Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
Enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
Friday 10 February The Southern Crossing in the Tararuas has been on my to-do list for the last few years and when I saw it on the trip schedule for February, I did not hesitate to sign up for the walk. The plan was to have two groups of trampers do the Southern Crossing, with … Read more
Friday 18 March – The night walk in We had a stunning Southern Crossing adventure, enjoying one of the classic Tararua tramps! On the Friday, seven of us met up at the Wellington Railway station at 3pm, ready for an early departure to Otaki Forks. Arriving at the “new” Otaki Forks carpark at 4.30pm, we … Read more
Day 1 summary: Start: Kaitoke (Kiwi ranch road end) End: Alpha hut Distance: 18.3km Elevation gain: 1,600m Hours on the trail (including breaks): 8ish Hut occupancy: ~26 people and a dog Six trampers arrived for an early 7:00am departure from Platform 9 on a stunning Saturday morning. We shared the van with Tereza and Aimee … Read more
The trip was originally scheduled for October 2019 but postponed due to poor weather. Tash was no longer able to lead the trip so I took over and set a new date, inheriting a group of people who had been wanting to do this trip for a long time. The week before I had been … Read more
(Featured image: Sumudu) This one had been on the to-do list for a while, and after chatting with my workmate and fellow WTMC member Sumudu, we decided to co-lead a trip together over the Tararua Southern Crossing. After chatting to the chief guide, the trip was added to the Sep 17 – Feb 18 Trip … Read more
By some small coincidence, keen kids and a small sunny weather window coincided with Waitangi weekend during one of the least sunniest Wellington summers for a trip that was planned some four months earlier. Thursday and Friday had been awash with rain and the Otaki Gorge road was closed again at the Blue Bluff due to … Read more
The Southern Crossing is described by DoC as one of the “four classic tramps of the Tararua Range”, and is a trip that any Wellington-based tramper should tackle at least once. However, in the leadup to our trip the weather looked like it was going to spoil the plans, with gale winds forecast for the … Read more
Before I get into the juicy facts, here’s a wordy summary of our Southern Crossing Medium tramp from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke. We headed up to Field Hut from Otaki Forks around 8pm on Friday night. It was a beautiful night, with an almost full moon. We set off from Field at 9am the next … Read more
The southern crossing is a trip that most trampers in Wellington have either done or want to do. One reason is that most of the southern crossing can be seen from various vantage points in Wellington. This means past trips there or the desire to do it are called to mind by its presence as … Read more
Dear Sir/Madam I am writing this letter as a warning to other young women in the club. It is based on my actual experiences of a recent trip I did, which overwhelmingly confirmed my initial suspicions that the WTMC has a serious problem with the type of men it attracts. This latest trip was touted … Read more