WTMC Ruapehu Lodge – its survival may depend on your help Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) who has run the skifield at Whakapapa for 60 years is in Liquidation and Receivership. If no buyer can be found before the 2025 ski season it is very likely that all skifield infrastructure will be removed from the mountain and … Read more
WTMC Ruapehu Summer Lodge – and the remarkable Unnamed Glacier The smallest glacier on Mt Ruapehu is the most unusual – it is possibly the only glacier in New Zealand not melting away. And it is relatively easy to get to from the WTMC Ruapehu Lodge. There are nine named glaciers on Mt Ruapehu, including … Read more
Mt Ruapehu accommodation – the WTMC Summer Lodge at Whakapapa skifield The Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering club owns and runs a lodge at the Whakapapa skifield that will be open for public accommodation during 29 December 2024 to 12 January 2025, and is ideal ‘backpacker type’ accommodation near Mt Ruapehu. More people visit Tongariro in summer … Read more
Ōtaki Forks temporary walking access A guide to DOC’s Emergency Access Track that provides a walking track to Ōtaki Forks bypassing the slip at Blue Bluff that has closed the road, and notes that the road will be reopened sometime in 2025. Note: (updated 18 December 2024) As of 21 December 2020 DOC has opened … Read more
The fight for the underbird – helping out on the Tin Range, Rakiura A week on the Tin Range Stewart Island helping the Department of Conservation rangers with predator control to protect one of NZ’s most endangered birds the southern dotterel. If you want to save a species or habitat it’s a fight for evermore. You can … Read more
Mt Ngāuruhoe – a different way to climb to the summit A hiking loop trip to the summit of Mt Ngāuruhoe via an ascent route that is different from that usually taken. Mt Ngāuruhoe is the second highest mountain in the Tongariro National Park at 2,291 m, and is either a rather cute and perfectly formed … Read more
Poulter ValleyMinchin PassBinser Saddle A 4 day hiking trip through spectacular mountain scenery in Arthur’s Pass National Park I pulled my running poles out of my bag in surprise. I had forgotten to take them out before I packed at home. I wondered what else I had forgotten to take out and would be carrying … Read more
The allure of Rakiura’s Tin Range A solo expedition to rugged southern Rakiura including an ascent of the granite peak Gog, partly funded by a Simon Bell scholarship with the FMC New Zealand. Rakiura anchors more than Maui’s canoe. It anchors in its rocks, rivers and rugged shores, and in its garnishment of plants and animals, … Read more
Kaukau summit A well worthwhile Wellington walk Kaukau is the highest point close to Wellington and the 360 degree views from the summit are well worth the effort getting there. There are tracks starting from Johnsonville, Broadmeadows, Khandallah and Ngaio. Arguably the easiest is from the carpark at Johnsonville Park at the end of Truscott … Read more
Angelus Hut – a multi-day hike in Nelson Lakes National Park An 8 day hiking loop trip in amazing fine weather through the spectacular mountain scenery in Nelson Lakes National Park visiting Cupola Hut, and Angelus Hut via the Cascade Route up Hukere Stream. Once upon a time two WTMC trampers, Sarah and Batt, set … Read more