Kinloch Climbing Trip

Left at 6:00am Friday morning to avoid traffic, and needless to say - I don't remember much of the trip. I later realized that Cat, the girl who set up the great weaving adventure, was driving us and it was an architecture field trip that we were on. Me and about 15 architecture students (Marc 'Tex' and Louisa are both architecture students) did a 'site visit' which, I discovered, means running around some plot of land trying to decide what they will propose to build there. It was actually really interesting. I learned a bunch about both architecture and New Zealand terrestrial ecology. Cat's mom is a botanist and she knows pretty much everything about all the plants we saw (the site was about 2 hours south of Auckland, it was an undeveloped mountain and neighboring valley - aptly described by the kiwis as 'bush'). She taught us about the different gum trees that were introduced to the area, the native trees that are still present, a certain shrub who's leaves, when chewed act as a mild anesthetic, and when boiled make a tea that will cleanse the blood. There is also a plant - 'spear leaf' I think was the common name, that was originally identified as two different organisms due to the degree of difference between the juvenile and adult. A guy named Mark (not Tex, a different Mark) who was from Scotland gave me a good rundown on what architecture actually is (it's about creating a space, and connecting it to another space and then forming an envelope for your connected series of spaces) in a magnificent Scottish accent - which was pretty much the best part. Once that was over we continued our drive down to Taupo.

We arrived in Taupo a couple hours before sundown, found a friend of Louisa and Marc's (Rob) and went to Hell's Pizza. Then hike up to a camp site about 2 miles from downtown. The next morning I ran back to town, met Rob and set up a cab to take us to Kinloch, I also procured a map and climbing guide to the area. Then I ran back, packed everything up and waited for Rob and the cab. The cab ride cost 75$ but they gave us a huge discount - only 10$ a person, and they let us off right on the beach outside the only store in Kinloch. We got some food and figured out how to get to the crag. It said that permission was required so I called the number, talked to some lady - who seemed to think that we needed to go to some place back in taupo (I think) to pick up the permission slip, and then the phone cut out and we figured that was all the permission we needed. It turned out that there were about 6 different places to climb, 2 accessible only by boat, 3 about an hour and a half tramp away, and one about 3 minutes walk from the store. We set up camp and started climbing. It was 11:00 or so when we began and almost dark before we finished. I got a ton of leading in - which was awesome, and Marc got to lead his first outdoor route. A couple times through the day people came to either climb or watch us as they walked their dog - the cliff was right above the waterline and in clear view of the town. On his first climb - a top rope tex got stuck, all the sudden the rope bound up somehow and he couldn't go up (no holds) or down (no slack). I ended up giving the belay to Rob (tying him into my break and then untying myself) and got Louisa to belay me as I led a neighboring route (she had never lead belayed before - kinda sketchy, but she did well) to save tex. What happened was that his rope slid into a crack and then the belay rope went in on top of it -neither could do much of anything. I pulled them out and had to hold them free as Rob lowered Tex back down - we didn't climb that route anymore. One of the groups that came to climb was three Czechs. They were really cool and pointed out all of our gear that was made in the Czech Republic. There was one route that got me - it was rated as a 20 -a 5.10/11 back home, although the ratings were really off - I was able to get up to the penultimate bolt and clipped in - which was quite a feat for me, but it was soo far from there to the last one (which I couldn't even see) and there wasn't much for holds. The Czechs ended up climbing another route and abseiling (kiwi for rappelling) down to clean it for us. I never got another shot at that route and I was pretty tired the next day so I didn't even attempt it. That night we got some Tui from the store back in town and sat on the beach getting pissed and watching the sunset next to what most americans know as Mt Doom across the lake. As we were preparing food later that night, one of the Czechs brought out a drum and started playing for a while - it was really neat. More climbing the next morning although it was quite a bit less strenuous, and then a frantic pack job when we realized that the taxi was due to pick us up. Got back to Taupo (this time 15$ a person) and got some kebabs from a Turkish place - really good - then caught the bus back to Auckland. Went for a run that evening and ate at Louisa's place. Then back to Parnell to pack for the Marine Ecology Field Trip.