1. Tramping and mountaineering in New Zealand
  2. Kaikouras and Malborough

Hapuku River and Surveyor Spur, 25-26 August 2012

This weekend we set out to climb Mt Manukau in the Seaward Kaikouras via Hapuku River and Surveyor Spur. The trip started with a pleasant walk up the valley and up the exposed Surveyor spur with fantastic views down to the Kaikoura peninsula and ended in a disaster. After a sleepless night at approx 2000m listening to the northwester gale that developed during the night and was now burying our tent with spindrift, the tent finally collapsed in the morning (poles snapped and teared the fly). We quickly stuffed the remainder of our gear into our packs and started the descent. The wind was still so strong that we couldn't stand up,only crawl. We were blown down the ridge towards the drop off and needed to self arrest several times. In a desperate attempt to get away from the ridge and into a more sheltered basin we then almost got caught in a massive avalanche as the whole slope below us gave way. So we crawled back up a bit and started digging into the side of the slope. At that point we only had one shovel left. The little cave made for good shelter and we managed to warm up and collect ourselves. Later that day we were able to descend the exposed ridge, the wind had died down, but was still very strong. Although having lost a lot of our climbing gear on the mountain, we were very cheerful and relieved upon finally reaching the valley floor. Team: James Thornton and Nina Dickerhof
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Our tent platform.
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Our tent platform.

  • Looking up the Hapuku River, Surveyor Spur is in the centre.
  • Boulder Hopping up the North Branch of the Hapuku River.
  • Te Urewerau and the Stace Valley from Stace Saddle, Manakau right of the centre image.
  • Looking down Surveyor Spur towards Stace Saddle.
  • Looking down Surveyor Spur towards Stace Saddle. Hapuku on the left, Stace Creek on the right, Kaikoura peninsula behind.
  • The head of the Stace Valley, Manukau on the right.
  • High on Surveyor Spur, Kaikoura peninsula below.
  • High on Surveyor Spur, Kaikoura peninsula below.
  • Step plugging high on Surveyor Spur, Kaikoura peninsula below.
  • Almost at camp, which we pitched below this big rock, hoping it would shelter from the wind.
  • Our tent platform.
  • The cave after the desparate descent and the triggered avalanche.
  • Crown wall of a slab avalanche seen from our cave.
  • The cave after the desparate descent and the triggered avalanche.
  • The cave after the desparate descent and the triggered avalanche.
  • Descending Surveyor Spur, Hapuku below.
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