Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
Enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
Off we set into the Tararuas, ably skirting the rock fall on the access road and fording the Waiohine via an outlandishly large swing bridge. Our amble along the tops via Cone was a rare treat of good visibility and only the lightest zephyr of a breeze. Views from Cone extended from the Tararua Peaks … Read more
Two Akatarawa Daywalks Two easy daywalks in the Akatarawa Forest close to Wellington City Karapoti Road The starting point of this walk is a short way down Karapoti Road, which is accessed from Akatarawa Road a few kilometres from Upper Hutt. From the carpark, the walk is through Karapoti Gorge which has really nice native … Read more
Our drive up on Saturday morning involved lots of discussion about the weather. Were we doing the right thing? Should we maybe go to Rangiwahia instead, avoiding any potentially nasty creek crossings? The severe weather warning was pretty vague as to when exactly to expect the forecast gales and rain. Hmmmm. At Shannon it was … Read more
Armed with maps, compasses and lollies, we headed into the hills from the carpark at Kiriwhakapapa (Ethnicity; lit. genealogical skin) with the trip leader, Amanda, to show us what’s what. After following the Old Tram Track up to the first saddle, we settled down to our first lesson in navigation. Instructions were laid down for … Read more
More photos from Sarah & Rachel – Album 1 & Album 2 After several changes to the original trip plan due to the alpine trips been canned and storms dumping a whole heap of snow along the tops of the Tararuas, a tramp to Waitewaewae was eventually decided upon. The group of nine, including team … Read more
Continued from Snowcraft 2014 Part 1 in last month’s newsletter… On the way up to Whakapapa it got darker and cold. We could see by the side of the road from National Park that a lot more snow fell during the week. On the drive up the Bruce, past the snow chain bay the van … Read more
First of all here’s the stats from Richard’s GPS: Sat 23 Aug 14 09:55 – 16:30 hrs From Holdsworth Road End to Powell Hut and top excursion. Distance: 11.1km Average Speed: 2.3 km/h Min Elevation 300m Max Elevation: 1425m Height climbed 1500m Height Descended: 630m Sun 24 Aug 14 08:05 – 14:00 hrs Mt Holdsworth … Read more
There’s a steadily growing group of rock climbers in the club. Most often you can find us in Fergs or Hangdog trying to keep our skills up, but there’s nothing like being out on real rock. Winter isn’t exactly the best time to be climbing outside, it’s tough going when you’re cold, especially if the rock … Read more
With the tantalizing prospect of settled weather arriving after a good dump of snow, it seemed that much of Wellington headed North to play on the mountain. We enjoyed a mesmeric Kapiti sunset and the gastronomic highlights of Bulls before ploughing onto a blustery and very foggy desert road. A midnight briefing at Tukino Alpine Sports Club … Read more
Ah what luxury! Showers, flushing toilets, running water, electricity and hot water on demand! I speak of course of the opulent WTMC lodge a stones throw away from the Top O the Bruce on Ruapehu. Compared to huts, even Great Walk huts(!) the lodge presents a sense of civilised creature comforts that are otherwise sacrificed … Read more