CliffCare

07/09/2025

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

19/01/2025

In the News today 📰 ........

When Wayo Carson was a boy, he loved throwing rocks. That thrill has never left.

17/11/2024

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.

09/09/2024

Well it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it…..
it’s not all rock n roll in the life of the rockstars.
Here’s the team getting on with the unglamorous job of washing off pigeon crap at the Pukaki hydro stations.

27/03/2024

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!
🪨🗻⛷️🏂

05/03/2024

Timely maintenance on the Albert Town bridge while the flow was low

04/03/2024

Working on the West Coast usually means dealing with a fair amount of rain 🌧️ but the crew were lucky to score the West at it’s best over the last couple of weeks, hanging out in some pretty spectacular spots both on and off the clock ⏱️

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14/11/2023

The team have been doing some scaling and preparatory drilling work at the Kawarau Gorge suspension bridge recently. Not a bad view from up there 👌🏼






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23/10/2023

Installation of some matting to help stabilise a cliffside in Port Chalmers. The team often have to work in conjunction with traffic control, but for this job, work had to stop each time a train came by below 🚂

19/10/2023

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 🎶🐦💩

18/09/2023

After a few quiet winter months it’s time for the crew to ramp back up and get on with the good mahi. Last week the team were rock scaling in the Manapouri Powerstation access tunnel

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29/05/2023

Here’s a great round up capturing some of the impressive work carried out over the summer season from one of our rope techs on the Nevis Bluff Team

📷 Josh Barrett