Mt Tongariro – a day walk from the WTMC Ruapehu Lodge A loop day hike via the South Ridge to the summit of Mt Tongariro from the WTMC Lodge in the Tongariro National Park including a map of the route. Having done a fair bit of exploring around Tongariro National Park using the WTMC lodge … Read more
Paekākāriki Escarpment Track – a hiker’s point of view The hiker’s point of view of a 9.5km hike along the Escarpment Track from Pukerua Bay to Paekākāriki taking in wonderful coastal views and a golden sunset. The Escarpment Track is a spectacular 10km trail that runs between Pukerua Bay and Paekākāriki on the Kāpiti Coast. … Read more
😃 Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club (WTMC) Lodge – Mt Ruapehu accommodation for winter skiing and summer hiking The Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club (WTMC) lodge on Mt Ruapehu is located in Iwikau Village adjacent to the Whakapapa Skifield. It offers comfortable, reasonably priced, backpacker type accommodation for up to 32 guests and 2 custodians, … Read more
WTMC Ruapehu Lodge Blog The Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club (WTMC) owns and operates an accommodation lodge at Iwikau Village on Mt Ruapehu. This blog is intended to complement the lodge webpage by offering general news about the lodge – and for readers to be able to comment. It will hopefully slowly develop over many … Read more
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
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
Mt Holdsworth day walk – a hiker’s point of view A video of a day walk to the summit of Mt Holdsworth in the Tararua Range from a hiker’s point of view. Includes walking time for sections of the track. There is even some snow to add to the spectacular view from the peak. The … Read more
Powell Hut Tararua Range – the 2019 rebuild from start to finish. From January 2019 to June 2019 Powell Hut in the Tararua Range was rebuilt. This story with photos tracks the progress from the first foundations to a completed hut that will provide comfortable mountain accommodation to an estimated 3,000 visitors per year. If … Read more
NZ’s sacred summits. Please don’t stand on my head – a guide for climbers. The summits of many NZ mountains are sacred to Māori. The Māori proverb, ‘If I should bow my head let it be to a high mountain’, sums this up. This story outlines why climbers should stop short of a summit = … Read more
With the demise of RAL there must be something to talk about with a positive theme. I’ll try the weather. When there is little snow on the mountain there tends to be better weather. When there is plenty of snow on the mountain there is less skiing. After returning from two weeks on the mountain … Read more