Rob and Vivien's 2023 Christmas letter
December 2023,
Once again it is time to wish our friends an Happy Christmas, a Joyous New Year, and update you
all on our activities over the last 12 months.
Sleeping bags not Needed, (sea kayaking in the Philippines)
Sleeping Bags not Needed
(Paddling in the Philippines)
Mini - some progress
There has been slow, but steady progress on the mini.
Oil went into the engine today.
We cranked it over to check that there was oil pressure (there was).
Quite exciting!
Gertrude Saddle / Barrier Knob
David invited me to repeat the Gertrude Saddle trip today.
The forecast was perfect, and the avalanche forecast OK too, so I managed to rearrange work a bit and agreed to go. Jim Spencer (avalanche forecaster) said he would follow us as he had to get kids off to school before leaving town.
We headed out of the carpark in beautiful weather - shirtsleeves with layers in the rucsac.
Birthday Trip
For a 60th Birthday expotition, Douglas and Gethin joined me for a weekend trip into the Livingstone mountains - between Te Anau and Mavora Lakes.
There is a ridge I've been eyeing up for years - Rob and I recce'd the descent when he was over here.
The difficulty has always been the logistics; the only sensible way to start is to boat over North Mavora Lake to West Burn Hut. Going in the canoe would have been possible, but that would have left the canoe at the hut. Not what we wanted to do.
Jim kindly agreed to take us in his motor boat.
A short account of 10 years in the Philippines from Beth
Avalanche training at home
Not often you can do a bit of avalanche training without leaving home.
Clearing the head
I haven't had a migraine for a long time.
A very long time. I don't remember when I last had one in fact.
So this one caught me off guard. I knew it was a migraine, but it was different - all the symptoms except the pain. I was reluctant to take my migraine meds for some reason (brain not functioning probably) and finally caved about 14 hours in. That was yesterday. The pain went and I was left with the familiar feeling of suddenly losing about 80 points of IQ. Brain wouldn't function. And v tired.