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Heels 1978

Where Seagulls Dare

page 14

Where Seagulls Dare

I hitched down to Christchurch on a Newmans bus (on account of the rain) to find myself about a week early. So Rod and I pissed about for a few days, went on a little trip into the Cragieburns, drank sum piss, smoked some durries, and indulged in various other vices on the pretext of preparing for the trip. So when Ron arrived from Wellington I spent a day rushing around sewing and tying bits of rope and stuff together, etc.

when we finally got to Cook (courtesy of Ron's mini), we drove up and down the Ball Road a few times until we were able to stuff Ron's gear selectors. (Luckily a rock jumped onto the gear selectors on the second drive along the road or we might still be driving up and down trying to break the poor car).

The first night we bivied out in a natural shelter called Unwin. The next day we bowled up to Malte Brun Hut, had a durrie dinner, another durrie, and pawed through some stick books. A few days later we went up to some rock behind the hut in the drizzle to do some rock climbing. Ken decided to play kamikaze pilots and maliciously tried to jump on my head from an overhang about 15 feet up. Luckily I'd moved and Ken came down in a heap at our feet, spraining every imaginable joint on one side of his body.

This was rather unfortunate because the next day was all right for a climb and Ken didn't feel up to coming with us, so Rod, Ron, and I went. We climbed Malte via the west ridge and returned down Fyfe's couloir in a mere fourteen hours. Hence dinner of TVP and bed without a pit seemed quite pleasant.

Ron and Rod went up to Tasman Saddle a day or two later and had a couple of abortive attempts at Elie de Beaumont. Ken and I shot off back down to the Hermitage to catch the bus back to Christchurch.

I would like to make it clear that it is no reflection on the character of either of us that when we got back to the Hermitage, Ken went and had a shower while I went to the bar for a medicinal whisky or two.

Party: Ken Sullivan (NZAC), Ron Muir, Rod Gilman (GFAC), Geoff Gilman (GFAC).

- Geoff Gilman.

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