Packing

With less than two weeks to go before we leave the challenge is how to fit all the gear into bags and stay within the weight and bag limits. My personal backpacking gear is well under the 23kg per bag maximum, thanks to only having a moderate sized pack. The ice gear, tent and kayaking dry suits are a different story - they're heavy and bulky and pushing the 23kg limit. I'm hoping to share a little between friends at the group packing session.

Playing with the Penguins

It is still almost 3 weeks until we leave, but we had our first experience of paddling amongst the penguins. Well sort of, as we saw two little blue penguins while we were out for a play on Wellington habour on Saturday.

Preparation

Training and preparation is an important part of any trip. Our first team weekend was at Mt Ruapehu. 120km/hr winds provided a great chance to experience the tougher side of expeditions. After a day of finding out why gloves need to be tied to jackets and crampons need to be correctly fitted before venturing out we settled down to practice crevice self extraction. After a glass or two of wine it seemed reasonably easy to ascend to the balcony in warm, comfortable conditions.

Here Frances is demonstrating prussic techniques and looking very relaxed.

Joy Training

Spring was the time to organise a team kayak day. If we had been more serious we would have organised this for mid winter, but we are not quite that serious.

Joy is the team kayak expert.

Testing the Blog site

We are hoping for lots of days like this. We have also seen a few photos of force 10 gales, but hope they will only occur briefly and occasionally.