Late March and Gary spent three days away with Wanaka Police SAR squad members MJ and Az, doing alpine rock training. Location: Head of the South Temple valley.  First objective was a 10 pitch climb on the Weta Prowl Buttress of Mt Steeple.  Multi-pitch climbing to max approx grade 13; reasonably sound rock but requiring good route finding and rope work amongst some loose stuff.  After success on this, another route on one of the many buttresses was completed. This was excellent route finding and terrain assessment for the lads with no existing topo.  An excellent venue for this specialized SAR training and Alpine rock techniques.

on the upper part of the weta prowl

access via the usual SAR method

Up thru the choke pitch