NZ Tahr hunt 2014- Pilgrimage of Adventure.

[ozy clint]

we bumped into this lot before making camp on flatter ground just beyond the ridge behind them.
  CM
  PR
  PR
  PR
needless to say we were all smiles with anticipation in camp that night.

[ozy clint]

sorry, damn double post.

[ron w]

All I can say is......WOW, what country!

[Homebru]

Clint,
Looks like you could've used some skis on that incline.  What elevation are you guys camping at?

Love these NZ stories.
homebru

[FerretWYO]

This is becoming one of my favorite yearly stories Clint. Love the read and the pictures.

[gringol]

Your tahr and chamois threads are hands down the best on read gang.  Thanks for taking the time to snap photos and post.  Looking forward to the conclusion.

[John Havard]

Clint, as always - excellent photos and kudos for sharing.

A question:  do you have snowpack or some source of water up above bush line?  Water always seems to be difficult to find if there's no snow to melt.

[slivrslingr]

[ShadeMt]

Unreal countryside.  What is the approximate elevations are you hunting for Tahr?

[ozy clint]

elevation wise we saw tahr from the river at about 500m elevation to watching wandering bulls cross snowfields above 2000m. the highest i got was about 1750m. bushline is about 1000m. the road end is about 100m.

water can be hard to find above the bush away from creeks. this area was full of gullies with running water though so it wasn't a problem.

[fmscan]

This is great....

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Keep it Coming Clint.  Great Photos!!! Great job with the recap!

Wow, Clint! Looks like another great adventure unfolding! I'm tuned in for the rest!

Bisch

[Masham Man]

Great story!    

[Benjamin Wang]

it`s soooo nice

[BMN]

Great stuff. Just beautiful country!

[Paul R]

The story is coming along nicely Clint, it's great to see the photos on the big screen, I haven't had a chance to look through them yet.

We certainly had another great adventure in the New Zealand Southern Alps this year, probably a bit more adventure than usual with the weather we experienced towards the end. We got to see and stalk a lot more Tahr in this valley compared to the other areas we'd hunted in previous years.

The hike in was as tough as usual but we had to stage it over 3 days and we had plenty of time to rest and recover during the long nights. 5 hrs of hard hiking the first day, 6 hours the second and 7 hours the 3rd. Our packs contained everything we needed for 14 days and weighed between 28-30kgs (we didn't have a scale to do the final weigh in).

What Clint didn't mention was that we had a very steep 1000m elevation gain from the river crossing to our camp with a rather scary last 50m climb over the lip. We had put on our crampons to help grip in the steep tussock grass and they helped find purchase in the cracks of the smooth rock for the last push over the edge. Even so I still had visions of tumbling end over end all the way back down to the river below as the large and heavy pack on my back changed my center of gravity for the worse. I for one was very relieved to crawl over the lip and stand on relatively flat ground again. We set up camp 50m from the edge on a flat bench with a snow melt stream running close by. As was already mentioned water was not an issue for us in the area we were hunting. We didn't need to carry any with us as it was in plentiful supply with snow melt streams running down the slopes on this side of the range every few hundred yards.

I'm going to sit back and let Clint continue the story.

[ozy clint]

Paul, feel free to add whatever you please. As you mentioned, things can be overlooked. Like 1000m elevation gain at about 60 degrees of slope! I must have been too focused on not taking all fall and becoming the next 'otzi' the iceman. Lol.

[sore fingers]

It's been said but thanks for sharing these stories and pictures. Amazing Hunts & Great Adventures. Can't wait to hear the rest...

[shankspony]

Great start Clint and Paul. Its a grand piece of country that. That climb, for the readers out there, its worse even than it looks. Its certain death if you slip.
I'm eagerly awaiting the rest. I'm off for a week in the hills on Sunday...... Just saying     its going to be hard waiting 2 weeks to read the finale.