Hillary Expedition 2010/2011
Sport New Zealand has awarded grants to eight teams of inspiring adventurers for the Sport NZ Hillary Expedition 2010/2011, however one (Adventure Philosophy) has subsequently withdrawn.
Over the next year we'll be adding updates and stories from each of the teams, which are outlined below.
Extreme Caving Team
A group of cavers, who became the first in New Zealand to discover a 1000m deep cave, have been awarded a second Hillary Expedition Grant to explore their discovery further. The Extreme Caving Team’s previous Hillary Expedition Grant allowed them to explore the deep cave in the Ellis Basin system in Mt Arthur Kahurangi National Park. This grant will help them buy the technical equipment needed to explore deeper inside the cave systems of Mt Arthur.
Who knows what lies beyond? Will the system become one of the 10 deepest caves in the world? The group, led by Kieran Mckay, aims to find out. Their expedition is scheduled to begin in January 2011 and will take two months, with follow-up trips throughout 2011. Check out the expedition latest success (PDF, 316 Kb)
Speedfly 8000
The goal of the Speedfly8000 expedition is to ski tour and climb Manaslu in Nepal to make the first speedflying descent of an 8000m peak. Speedflying is a new sport combining the disciplines of skiing, paragliding and sky diving, and it is not uncommon for participants to fly at speeds of more than 100kmh very close to the ground.
Team member Mal Haskins is an experienced paragliding pilot who has been speedflying off peaks in New Zealand to train for the Tibet expedition, which is scheduled for September - November 2011.
NZ Solu Khumbu Alpine Style Expedition
Three climbers will attempt new, technical mountaineering routes on two mountains in the Solu Khumbu region in Eastern Nepal. Ben Dare and Andrew Finnigan will join up with Edinburgh-based Steven Fortune for the trip, which is scheduled to begin at the end of March 2011.
The climbers will spend about seven weeks, climbing during the favourable pre-monsoon season in April and May. They will attempt new routes on Kusum Kanguru (6369m) in the Charpati Himal which is on the boundary of the Makalu Barun National Park, and on 6186m Kyajo Ri which is the highest peak within the Khumuche Himal in the heart of the Sagarmatha National Park. Alpine style climbing is where the climbers carry their food and equipment as they go rather than set up a line of stocked camps.
Expedition Final Report (PDF, 7.74 Mb)
Gradient and Water Expedition
During three weeks in April and May 2011, a group of four young white-water paddlers intend to attract world-wide attention when they attempt a world-class white-water expedition in Papua New Guinea. They will put their physical and mental strength to the test when they set out to achieve first descents of 10 class V stretches of river in an area of the Huon Peninsula.
While there have been attempts in the past, the paddlers say no one has been able to complete a successful expedition in Papua New Guinea, and they want to be the first. Jordan Searle, Barny Young and Shannon Mast plan to start their expedition on 16 April, 2011.
Blondinis on Tour
Tim Church and Yvonne Pfluger have their sights set on unclimbed peaks in an area not often visited by westerners in the Shaluli Shan Range in Sichuan, south-west China. They will start their expedition in mid September 2011, spending about six weeks exploring the area.
The mountain ranges of western Sichuan have been open to foreigners for a few decades and most climbers have focused on the unclimbed peaks above 6000m. Research has revealed there are several significant peaks, which are just under 6000m, waiting to be climbed.
Tim and Yvonne will aim for a cluster of 5700-5800m peaks located northwest of Yangmolong Massif and south of the Sichuan-Tibet highway, with their first objective being the 5867m Xianqingqieke.
Backyard and Beyond 2011
Expedition team members will be attempting two significant unclimbed routes in New Zealand’s most remote mountains during a 25-30 day expedition from Christchurch to Paringa via the Southern Alps. During December 2011 and January 2012, the team members will mountainbike 200km and travel a further 200km by foot across the Southern Alps to complete their mission.
The team of Shelley Hersey, Jamie Vinton-Boot, Paul Hersey and Hugh Barnard will split their travel into two 10-12 day stages, planning to make significant first ascents of an unclimbed mountain face during each of the two stages.
Rapa Hoe (Turanganui a Kiwa Hoe)
Three six-person crews will take turns paddling a waka ama from Dunedin to Gisborne, covering 600 nautical miles or 1100km along the way. Each crew will paddle four hours followed by an eight-hour break with the aim of keeping the waka ama going continuously.
The expedition team hopes to paddle between 150km to 200km a day, depending on weather conditions. This means they should complete the trip in five to eight days. The expedition will have a support vessel providing eating and sleeping quarters for crew members when they are not paddling. The expedition is scheduled to take place in March 2012.