Mt Cockanye to Mt Wall - 1st Feburary 2014

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary: Tramp No. 142

Mt Cockanye to Mt Wall - 1st Feburary 2014

With the more settled weather of February comes more opportunities to tramp. A club trip of 11 trampers decided to accompany Uncle Bryce to fill in a section of the Craigieburn Range he had not yet traversed. After meeting two of the group at Springfield, the plan of attack was hatched and we set of for our destination hoping the low clouds sitting on the Torlesse Range would not also be sitting on the Craigieburns. Alas the clag appeared to extend all the way to the West Coast. We parked at the gate on the Broken River ski area access road before heading back down the road to the Dracophyllum track, an easy track to Dracophyllum Flats, where we started up hill.It was then an easy bush bash upto point 1140 where we had a chat with a couple of keas before continuing on to the Mt Cheeseman Ski Area, where we had lunch at the lodge. Things brightened up as we climbed up through the ski area and the sun was breaking through as we reached the tops. A short climb then brought us onto Mt Cockanye, our first destination. The travel along the tops was fairly benign until the final 500m to Mt Wall, Where things got a bit rockier and slowed things down a bit. We eventually made the summit with Uncle Bryce ticking off this section of his achievements. The clouds had well and truly departed now as we enjoyed the views of the surrounding countryside. The route off was to the east and followed a shingle chute that would take us all the way back to the original access road where we had parked the cars. Uncle Bryce assured us it was a very good scree run down, no problem. He Lied. The top section looked ok but as we started down it soon became apparent that this was not as soft as it looked and too many rocks were getting dislodged down hill. It was decide to head down in small groups to the top of the chute and wait out of the way of any falling rocks. Getting into the chute also proved to be  quite difficult, again the top of the chute was quite hard underfoot and plenty of rocks were getting dislodged. Once we were all safely in the chute and in the soft stuff, had a scree train plunging down the chute to the bottom, and it wasn't too bad going and Uncle Bryce was forgiven. Got back to the cars in about 7 1/2 hours and about 1000M hight gain and 20km walking.

Dracophyllum Track.

Dracophyllum Flat(not all that flat though)

A Kea in Tree at 1104.

Lunch.

Spaniard forest.

Things clearing as we ascend the ski field.

Uncle Roddus on Cockanye.

Point 1834 with Mt Wall in the background.

Are we there yet?

Uncle Roddus on Mt Wall.

The scree train.

Cloudy Hill/Mount Lyndon - 25th January 2014

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No.141

Cloudy Hill/Mount Lyndon - 25th January 2014.

With the summers weather so far thwarting many a tramp, 22 keen trampers turned up after this trip got moved to Saturday, as Sundays forecast wasn't at all promising for a pleasant day in the mountains. We got a pleasantly warm day with a slight Nor' west wind as we accumulated at the start of the access road to Porters Heights sky field. First order of the day was a short but rather steep ascent up to point 917 to get the sweat flowing and the breathing laboured. After regrouping and attempting a headcount, we continued on via point 1014 onto Cloudy hill with a scrog stop on the way. The views of the Cragiburn range and Castle Hill Valley were impressive and enjoyed by all before setting off to point 1456 via point 1345. Here we had lunch checking out the views down into the Porter river and lake Coleridge in the distance. The drop down onto the saddle between point 1456 and Mt Lyndon was fairly rapid for some as the scree was passable but a little hard underneath. We accumulated at the saddle while the rest of the group caught up before the painful climb back up the 200M in scree to the summit of Mt Lyndon, where we again enjoyed the vistas offered us by our hard work. It was a easy descent back down the hill to Lake Lyndon with some soft scree runs again assisting those keen screers to get down fairly quickly. The day wasn't too long with us being back at the cars by about 2:30pm.

Accumulating at the start of our journey with part of our destination in the background.

Climbing above the highway.

Accumulating at point 917.

The main highway towards lake Lyndon.

Still climbing with the Torelesse Range in the background.

Accumulating on Cloudy Hill.

Uncle Roddus on Cloudy Hill.

Our lunch time view.

Coming down to the saddle.

Climbing back up onto Mount Lyndon.

A shot of where we had been.

Lake Lyndon.

Crass - Penis Envy (UK 1981)

Uncle Roddus Classic albums.

 

Late one night a very young Uncle Roddus was listening to his favourite late night alternative radio show on his tiny transistor radio in his bed when he heard the song "Systematic Death" By Crass. It was certainly a bonus to hear something so totally anti establishment and so full of naughty words on New Zealand Radio back then. I was instantly smitten with the song, it was like nothing I had heard before, which was a regular occurrence on that particular radio show and so was my introduction to Crass and their nihilistic brand of anarcho punk. Crass albums weren't all that easy to get your  hands on back then and I had to wait till I came across their records on Import from my local record emporium of the time. "Penis Envy" was the 3rd album from Crass and the one I most had to have due to the fabulous "Systematic Death", a harsh evaluation of male/female relationships and their role in the western system and how the system crushes them. As perhaps can be divined from the albums title, the albums is a pretty extreme feminist statement as well as a dig at  the male dominance of the SYSTEM. Musically the album goes way beyond standard anarcho punk, although harsh, there is plenty of melody interweaved into these interesting punk experiments and I have heard nothing else like it. It is Crass's best album. The album has stood up very well the test of time and I still connect with it big time. Not a lightweight listen. Rating 5/5.

Gabriele Coen : Yiddish Melodies In Jazz (Tzadik USA 2013)

Pick of the night from the Tzadik CDs I have been sampling. After some cursory listens when this arrived last year, I find my self connecting with it tonights in a serious way. A great swinging jazz album with some excellent melodies and piano, guitar and Clarinet solos. Awesome for start to finish and highly recommended. Rating 5/5.

Barbez : Bella Ciao (Tzadik USA 2013)

Another from Tzadik.

Yet another high quality release from Mr Zorn's Tzadik label. As usual, A highly creative blend of all sorts played by exceptionally talented musicians in a rock based formula but with quieter almost classical pieces in the mix. An album that grows with repeated exposure revealing its' subtle nuances

Rating 3.5/5.

Pierre-Yves Macé : Segments Et Apostilles (Tzadik USA 2013)

More From Tzadik.

Another classical release from Tzadik, this set of recent compositions is very sparse and sounds of random instrumental flourishes and electronic noises. I don't object to this type of composition but it is hard to stay with this stuff, with out much structure  or melody. On concentrated listening there are some interesting moments but again it is pretty hard to stay with this set. Rating 2/5.

AutorYno : Cosmopolitan Traffic (Tzadik USA 2013)

More from Tzadik.

Another of Tzadik's progressive Jewish rock bands. All instrumental rock music played with jazz melodies and some rockin guitar. Very accomplished and well recorded and most enjoyable, but not something to rave about, sounds like could be good live. Rating 3.5/5.