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Previous
Expeditions
Survival Shelters
Early prospectors and explorers have traditionally
depended solely on their experience for survival above
the snowline. They sought the forest for shelter. Recent
advances in waterproof clothing, micro-porous materials
and insulated sleeping mats allow for more exposed and
extended bivouacs. Mountaineers can now climb four
seasons, on extended time, self-contained trips through
rugged terrain in relative comfort. However, nylon tents
can be flattened in gale force winds. A twisted ankle can
turn a midwinter afternoon excursion into a forced
overnight bivou ac or longer.
Mountain Survival
The effect of body heat loss has long been appreciated,
old timers wisely wrapped an extra piece of wool around
their abdomen and lay with their backs to the fire to
maintain core warmth. The Scott South pole expedition
photos reveal a lot of heavy balaclavas to reduce head
heat loss. Driving wind and rain rapidly deplete body
heat supplies prompting shivering, slurring of speech and
irrational behaviour. To force a person to continue to a
distant hut may risk exhaustion, s erious hypothermia,
unconsciousness and even death. White out conditions on a
glacier may force a party to stop, rather than risk
unseen cliffs.
Bivouac
A forced bivouac can be more bearable by gaining wind and
rain shelter, putting on dry clothes and ado pting the
huddle position. Survival in exposed situations is
greatly enhanced with a bivouac bag, stove and insulating
mat. It is now common for people to survive days, using
natural protection, minimum tools and personal experience
to sit out a storm in a "bivouac" shelter.
Turning Back
However, if the storm persists it may have been wiser
choice to have avoided the bivouac, and turned back
earlier.
Rock Bivouacs
Rock bivouacs in the form of a large overhanging rock or
boulder can provide the simplest form of shelter. The
most common are large boulders called erratics, the
remnants of past glacial action. When deciding on a
suitable rock, look at the prevailing wind direction and
evidence of water under the rock. The ideal roof is one,
which slopes towards the entrance and diverts drips. Look
for water signs, such as moss, calcite or water stains.
These could reduce the shelter to a "two dry, two
wet" sleeping berth in middle of the night. Water
channels on the floor are a sure sign of a potential moat
i n the making. A stone wall can provide protection from
wind driving rain. Dry grass makes an excellent mattress
and insulator from the cold rock. The type of shelter
constructed usually depends on whether the bivouac is
intentional or forced.
Lightning is an awe inspiring atmospheric phenomena.
The light channel we observe is the charge returning from
the ground to the cloud generation and is approximately
7cm -10cm wide. When descending off a peak in an
electrical storm, ridge tops and lone trees should b e
avoided. If sheltering in a deep rock bivouac, sit deep
inside, on pack or rope and avoiding contact with the
walls. If on a ledge, huddle on outer edge. Stay out of
depressions, overhangs and small caves as the current may
short cut across the climber.
Constructing Shelters
Snow shelters can be weatherproof, but often laborious to
build. The type of shelter constructed is dependent on
the terrain, the weather and snow texture. Antarctic
conditions differ considerably from those found in the
maritime Southern Alps. The different types of snow
shelters are:
A Bergschrund - Requires minimum digging time, but care
should be taken to ensure the floor is solid and not part
of a lower crevasse.
Snowcave - Should be built on a steep, avalanche free
slope with safe run-out below. Snow Trench-A quick, cold,
out of the wind slot. At risk from heavy & drifting
snow. Snow Mound- Can be moulded on the flat
(Antarctica). Preferred in winter weather than summer
This traditional residence of the Canadian Inuit can be
quickly built by experienced people using drifted snow
with good bonding texture. They should be kept to about
two metres in diameter. The walls slant snail-like
inwards and upwards to keep the roof height low. A rough
shelter for 2 people can be completed in two hours. The
best building snow is fine grained, wind-transported snow
found in drifts. A 40cm pruning saw makes the block
cutting easy. Place each block on a gentle spiral, all
owing one side of the a new block to rest on it's
predecessor. Care taken with cutting in joints makes for
a longer lasting, warmer igloo. Finishing the roof
requires some patience and delicate block placement to
avoid collapse. Igloos are preferred for w inter
conditions. Summer firn snow bonds poorly; it's high
water content makes for heavy work and high daytime
temperatures or rain may result in a roof collapse.
Snow Trench A snow trench is quick to construct on a flat
snow expanse, if the snowpack is light in density. Snow
blocks must be cut to close it over. The shoveling and
snow disposal is relatively easy. The trench opening
should be kept as narrow as convenient to shovel snow
blocks as cut to close it over. The entrance hole can be
closed with a p ack. Adequate air ventilation is critical
when cooking to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. This is
not a shelter to use if heavy, drifting snow is expected.
Snow Mound
If there is insufficiently deep snow to construct a
trench, building a snow mound i s fast and efficient,
providing you have plenty of shovel power. It has found
considerable popularity in Antarctica, because of its
flat terrain power snow and thin snow cover. \par The
snow mound is constructed by piling some packs in a heap
and shoveling sno w on top. It should be about 3 metres
in diameter and 1 and 1/2 to 2 metres high. The final
30cm is packed down firmly to form the roof. An
excavation is made in its side to retrieve the packs and
enlarge the internal cavity. A tunnel or igloo entrance
be low the floor level can be used. The snow mound is
suited to overnight emergencies; polar and winter
conditions. Initially the shell is fragile, but rapidly
hardens over several hours. Snowcave
In summer conditions, a snowcave is the most functional
form of shelter. For an overnight stay, digging time
dictates a crude hole. A comfortable four-person snowcave
takes about 4-5 hours to dig in summer snow. In the
winter snow that time can be halved. The ideal siting is
a steep, avalanche free slope, like a short snow bank or
windscoop. The entrance is angled upwards to the main
cave to facilitate debris removal and warmth retention. A
plastic sheet helps snow removal. If the snowcave is
being built for an extended summer stay, a long tunnel
and over a metre o f snow on the roof is required to
allow for snow melt.. Doming and smoothing the roof will
avoid water drips and allow for wall drainage. For
extended stays the comfort level is increased by using a
sleeping bag cover of micro-porous fabric and an insulati
ng pad. Snowcaves are the favoured form of accommodation
in extreme mountain wind conditions.
Due to the energy expenditure at high altitude in the
Himalayas, tents are preferred to snowcaves. Care needs
be taken to avoid breaking the snow shovel in froze n
rain crusts. Use it as a spade and avoid leverage.
Shovels with strengthening ribs are more robust than the
classic wide flat bladed avalanche shovel.
Caution: climbers have slipped to their death from
exposed entrances when wearing over boots.
The
Copland Pass by Geoff Wayatt
Recent debate over the future of
Hooker hut and collapsing moraine walls has brought the Copland Pass crossing into the
spotlight. Mountain Guide, Geoff Wayatt has been guiding
people over the Pass since 1966. In this article he describes the classic
alpine crossing and changes.
It's a physically tough journey and weather dependent,
requiring some mountain skills. The actual Pass is
glaciated, crevassed and bounded by rock ridges being one
of the highest non-technical routes across the Southern
Alps. In adverse weather the steep, loose, scree slopes
can be icy and treacherous; storm conditions can make the
crossing impassable. Yet, in past summers hundreds of
people have successfully crossed the Pass, usually from
east to west. For experienced trampers unfamiliar with
ice axe, rope and crampon skills the crossing becomes
feasible by hiring the services of a professional
mountain guide. Guiding companies have stopped providing
a two-day drop-off service to the west of the Pass,
however groups gain considerably from guiding assistance
for the whole four-day trip.
Over the past decade washouts on the
Hooker Glacier moraine wall have made the route a more
serious mountaineering undertaking. Parties must have ice
axe, rope and crampon skills or the assistance of a Guide
for the whole 4-day trip. The rewards for the effort are
both spectacular and dramatic; from close up
awe-inspiring views of Mt. Cook to the immense rock
walls, hanging glaciers and turbulent streams on the
Westland side of the Alps.
What it's like and how long it
takes
Details included here are the main features and
locations. The times have been averaged over several
trips over a decade. A party should seriously consider
whether their fitness level is adequate for the crossing,
based on time taken to Fitzgerald stream.
Mt Cook campground (730m) to
Fitzgerald Stream. (1,000m)
Time: 3-4hrs Elevation gain: 270m.
A well graded track leads past the Hooker river swing
bridges. After another 30 mins walking, the track reaches
the Hooker Glacier terminal lake. Here the track
deteriorates. The old track along the terrace unusable
due to large washouts. Two options exist:
1:Follow the western bouldered
shoreline of Lake Hooker travelling along the moraine
covered glacier to the outflow fan of Fitzgerald stream.
The route involves 30 minutes of scrambling close to the
splashing waves of the milky lake water dotted with ice
lumps. Above the lake looms a steep, unstable moraine
wall, not a place to linger or tackle when raining. The
old Hooker hut sits renovated but almost inaccessible on
a vegetated terrace south of Fitzgerald stream. Bounded
by like moraine walls like a Tibetan monastery, it's
future on the site is short, bleak and lonely, the famed
ghost of Hooker hut possibly being it's only regular
visitor.
2: A five-six hour alternative is possible via the
east Hooker terraces to opposite the Copland Ridge. A steep, bouldery
moraine gully descent, is followed by a crossing of the Hooker glacier
moraine and another further moraine clamber to the ridge base.
Fitzgerald Stream to Copland
Shelter (1830m)
Access onto the Copland ridge involves travelling further
up the glacier to the next stream to gain access via a
slumping terrace and steep scree slope. This was route
was used in the 1970's by climbers returning to Hooker
hut from the upper glacier. The long scrubby and
bouldered terrace at the base of the ridge is one of the
proposed new sites for Hooker hut. I appears relatively
stable and fulfill the removal of the hut to an alternate
close site and retain a strategicall y placed hut for the
Copland Pass crossing. Tenting or bivouacing is possible
here. A large scree slope leads to a steep, scrubby rock
ridge weaving up through outcrops and short faces and
scree leads to the Copland Shelter. The barrel shaped
shelter has bunk space for four and watertank. Built as
an emergency shelter it is sited just below the pass on
an exposed ridge. It now provides the only shelter
between Mt. Cook village and Douglas Rock hut.
Shelter to Copland Pass (2150m)
Time: 1 hour Elevation: 320m
Ice Axe, Crampons & rope are used from here to the
Pass and crevasse conditions necessitate caution.
Traverse behind the hut to the snow shoulder and climb to
the north of the rock ridge. The actual pass is an
obscure low point in the jagged ridge a ccessed by a snow
traverse for 100m. Above a large bergschrund(crevasse).
Copland Pass to Douglas Rock Hut
Time: 6-7 hours Elevation drop: 1450m
Descend a 50m steep rock gully on the West Coast side,
followed by a long scree slope into snow basin. Cross a
large rock moraine at a notch and descend left into a
lower snow basin. There a large rock (Elev. 1700m) in the
basin which can provide some shelter and visual
reference. A long scree slope emerges into a cairned
route, which crosses the stream above a waterfall to the
zigzags (1100m) and alpine herbfields. A well-formed
track, apart from stream and avalanche washouts leads to
Douglas Rock Hut (700m) at the corner of the valley,
nestled in the first patch of fuschia forest. It is worth
regular stops t o absorb the ambience of this part of the
valley and the superb seasonal flower showings.
Douglas Rock Hut to Welcome Flat
Hut
Time: 3 hours Elevation drop: 325m.
Immediately cross the Tekano stream suspension bridge and
sidle on a slippery benched track a bove the Copland
River gorge. After 1-1/2 hr walking, the valley opens out
at the unbridged Scott's creek crossing. Some easy
walking under the rata covered ramparts of Mt. Sefton and
Scott's peak lead to Welcome Flat hut and it's hot
springs shortly afte r crossing the Copland River bridge
at the end of the Flat.
Welcome Flat to West Coast Road
Time: 5-6 hours Elevation drop: 355m.
The track improves steadily on the two-hour descent to
Architect Creek. Most of the significant streams have
flood bridge s. There are superb glimpses of the rugged
peaks, slippery, shiny quartz-lined boulders while moving
through vibrant and enveloping forest growth. Shortly
after the halfway point at Pick and Shovel Flat, the
track noticeably improves due to a bygone era of
horseback access. The Karangarua Bridge on Highway 6 is
first sighted 40 minutes from the carpark at Rough Creek,
which has a flood bridge 30 minutes upstream. An
intentions/signout box is available plus camping for
sandfly and mosquito hardened trave lers. A vehicle track
leads 100m to Highway 6 and bus shelter. It's the end of
the classic alpine tramp, finishing at 50m elevation and
a mere 20klm from the Tasman Sea.
ACCESS
INFORMATION:
Pass and track condition can be obtained from the Dept.
of Conservation Field Centre at Mt. Cook (Ph: (3)435 1818
or the Fox Glacier Field Centre - Ph:(3)751 0807. HUTS:
Copland Shelter (4 bunks) Douglas Rock Hut
(benches/10 persons) & Welcome Flat Hut
(Floor-mattresses/40 persons) All the
huts are radio equipped for weather updates and
emergencies. Personal cooking equipment must be carried.
Maps: NZMS 1S78 Bruce Bay & 1S79 Mt. Cook
Copland
Pass
A personal glimpse over a few
decades by Geoff Wayatt
The happy Mesdemoiselles
" Allo? My name is Louise. I'm from Quebec and I
would like to cross the Copland Pass with my girlfriend.
Can you help?" "Go away and get fit; fitter
than you've ever been in your life and you'll have a
ball." I hadn't been on the Copland track since my
first guiding season in the Sixties. The trip for the
girls was to be the icing on the cake of their six-week,
New Zealand tramping holiday. It would also have personal
significance for me: Another life circle completed; a
renaissance and a return to guide where I started 27
years ago.
They were excited about their proposed
adventure when we met, but nervous about their skills and
fitness. "It's why we want to hire a mountain guide
for the difficult part," said Claudine, a chunky
29-year-old nurse from France. The buoyancy of the bubbly
pair appeared higher when I said I was the oldest
mountain guide in the country! I had meant to say - most
experienced! No, it wasn't why they had come to me -
every one else was fully booked. Their concerns about
heavy rainfall and swollen rivers eased when I offered my
guiding apprentice for the whole journey to the West
Coast.
I then told my son, Chris: "It's a
good opportunity to practise your French!"
There must be worse ways to fund your way through Varsity
than escorting two effervescent clients through the
magnificent alpine flora and lush rainforest of the
Copland valley. Seventeen enthusiasts lined up at Hooker
hut for the night with several of us sleeping on the
snowgrass terrace under the "alpenglow of Aoraki
(Mt. Cook) and the galactic splendour of our starlight
hotel. Our group expectation was as high as the
barometer. For the French ladies, it was to be a great
adventure\'85.
The warm Hong Kong mountaineers
For the group from the Mountaineering Club of Hong Kong a
month later the Pass crossing was a gruelling 13-hour
wilderness effort to reach Douglas Rock hut. A snowstorm
hit as we reached the pass. The scree descent was like
being on an upended billiard t able full of black and
white balls. Good tramping fitness, brand new New Zealand
made storm clothing and the guide's route knowledge made
their crossing possible. "Are you cold?" I
yelled in Chan's ear. "Six layers on top, three
layers on legs, no-I'm hot!" he replied as we
descended the zigzags in driving sleet!
The family
The images of an off season trip in May with my wife,
Beryl and two Christchurch friends are cherished. We had
a brilliant Pass crossing day; crisp weather and
challenging snow con ditions. Wendy abseiled for the
first time in thirty years. Beryl struggled with the flu
and lack of fitness, but made it. Lying, eyes closed in
the hot pools I recalled the Hooker valley, at once being
in a gigantic, monotonous quarry-like moraine, then
glancing up to the most dramatic scenery in the world -
Aoraki! With eyes opened, through the steam stood the
snow stilettos of Sefton and Scott's peak and a giant
rainbow bridged the valley wall apart.
The Copland's still the best!
In late February, undeterred by talk of the Copland
being too dangerous and not guided, Journalist Mike
White, Doctor Neil Binns and Pharmacist Rob Roy of Picton
found me willing guide their 4 day mini-mountaineering
expedition. Responding to questions of doubt, I said
"The skills and fitness levels are a bit more
demanding," "
The route-finding on the Hooker glacier is
more critical for me, and without the Hooker hut use,
more fitness and reasonable weather is required." We
arrived at the robust tiny barrel shelter, strapped to a
knife edged promontory in 6 hours. During the night it
rained, so our morning Pass views were mist, opening
later into the dramatic upper valley and cloud shrouded
peaks.
The next day at Welcome Flat, Hame the
hut warden recalled his morning drama. H e 'd finally
dispatched a German male who'd been making molesting
gestures to several women over a 5 day period. The Haast
Police Constable conducted a dawn raid along with the
unflapable helicopter pilot, James Scott of Karangarua to
escort the groper from the valley.
To re-join our vehicles at Mt. Cook, it
was expedient to engage James Scott, who's family in
years past provided horses to weary Copland walkers. It
whisked us up the U shaped valley, past flashes of red
rata on green-grey schist walls . Below an emerald
moraine lake, the zigzags, then the Pass was dragged into
view. Seconds later we plummeted past the minute barrel
and into the Hooker valley. It took only fifteen minutes
to overfly our four day effort. Like a duster sweeping
across a chalkboard full of words, the detail of each
step was replaced briefly by a birds-eye image of two
contrasting valleys and diverse climate zones linked by a
high and challenging Pass.
Geoff Wayatt PO Box 204, Wanaka, NZ
Phone/Fax: (03) 443 7330
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