 4 day Bulmer Cavern trip I did in 2006). To my relief it was not just me- the whole team felt the same- and the next day was declared a rest day. Because we had a lot of hard out days of caving, we also had a lot of rest days. Rest days were spent either improving camp (chairs, tables, irrigation and a fire pit) or scrambling around on the karst. I could have met my death when a few of us were scrambling up Winter Peak. One of the other two was 50m directly above me when he managed to dislodge a car engine-sized rock. I immediately reverted to adrenaline-fueled instinct and according to the third person, he had never seen anyone move so fast over such uneven terrain. I took off at a full sprint laterally. The rock broke into 10 bowling ball-sized blocks, each of which could have killed, a few of which just narrowly missed me. I spent quite some time sitting in an odd hyperactive stupor until the drugs wore off. Pretty exciting for a rest day!

Enjoying camp on a rest day

The second full day into the cave we carried 50m of 3" PVC pipe to the bottom of the cave to try to drain a sump. Some of the team spent quite some time trying to get the siphon going with very little success. Meanwhile I was getting bored and cold so I started to wander around. I found a small streamlet flowing over a flowstone waterfall so I ran back to get a rope. Once down the short drop the only way on was through a low hole between formations underneath the flowstone I came down. Through the gap was a deep blue pool of crystal clarity that on closer inspection could just barely be skirted using ledges and formations. Once past this gateway, every step was pure never-before-seen delight- beautiful crystal pools, sparkling white flowstone, large curtains and stals and large pendants with bulbous ends from being dipped in former pools, all in a tall canyon passage. I continued until the passage turned into a steeply-descending flowstone-floored tube. It was going down!

In Pipe Dream (photo by Kieran McKay)

I ran back to get the others and told them to stop draining the sump. We moved the piping to drain the 1001 Bucket Sump, which when lower, would provide us with a significant shortcut bypassing the main streamway. We then split into two groups, mine to continue exploring and the second to follow by surveying. My discovery went 300m straight east (good) to yet another sump (bad). I decided to call this passage "Pipe Dream" because of the amusement with the PVC pipes and because of our hope that it would lead us deeper. It is the most beautiful passage I have seen in the cave. We also found abundant evidence that this cave floods up to 150m above the lowest known part! I do not know of any other cave in the world where this can happen.

Since this sump was now the most promising lead, the others dragged dive gear and our diver dove the sump. The same day I hiked out to head back to Dunedin. That evening I found out that they were hiking out to get wetsuits which piqued my interest so I stuck around. It turned out the sump was only 3m long with going passage on the other side so they were planning on free diving it. Desperately wanting to know where my passage went and wanting to be a part of its exploration, I repacked all my gear I just painstakingly cleaned and flew back in with the others. And so less than 24hours after hiking out I found myself back on the mountain. Coming back was a bit surreal.

Armed with wetsuits we free dove the sump the following day. For being only 3m long, I felt a whole world away being on the other side of it. This passage continued in a huge assortment of passage dimensions with several pools to cross and beautiful formations in abundance. Unfortunately we were greeted by the most spectacular sump pool I have ever seen. It was a deep crystal blue pool, 34m long and more than 9m deep. We were not going to be able to free dive this one! We surveyed over 500m of passage in this area that became known as Wet Dream.

In Wet Dream (photo by Kieran McKay)

We also checked leads in a wet and muddy area called Death By Chocolate and some climbing leads near 1001 Bucket Sump. We then shifted our focus to the top of the cave, attempting to re-find a cave known simply as EK3010 (which turned into a nice alpine karst appreciation day) and rigging the Tomo Thyme entrance series. We then went into Tomo Thyme to try some climbs in a wet and very cold part of the cave known ironically as Blue Hawaii. Here we hid under an alcove as a shower of rocks bounced around us from the climber working his way up the loose rock.

Exploring an undescended shaft

I left to hike out the next day, but several more discoveries were made in the final week of the expedition. Although no deeper, several great advances were made that will probably lead to a crucial connection or two soon.

Atop the north Twin

Some views of the alpine karst:

Red Hills Jan 5-8

I spent four days helping my advisor Virginia (along with two other students) with some fieldwork on the ultramafic mantle rocks of the Red Hills. This time around we opted to hike in via the Gordon Range to the west, which was a nice hike in as it only gained about 450m in elevation and had over 4km of hiking along an alpine ridge with sweeping views all the way to the sea. The route then rapidly descends to the headwaters of the Motueka River before climbing again. We stayed in the Hunters Hut, which was a great luxury over camping up on the wind-swept ridges like last year.

The weather started nice (albeit windy!), allowing us to hike over to the far side of the Red Hills to fill in a transect we did not cover last time around. The rocks are frequently magnetized (by lightning or magnetite), requiring two people to take a simple measurement. Luke was able to download weather forecasts onto his iPhone on top of the ridges, which was a little surreal. The lee side of the rock outcrops were the best studied...As the weather deteriorated, we started working at lower elevations closer to the hut. The other three stuck around for a for more days so I hiked out alone, leaving the comfort of the hut under light rain and threatening clouds. The return hike required a gruesome 800m elevation gain. The whole alpine section I hiked into strong winds, hail and snow, which was cold, but at least kept me dry.

Oddly enough I was in the Red Hills a year ago to the day, so it turned out to be a nice trip for some self-reflection on the past year. It was a good trip for me, as a few key observations made these bizarre rocks make a little more sense to me this time around.

Red Hills in right distance from the Gordon Range

Haast Pass Canyoning Dec 29-Jan 1

29th: Mather Creek. The first day's plans to go up Stewart Creek (an all day epic) were quickly abandoned once we saw the high water level on the waterfall visible from the road. Somehow our plan B evolved to check out Mather Creek, an undescended creek with significantly more flow. We battled our way through the steep bush of Hopeless Spur, gaining the most prominent glacial terrace and sidling our way into the creek above the distinctive slip. All this was easier said than done. The top part was quite nice- solid schist and some nice big jumps into deep potholes of clear blue-green water. Also some fun downclimbs and a couple rappels. The canyon then opened out into an amphitheater as we boulder-hopped down the creek to the next ominous narrows. We found a scary looking drop with some potentially nasty hydraulics so we bypassed it, realizing later that the rest of this stretch was mellow and would have been totally fine. We explored up from the bottom of this section so that we saw everything. A short way downstream found us at the top of the final waterfall, the best feature in the canyon- a 25m billowing waterfall with a 4m high mostly free-standing rock arch directly in front. The impressive force of the water is ejected through the arch, emitting spray everywhere. We returned by floating down the blue Haast River. Not the best canyon I have been in but a good adventure. Unless I am mistaken that was my first canyon first descent! Please pardon the quality of the photos as they were taken with an early generation point-and-shoot waterproof camera without a tripod. Photos of me were shot by Chucky or Lara.

30th: Wilsons Creek. Today we went down Wilsons Creek in moderately high flow. The approach was not too bad despite 350m vertical as the bush was quite open. An impressively steep and narrow spur found us at the stream. After enjoying an early lunch and a bit of sun, we headed downstream where the water abruptly funnels down a dark and narrow crevice booming with the sounds of angry water. The canyon stays deep and inescapable until the end with no shortage of frothy white water and beautifully cut black-and-white schist. All the rappels were great. There must have been some recent aggradation as Chucky pointed out 12m jumps he did a year ago into what is now not even waist deep water. We had to take care to avoid some potentially dangerous hydraulics at times. In places the canyon was less than 1m wide and probably 60m high- a true slot canyon! It was 4 hours of really enjoyable canyon and I didn't want it to end. A close contender with the next day's trip for the best New Zealand canyon I have been in! Afterward we drove around a little bit and scouted for some potential canyons- there are a few that look amazing and are calling to me.

31st: Phoebe Creek. Today was an epic full-on day of canyoning that had both Chucky and I grinning with pleasure and thrilled to be back with the living once we emerged. It is probably the best canyon I have been through in New Zealand. We had very little information (rumors really) to go off as we were likely the third trip down the canyon in 15 years. We made a couple errors in the approach with the result that we had to cross some rather steeply-incised drainages to get to where we wanted to be. It was a total 6 hour epic adventure from the beginning right to the end. The canyon was dark and intimidating, the waterfalls frothy and raging despite the moderate flow levels. Stunningly beautiful waterfalls of great variety- big rooster tails, single drops into chutes, corkscrews, low angle flumes, big overhangs, criss-crossing water streams- most of which were quite terrifying viewed from the top. The power of the water was not to be taken lightly! At one point the canyon drops under a giant chockstone into a gorgeous cathedral-like room with a great rappel entry. We dropped about 250m vertical in 12 rappels and numerous downclimbs. We both did a 5m jump into a 1m deep pool...the water is so clear depth can be deceptive at times. Most of the bolts were in pretty good shape for being 15 years old, but we still had to improvise some anchors. The canyon was the perfect length, very beautiful, very fun and provided just the right amount of terror. We were both giddy and relieved when we finally emerged from the canyon. One of the better ways to spend a New Years Eve.

1st: Cross Creek. The final day we made a group of six to go down a very low-flowing Cross Creek. This was to be a fun, easy pleasure trip to wrap up the 4 days. Although relatively open, this canyon is beautiful and seems to reveal a new feature or option each time it's visited. It sports nice waterfalls, beautiful deep pothole pools and a neat arch feature. I was able to jump, slide or downclimb all the obstacles but 3 (which were rappelled). The biggest jump was about 12m. I really need to find more canyons like this one (except maybe longer).

Swimming through the arch

Thanks to Lara for letting me borrow her camera. Thanks to Chucky for 4 solid days of fun.