The skies on the west coast of New Zealand were gloomy. It’d been raining on and off throughout the day. I finally made it to Fox Glacier after being cooped up on a bus all day. Never minding the threat of rain, I dropped off my gear at the Ivory Tower Lodge and laced up my boots. With plenty of daylight left to kill and a chance of my glacier trek getting canceled, I decided to go see Fox Glacier as up close and personal as I could get.
The waterfall roared beneath me. It didn’t seem that big. I’d rappelled off walls about a million and a half times before. Why should this time be any different? I gripped the rope in both hands, nodded at my guide, and headed down into the rushing water.
The frigid cold water blasted into my face. My feet slipped off the rock in my crappy, thrift store, “rental” boots. I couldn’t see. I swallowed a ton of water. It was my first time canyoneering and I thought I was going to drown.
I’d never been canyoneering in my life but it seemed like an exciting to do with no plans and three days in Wanaka. I discovered that there was a guide company based out of Wanaka and I was sold.
When it comes to fickle weather, spring and fall take the cake. One minute it’s bluebird, the next, Mother Nature is throwing a snowy tantrum. It’s hot for a second, freezing cold a minute later. For days where the elements are as unpredictable as Miley Cyrus’ antics, the Arc’teryx Atom SL has your back.
For the past few years I’ve been relying on my Tarptent Scarp 2 or my Teton Sports Mountain Ultra 1 for any of my tenting adventures. They’re both great, but the Tarptent is designed to be an ultralight, small thing and the Mountain Ultra only sleeps one. I wanted something that was big enough for two with more room for luxuries. When Mountain Hardwear gave us the chance to pick out our ambassador kits for the winter season, I jumped at the chance at working with the Optic Vue 2.5.
I’m the world’s laziest person ever; when it comes to the elements, I tend to baby my down jackets and prefer my stinky, synthetic insulation over the fluffy good stuff. When Outdoor Research sent over their Diode Hoody, I was a little skeptical. A down jacket to battle the elements? It didn’t seem real.