Froggatt Edge Orientation Trip

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go on the Auckland University Rock and Alpine Club's Orientation trip. It was relatively cheap and involved climbing--how could I resist? I didn't know anyone going on the trip, but I persevered through my anti-socialness, packed my pack and was on my way. Let's see... on the way down, we stopped at their traditional O-trip stop, a nice little hole-in-the-wall takeaway. I decided to break my no eating out policy(in effort to not end up living on the streets) and buy a little $5 fish 'n' chips(a Kiwi favourite) snack. However, no one informed me that once you get outside of Auckland, the word "cheap" actually does exist, and minutes later I found myself surrounded by the fishiest and chippiest feast ever. Yum! One of the girls in my car also enlightened me to another Kiwi tradition of deep-fried everything. She bought a deep fried Moro Bar, which is essentially a caramel chocolate bar, smothered in artery loving deep fried-ness. Best bite ever. Apparently you can bring in your own candy bars, too. What yummy grossness.

That night we set up tents under a crazily starry night, and I eventually found room to sleep in a very dodgy gigantic tent that was probably likely to collapse in the middle of the night. We called it the Fragile Palace. We did survive to see sunrise:




pretty pretty. Now into the car and off to the crag!



This is Froggatt Edge. 2.5 hours south of Auckland. Looks like Pride Rock to me.


Close up of the rock texture about to tear my hands to shreds. Yay! It actually was surprisingly soft and full of pockets. It's called ignimbrite, in case we have any geologists in the ranks.


So the crag is on a farm. Can you spot the cows? Haha... see what I did there?



So this is what they mean by orientation trip. Sooo many top ropes..


Sooo many people.



There were also boulder routes every which way you looked. One day I'll be good enough for this nonsense. Oh, by they way, this kid's real name is Paco. Ha.



Spider webs are scarrryyyy.


Kids here climb in boots with broken bones. And barefoot. I don't think I'll ever be that cool.


Some cool rocks, eh?


Mmmm... look at that perfect bolt line...



I like this route. It's got a nice bouldery start that makes me feel and look cool. (I'm really not.) The route to the right was even cooler. I'm definitely not that cool.




The driver of the car I was in was a very quiet, polite, proper, non-drinking fellow.. yet he did have an iDog in his center console. Awesome! Yet, odd.



Camp site #2. On a river/lake. On that little island was a great rope swing and tree to jump off of. This night we had a little party and they cooked us food. Tradition Kiwi barbeque of a not-so-good sausage and piece of bread(not a bun), with tomato sauce(think ketchup, but gross). It's starting to get old. But the night wasn't over yet, we did a little night hike out to see some glow worms, and came back to another feast of chocolate. Climbers love their chocolate here.. and they have all these crazy delicious kinds. They don't know the wonders of s'mores though. What a shame..



The next day a few of us started off with a little exploring adventure. We figured out we're really strong and started playing catch with boulders. Actually, the rocks are just really light here. Weird.



And we found a little river to play in!


Rocks rocks rocks! Back to climbing.


This guy was intense. Like pro climber intense. He climbed this route once to set up his draws. Had his whipped belayer girlfriend slowwwllllyyyy lower him down the route while he memorized it. Laid on a blanket for like 2 hours. Then redpointed the route. Either it was really hard, or he's full of himself.



How cool is that rib??


Look, a ninja! Kidding. That's just me.

So that was my trip. We drove home, stopped at the same takeaway(I was smarter this time and ordered a veggie burger and split chips with a friend). Got home, showered and crawled into bed. My kinda weekend..