CliffCare

Drill and blast! 🧨💥
Here’s a big one the crew worked on in August. A large feature at Orman Falls on the Haast Highway.
First a bush bash to clear a track to the top of the feature and some solid devegetation work to clear the site to allow crew to move around, remove some weight and reveal cracks.
In preparation for the blast 45 holes were drilled at a depth of between 1.5-4m (marked in yellow in picture 1) using the rope access Marini drill rig (pic 2)
The holes were filled with explosives, tied together with a detonation cord and, at the moment of truth, detonated, causing a chain reaction that brought down about 300 cubic metres of cliff face.
Preparation for the blast took a few weeks, working in 20 minute intervals in conjunction with the road crew on the highway below. On blast day the road was closed for 2 hours to allow for the blast, post blast inspection and clearing of the rubble.
A good result and another successful project done and dusted

The team have been keeping pretty busy as a result of all that recent rain. 🌧️
Knights Point is a vulnerable section of SH6 between Haast and Lake Moeraki on the West Coast.
Bossman Wayo has called off his long awaited climbing trip to the Arapiles so that he can take care of business and help get the highway back open.

The use of Pneumatic airbags and controlled blasting 🧨 have resulted in some sizey releases.

Those who spend a bit of time on piste at ski field will probably be familiar with the cliff section known as Lee’s Leap above the Comeback Trail which leads you back from Arcadia Chutes or Captains Basin.
The team have been busy scaling loose rock and installing a stabilisation mesh system on this section that often has a familiar brown patch on the trail below come Spring.
We’re looking forward to seeing if the mahi we’re putting in will help to keep the trail white this year so we can all keep the speed up right till the very end!
🪨🗻⛷️🏂

It’s not all rock’n’roll in the life of the team. One of the less glamorous jobs last week was waterblasting pigeon crap 30m under Lake Pukaki in the Deep Sluice diversion culvert.
One of our team members has a diverse range of experience but declares that working amongst the pigeon slurry is the grossest job he’s done to date.
Well it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it 🎶🐦💩