Chief Guide

As I write this in front of the fire on a Sunday morning (late again!), I’m thinking of Allen and Sue’s crew off in the Orongorongos. A cold night in Karori would have been even colder in the hills. But two weeks ago at North Ohau Hut, we were far from cold despite the ice … Read more

Next week we’re running an instruction day at the club rooms for people interested in leading trips. It’s cheering to have numbers well past the minimum threshold, when last year we had to cancel. We need a continual inflow of new leaders, with a proportion of existing leaders choosing to take time out every schedule … Read more

With this newsletter, you’ve received the Winter trip schedule. Thanks to everyone who’s committed to lead a trip – you play the most crucial role in the club. Only once you have lead a trip, do you appreciate the work that goes into it. And only then can you fully appreciate being a punter. I … Read more

It’s nearly a new (tramping club) year, so time for some resolutions. Remember leaders’ forums? They are back, as of Wednesday 2 May. Meet at 6.45pm in the cafe above the Embassy to talk routes, meals and other trip leading intricacies. Feel free to come along to just chat about trip leading if you’re vaguely … Read more

The Wednesday before we left for our 12-day Fiordland epic, Sharron gave a slideshow on her Westland Christmas adventure. It looked hard. She said that there were times every day when she wished she wasn’t there. It was a comment my mind kept returning to as we journeyed through the Murchison Mountains, up the Doon, … Read more

I hope you’ve enjoyed the outdoors over the holiday period. If, like me, you were in the North Island, this enjoyment may have been tempered with slight frustration at the volumes of rain and wind. At Anniversary weekend, Richard and I were in the Ruahines and woke up to snow settled outside McKinnon Hut, with … Read more

Author: Amanda Wells, Chief Guide While Christmas is looming, today I am focused on the slightly closer deadline of the WTMC Summer trip schedule. Between now and you reading this newsletter, it will have been semi-miraculously filled and the wrestle with Microsoft Office won. I hope! Thanks to everyone who’s put their hand up to … Read more

Author: Amanda Wells, Chief Guide Hard to believe but it’s time for a new trip schedule. The summer schedule runs from February to April and we’re looking for ideas of road ends now. Please email them to Richard () by the end of this week. Trip planning, when we figure out the actual tramps for … Read more

An interesting development in the Tararuas: Powell hut is now bookable between 1 November and the end of February. The price remains the same but there is an additional management fee of $5-$10 “depending on party size” that everyone, including holders of annual hut passes, will have to pay. Apparently “unallocated bunks will be available … Read more

Wellington’s recent snow visited alpine conditions on our suburbs. But even before that dump, there were surprising amounts of snow in the Ruahines and Tararuas. On the weekend before the snow came in, Steve, Richard and I were slightly bemused to find a good half metre on parts of the Southern Crossing, though perhaps less … Read more