things that rule

Just caught up with this thread after a couple of months.

Chch Rangers I am loving these recounts of your climbing adventures, keep em coming!

My brother goes on very similar adventures and loves it. Often has similarly spectacular photos and stories to tell. For a second I even wondered if he was your "gooner" until the photos got close up hahahaha. 

He actually mastered his craft in the Tararuas as we grew up in Upper Hutt, and dragged me on the odd ramble, I am sure you would love it there when you eventually go. 

Having said that, my brother always said the southern alps was the place to be, and he often goes down there, so I think it will be a step down in difficulty for you coming up here, bar for a couple of spots. 

Hey thats cool about your brother. Yes I have never been to the Tararua's but really want to get there one day for a look. I am interested in Alpine plants and flowers and apparently the North Island Edelweiss can be found in the Tararuas. 

We have the South Island variety down here but the North Island flower looks way bigger, so one day I plan to seek them out in the Tara's for sure.

Don't under estimate the dangers that can be found in the Tararuas either: they have claimed a fair few lives over the years!

Have been hanging out to get into the southern alps for another trip for weeks now but the weather has been terrible in the weekends so have had to cancel my trips. Have another trip planned for the coming weekend but again the forecast looks dire.

Below pic is taken from a trip last year. thats me with the flag :D and another pic from arthurs pass

Yes the danger is there, an ever-present. 

I never used to think about that much as a youngster, but one time when I was 17, staying at Kime Hut, which is at very high altitude, we went and checked out the view from a wee summit about 5 minutes away from the Hut, after the sun had gone down. 

We were checking out the amazing view of the stars, and it was perfectly clear. Then out of absolutely nowhere, it clouded over, and the weather changed like you wouldn't believe. Went from clear and mild to absolutely zero visibility, freezing, and galeforce winds, in literally 30 seconds. It was unbelievable.

We all sort of just laughed about it, and took off down to the Hut for shelter. But up there, there are no trees, only a bit of tussock, the track is not clearly marked, just little rock cairns or markers every 50 or 100 metres or so. We literally got lost just a few metres from the Hut, in the freezing cold, with most of us wearing very little clothing. We had to all huddle back together and assess the situation. Luckily we had a large group, in the end we held hands and spread out, and just slowly walked until someone bumped into a cable holding the Hut down! 

It was a real eye opener as to how things can go wrong very quickly. A number of people have died in that area due to bad visibility and freezing conditions. They don't call Kime Hut "the fridge" for no reason! 

Had an epic trip up Mt Aicken in Arthurs Pass yesterday. Lots of fresh snow and avalanche risk was high so we had to be super cautious. Wind chill was bitterly cold but luckily the weather was dry!

heading to the summit:

Summit achieved then head for home!

Awesome stuff

The views are amazing

Rudan laying the law down, getting a winning squad together and helping us be successful?

Behemoth Brewing Company and the "Dump the Trump" saga!

Behemoth will make so much money out of this - cannot buy this kind of publicity!

Story Here!

Having a coach

Seether at Shed 6 last night and getting to meet the band beforehand

Sir John Rowles is a busy man even now. When asked if he would be going to Government House, he replied... "If I only had time..."

Sincere congratulations Sir John.

Had a great bouldering session up near Castle Hill in the weekend. Cold as: even had icicles hanging off some of the rocks

Haha, that's how John rolls..

I asked him if he'd like to share a banana with me and he said "I could turn that into a decent song."

Had another awesome trip up Arthurs pass yesterday in perfect snow conditions. Mt Philistine

The rescuing of the Thai football kids missing for 9 days in the caves.

Also, the crewman whom fell overboard from one cruise liner and wasn't missed, was picked up 24 hours later by a 2nd cruiser liner that actually managed to see him - alive.

Michael Venus. Into Wimbledon doubles final.

My favourite Scene in Waynes World. Be honest, who's tried to replicate it at Maccas???

Getting to spend my 40th Birthday with Phil Collins!

Ask him why did he ditch QPR to become a plastic Chelsea fan!!

Unicorns

Scott Dixon winning his 5th Indy Car title. Probably one of the most unsung sports stars in this country who doesn't really get the recognition he deserves.

He is now 2nd only to AJ Foyt's 7 titles on the all-time list.

I wonder why he never went for F1 though?

He tried several years ago but was never going to get a ride with a team who could challenge for the title or afford him. In F1 the difference between the haves and have not's is massive. You can earn a fortune and challenge for the title with Ferrari or pay a fortune and struggle to get points with Williams and Dixon was always going to have to do the later. 

We see with Hartley how hard it is for even a top driver to transition to a lower order team.

Rulers

People who use rulers

People who are rulers

Princess Diana was disappointed with Prince Charles cause she thought every ruler had 12".

...only to find that in keeping with EU regs he'd gone metric.

I would have considered Camilla to be imperial...

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(Unintellgibile)

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BOOOM

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SCHEW

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FADE

''I say old girl, let's play You're the Riches and I'm the Rags.''

The international break being over.

Winning

Not losing

and a clean sheet

It's still the 30th October in the US of A. That means only one thing - October 30 1960 was Jack Reacher's birthday. Happy 58th Jack.