Thanks to Paul and the 5 other punters, for a great trip into the Ruahine tops…a first for most of us. It was a delayed start from the Railway station due to a spill on the motorway, leaving after 6 instead of after 5…with great relief we made good time after having dinner before we … Read more
Hooper-Loop – An experiment in trail running by Emily Sharron and Sarah’s mountain-running adventures were giving me a severe case of FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) so I decided to give it a go myself. I signed up and started doing a bit of training, mostly running around the Wellington city tracks like the Southern Walkway and Skyline … Read more
Like the best laid plans of mice and men going astray, the bad weather predicted for Nelson Lakes National Park meant that our proposed Mole Tops tenting trip had to be altered. The new trip would be the Moss Pass route going via Sabine and over into the D’Urville. Day One – Sabine Hut to Blue … Read more
We set off on Friday evening to get to Paua hut so we could make an early start on Saturday. It was a perfect warm calm evening for us to sit outside Paua Hut and Alastair to talk us through the trip he had in mind, and to give some a crash course in navigation. … Read more
WTMC Trail runners recorded some some great results in the 2015 Tararewa Ultra Marathon on 7 February. This is an event for people who scoff at a mere 42km marathon and carry on to do 60, 85, even 100km. Sarah was buzzing after she got her fantastic 4th in agegroup: “My goal was simply to get … Read more
We had a looong drive to Makahu Saddle carpark in the Kawekas and we arrived there at midnight. In our group there were two tents and I was put in charge of putting up the fly for three of us. Um, so surprisingly enough after all the time I have been with the club, I … Read more
Despite the protestations of a certain long haired club member, oft quoted as saying “I’ve retired”, the Mountain House Hut was demolished by a Club work party ca. 2001. In its place, a pragmatic structure now stands known as Mountain House Shelter. This shelter was built off-site by club members under the close supervision of Gerard Galvin, before … Read more
Up the hill we went in the dark – not an inky dark, lit by a huge oculus-moon highlighting the jagged terrain amid fragmenting cloud. Not a breath of wind and a landscape bathed in ivory light made for a glorious hour up to Longview Hut for the night. Jessie’s headlamp threatened to add to … Read more
An endless summer holiday period about to come to a close. Warmth and a lack of precipitation forecast. The remaining question was where to take a full van of EM punters. Our trip was originally scheduled for Waitaewaewae, but Sarah, Rachel, Dan & I had tramped that route recently due to route adjustment when trips sharing … Read more
After a dismal forecast predicted for the weekend, our trip was changed to plan B which avoided swims in the Eastern Hutt river that had been part of plan A. Saturday saw a 7am start for the drive to Otaki Forks. From here we walked up the Pukeatua track with Emily setting a good pace. … Read more