Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
Enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
The one line summary: long drive for an overnighter in an old nurses’ home with a damp tramp to a hilltop hut sauna for fine dining, escaping the worst of the weekend weather. While Wellington was being lashed by weekend gales and rain, a group of trampers escaped the worst of the weather in the … Read more
Planning mountaineering trips like this in advance you hope for at least one goodish day out of two so that you can get to the summit. This time was different – the forecast was brilliant 5 days before and fell to a little windy by Friday. The only problem with weather like this is the … Read more
Featuring Assembled Cast Members: Ye Enlightened and Wise Instructors: Sharron Came, Mike Phethean, Marie Henderson Keen Bean Students: Sam Thorndon, Fiona Elliot, Emily Shrosbee, Doug Jones, Adam Threlkeld, Inky Hickey, Nicky Shields, Megan Sety, James Skeggs First of all, if you’ve never done the snowcraft course or been on trips in the snow, I would … Read more
If that was the forecast for Auckland what was the rest of the country going to get that weekend? I was in now in Plan B mode and instead of packing a sarong, sunblock and fly swat I was packing a down jacket, over trousers, merino jumpers and extra plastic bags for a four day … Read more
Some work weeks can be quite nice, some are ok, but this one just had sucked from the very beginning. However, knowing that there are some great outdoorsy activities waiting at the end made the week a lot easier to endure, especially when it is a really scenic destination such as Mt. Egmont. As usual, … Read more
We headed off for Egmont National Park on Friday night in good weather and good spirits and, after a hefty drive, were lucky enough to catch a view of the mighty Mt Taranaki as we drove past in the dark. After a good rest overnight at the local backpackers, we set off from the North Visitor centre … Read more
The original plan for this trip was to go to Howletts Hut in the Ruahines via a Friday night stay at Longview. This would be a great plan for a dry and moonlit Friday night, but that wasn’t the way the weather was shaping up. Instead, the forecast was for strong winds and heavy rain … Read more
Doing this walk reminded me how lucky we are to live in Wellington. The Southern Walkway between Oriental Bay and Island Bay is an 11 km track through the town belt, across ridge tops and along a short section of coast. It is easy to access and very easy walking (it took us about four … Read more
The walk started up the track near the intersection of Landfill Road and Happy Valley Road. Still evident were the effects of the scrub fire which occurred in late February this year. Blackened scrub covering higher regions of the hill contrasted with the lush green below the main track which must have acted as a … Read more
A two day retreat away from city life is always good for breaking the stress (or boredom) of a working week and so Ed Newsletter and I decided that, in spite of a MetService severe weather warning for the North Island mountains, we would head into the local hills. A wander over the Orongorongos to … Read more