Trip Report
Winter wander to Makaretu Hut
Reading about Maarten’s achievements in visiting all huts in the Ruahines, and in particular his recommendation of Makaretu Hut as a hut to visit, prompted me to finish the report for a trip to the hut we did back in August. While the natural home for the WTMC may be the Tararuas, I grew up … Read more
Southern Crossing
(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
Pell Stream Pioneers – Mission Accomplished! (mostly)
Background As far as we can tell, no WTMC club trip has visited Pell Stream hut in the Lewis Pass area in recent years. The hut is considered to be ‘remote’, receiving few visitors. This was the club’s third attempt to get to Pell Stream hut since January 2016, and Catherine, David, and I had … Read more
Tararua’s No. 1 Canyon – putting new skills to the test
A few of us did a canyon instruction course over Easter this year with the NZ Canyoning School. Winter shortly settled in and there was no more canyoning for the season. Once daylight savings had switched over, we got ready with a refresher of anchors, abseiling, rope management, ascending and more at Titahi Bay. Then … Read more
Beer Tramp Saturday 16 Dec 2017
For those who want to do more talking about tramping than tramping! A social walk around Wellington. No sign-up required, just join or leave the route when you wish. Contact Mike Gilbert with any questions. Planned arrival times are: 12:00pm Garage Project, Aro Valley(Fitness Essential) 1:30pm – Kelburn Village Pub (Fit) 3:00pm Sprig and Fern, … Read more
The Lodge and Not Girdlestone
As a brand-new member of WTMC, I was informed by the trip leader that the newest members have to write the trip reports. I think it’s a freshly made-up rule, but here it is anyway. The aim of the trip was to climb Girdlestone on Ruapehu. We never actually saw Girdlestone, nor did we even … Read more
Studholme Saddle Hut
Labour weekend was a good chance to venture further afield so four of us set off from Wellington for the Kawekas on the Friday evening. Kuripapango campsite, on the Napier-Taihape road, is a long-way from Wellington and with holiday weekend traffic and a pizza stop in Carterton we didn’t arrive until 11.45 pm. Kuripapango campsite … Read more
Mount Matthews and Ocean Beach: wild and wonderful weather
Long summery evenings are a most wonderful thing. It was still light as we bounded along the Orongorongo Valley track on Friday evening; dark only settling down upon us as we reached the river. Using a waypoint that Bram had marked on his gps we successfully navigated in the, suddenly rather dark darkness, to the … Read more
Cathedral Rocks
I’ve been ice climbing and I’ve been camping before, but never at the same time. And I suppose the spoiler of this story is that I’ve still never been ice climbing and camping. From an initial sign up of eight, disease, injury and maybe even a little pestilence took it’s toll and come the day of … Read more