December 23

Deep Canyon Experience

I slept until 7:30, and was still the first up in my room. The climbers had been up very late. After breakfast, I went downtown to the Adventure Center to see if they had any interesting trips today. I was especially interested in their Deep Canyon Experience, which I had read about. They have many different trips available as well, for all sorts of activities. I met one girl there who was going kayaking.

I found that they still had space on the 9:30 AM canyoning trip, and signed up for $145 NZ. This is a full-day trip, involving rappeling, climbing, sliding and jumping down a stream in a steep, narrow canyon. It sounded really exciting. I was told to bring a bathing suit, towel and dry clothes, and that everything else would be provided. The lady at the desk said that some shoes were available, but I should have my own footwear if possible since the supply was limited. She said Teva sandals were good if the sole were adequate. I showed her the soles of the ones I was wearing, and she said they looked a bit worn, but I should ask the guide. A van would pick me up at the YHA.

I went back to the YHA, got a room for the night, changed to water shorts to wear under the wetsuit, and packed a change of clothes. Two guides and six customers arrived on the van at 9:45. We drove out of Wanaka along the lake and through some livestock fields. We got out of the van once and walked across a stream so that the van could cross safely. This creek was the one we would be canyoning down. The level was high, and they said this would make for a good trip. The canyon was just a deep, narrow crack in the hillside. We parked near the bottom and were issued our equipment: a full wetsuit, spray jacket, helmet, wetsuit socks, and climbing gear. The climbing gear included a harness with a sturdy seat built in and an attached locking carabiner and figure eight, together with pieces of webbing attached to two other non-locking carabiners for connecting to safety lines.

I asked about shoes, since I didn't want to get my hiking boots wet if possible. Some shoes were available, but none were big enough to fit over my wetsuit socks. The guides said the main problem with Tevas was that they could slip off, but that the soles on the ones I had should be fine, since they were very grippy, as long as they stayed on. I didn't think this would be a problem, since I had the amphibious model with buckles instead of velcro, which were designed to stay on in fast water. (Velcro doesn't work well in white water.) We started the steep climb up the hillside to the top of the canyon, wearing the harness, but carrying everything else bundled up in the spray jacket.

I was going to bring my waterproof disposable camera, but our guide had a camera and would sell photos for $3 each afterward, so I left mine in the van. I thought it would just get in the way otherwise. It was warm and sunny today, and I wore only water shorts and sandals on the climb up, but was still uncomfortably hot. I had no trouble with the climb, keeping up with the guide and talking to him on the way up. We stopped to rest a couple times.

When we got to the edge of the canyon, we had a steep climb down to the stream. The sides were slick and muddy, but ropes were placed to help keep our footing. I got a lot of mud between my toes, but the guide said not to worry since we would be at the river soon and could wash the mud off. When we got there, we put on our wetsuits and other equipment, and had some instruction on safety and rappeling techniques. We all practiced this on a gentle slope, and took a quick dip in the water to get wet. It was cold, even in the wetsuit.

We began with a slide into a pool below. The guide was worried about how my glasses would survive, but I told him I was wearing an old pair that I brought just for such activities, and they were held on with Croakies, so they should be fine. The only real problem was fogging from the cold water. At the next pool, we didn't slide in because of a grabby hydraulic at the base of the slide, but jumped over the froth into the pool instead.

Soon, we came to our first rappel, beside a small waterfall into the pool below. You never knew what was coming next on this trip: climbing, sliding, rappeling, or jumping into a pool. This kept it exciting. Eventually, we came to the "Gurgler", a 100 foot waterfall. Apparently, the expression "meeting the gurgler" has something to do with dying, and this inspired the name. As we approached the Gurgler, we latched our safety carabiners onto a succession of ropes bolted to the rock. The guide said to look over the edge as we approached, and it was a long way down, with a rainbow in the mist far below.

The next step required latching both our safety carabiners to a doubled rope rigged from the left side of the canyon, out over the falls, and across to the right side of a huge boulder wedged between the canyon walls above the falls. We grabbed the webbing attached to the carabiners, and pushed off the edge of the falls, sliding out across the chasm down to the wedged boulder. There was enough slope to help the sliding, but some pulling along the rope was needed to get across. The guide said to be sure to look down as we crossed, to see the water falling into the pool 100 feet below. I went first, after the guide, and waited on the far side of the boulder, clipped to a safety line, while the others crossed.

When we were all on the boulder, we had a break for tea and cookies. We would do it in reverse order, with the last person crossing the rope going first. The guide took a picture of the rappel, but his camera rewound, so there would apparently be no pictures from this trip. I was beginning to wish I had brought my little camera, since the canyon was impressive and it was a shame to have no pictures. I was last down the rope, and leaned over the edge to watch as I waited. It was a free rappel once you cleared the boulder, dropping through the spray of the falls between the canyon walls. The rope stopped ten feet above the pool at the bottom, and we just rappeled off the end, splashing into the pool. The spray was strong here, with a driving wind generated by the falls.

The next step was a dive into the next pool. It was a long way down, but deep, and the trick was that you had to jump out far enough to clear the cliff on the way down. I normally don't like diving, and had never done anything like this before, so this was the thing that made me most nervous so far. A strong jump was needed to get past the rocks on the way down, and I cleared the cliff by just inches.

Then came more climbing, sliding and diving, including one slide where you grab a rope strung across the top of the narrow, steep, drop, and let go. The final rappel started easily, straddling a waterfall, but then dropped over the edge, which was undercut, into the falls itself. The guide thought he should keep my glasses due to the intensity of the water from the falls, but I kept them and tried to shield them with my hand as I dropped under the water, an alternative the guide had suggested. The first person down belayed the others from the bottom pool.

On the way down, the force of the water on my upper body turned me upside down, or at least that is what I was told afterward, since I couldn't tell with my hand over my eyes, and being inside the water was disorienting. I had the feeling the belayer was giving too much resistance because I had to pull the rope through to get down, though this may have just been because I was inverted. In any case, I was glad to get down out of the forceful water. At the bottom, I noticed that the front strap on my left sandal had slipped off, but the ankle was still securely fastened and the buckle had held. I also had bumped my right knee somewhere on the way down, probably at the bottom, and it was now sore.

There was still one more big slide, and a place where you ran down a steep slope, jumping into the pool below. The reason for running was that it was too far to jump from the top of the slope, but too steep for a controlled climb down, and too rough for sliding. I jumped a little too far this time, perhaps overcompensating for the big jump where I barely cleared the cliff. However, I still landed safely in the deep part.

From there on, the creek was relatively flat to the end, except for one steep muddy rope-assisted climb, where I slipped but recovered quickly. The van was parked nearby. We changed into dry clothes and had lunch, provided by the company. It was already 3:30. The time had gone fast. The guides built a fire and made tea and coffee as well while we sat in the grass and dried off in the bright sun. I asked the guide for suggestions for good places to hike in the nearby Aspiring National Park. He said Rob Roy Glacier was a nice short hike, and that Cascade Saddle was very nice, but hard to get to. He said I was probably in good enough shape to get there if I wanted to. Mt. Roy was also recommended.

On the way back, the guide pointed out another canyon that is somewhat more technical, that is also used for canyoning. He said he got the idea for doing this commercially in France, where canyoning trips are done at Verdon. He said the Wanaka canyons are somewhat steeper and more technical than the ones in France. We stopped briefly at the Adventure Center on the way back, so that some people could pay. They also had T Shirts for sale. Unfortunately there would be no pictures. It was 5:30 when I was dropped off at the hostel.

After checking in at the YHA, I went to nearby Mt. Iron to climb it, because I had heard the views were impressive. It was just next to town, so it was easy to get to. I followed a loop trail up to the top. It was a bit cloudy, but there were impressive views overlooking the large turquoise lake and the mountains beyond. Flowers bloomed on top. The trail descended by a steeper route, and I passed some rabbits on the way down. I ended up by the Puzzling Place, home of a big maze, and walked back past a deer farm to my car.

I had dinner at the Kai Whaka Pia cafe, which was recommended by a guide at lunch time. I was going to get ginger chicken, but they were out, so I got venison with red currant sauce and avocado, peaches and vegetables, served over rice. I had banana-walnut pie for desert, and cappuccino. It was still reasonably warm, so I ate outside on the patio of the informal cafe. Most of the other stores in Wanaka were already closed, or I would have looked around town a bit afterward.

I was planning an overnight hike for tomorrow, Christmas Eve, so I went back to the hostel to pack for it. I would have to wait until morning to buy food. The card-players who like to sing were outside on the hostel porch tonight, singing late into the night. The manager yelled out her window repeatedly for them to be quiet. This YHA was generally noisier than most I had stayed in, possibly because it was so small. I had allergy trouble and sneezed a lot after going to bed in the big mixed dormitory, so I contributed to the noise as well. One lady in the dorm took her sleeping bag outside so she could get some sleep.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.