The Darrans: New Climbs

April 12, 2010

Where is Pawnbrokers?

Filed under: Central and Northern — Richard Thomson @ 11:13 am

Has Pawnbrokers Rock been gambled away by the Tutoko River? Don French was up in the head of the valley recently:

Could not find Pawnbrokers even after two hours of searching. But we had a tent anyway, which was probably better. Found another good quality bivvy rock to replace Pawnbrokers. I think pawnbrokers has been flooded & is full of gravel?

This is what we thought was Pawnbrokers

This is what we thought was Pawnbrokers


Possible other bivvy rock

Possible other bivvy rock

Photo looking down valley from about where the bivvy is incorrectly marked on the maps. The one which I suspect is Pawnbrokers is silhouetted against the stream. The one that appears quite usable is the big clean one to the right, with a big tree against it. It’s a bit of a battle getting to it. Overhanging on the down valley side. Reasonable overhang. In the heaviest of rain it may start getting damp, but there was only the slightest hint on moss on the ground on the overhang side. Always a good sign. Only 10 minutes of ground work would be required to make it habitable. Sleeps 3 or 4. Splashing from the rain hitting the ground is probably the biggest problem. No sign of previous usage. No sleeping platform, or fire, no flattened vegetation. Definitely no track to the stream, where you’d have to get water from. I’d give it 6/10 as far as bivvy rocks go (Arawata Rock is 9/10).

Does anyone have any ideas where the old bivvy rock has gone?

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4 Comments »

  1. About 8 years ago I walked to the head of the valley and spent a good two hours looking for the bivvy rock. No luck. I wrote to Robin McNeill, who replied that he hadn’t been able to find it, either. The most recent edition of Moir’s Guide South states that recent parties have failed to find the bivvy, and that it may no longer exist.

    Comment by Danilo Hegg — April 27, 2010 @ 9:29 pm

  2. Cheers Danilo.
    It was still there in 1993 (that’s a while ago now) but I guess big floods aren’t unknown in that part of the world…

    Comment by Richard Thomson — May 16, 2010 @ 10:36 am

  3. I was at what I thought to be Pawnbrokers in the winter of 1999 or 2000. Very comfortable 2 man, got a fire going, a few trees around us.

    Comment by craig jefferies — June 11, 2010 @ 8:29 pm

  4. Someone needs to invest in a GPS

    Comment by massive — August 29, 2010 @ 12:06 am


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