Enclosed with this newsletter is the Winter trip schedule, which runs from May to the end of August. Thanks heaps to everyone who has offered to lead a trip, and also to those who have suggested road ends and come along to the planning night. And thanks to Richard Lardner who has stepped into the role of Assistant Chief Guide. Remember to keep storing up ideas for the Spring schedule!
Lately we have been having some issues with new punters not bringing key items of gear. This becomes a serious risk as we move into colder weather. Things like packliners, ground sheets, overtrousers and thermarests/mats shouldn’t be considered optional extras! If you’re leading a trip, it pays to do a verbal check with new punters, as email instructions are not always being read. In terms of ground sheets, people have gone round the gear shops and been unable to find one – without realising that a cut-up tarpaulin from the Warehouse is all you need. It all seems pretty obvious when you’ve been tramping for a while, but sometimes it’s good to put yourself in a newcomer’s boots and go back to basics. The gear list on the website can also be a helpful link to include in trip planning emails.
Recently I’ve been lucky enough to acquire a GPS and it’s added an interesting dimension to my tramping experience. The ability to always know where you are is definitely tempting – although having a guess first does ensure those navigational skills don’t get totally rusty. Being in dense forest all Easter meant landform recognition was challenging, to say the least, so whipping out the GPS became an easy way to measure progress. Like any toy, it has its downsides. At one point, we convinced ourselves we were where the GPS said – just before I realised that I’d failed to change the page and it was displaying an outdated reading… Blind belief in technology rarely seems wise, but in the past when I’ve argued with a GPS it has always won.
Those of us out in the Ruahines on 8-10 April enjoyed a magic weekend. Blue skies, sun, no wind: definitely not the mountain range I am familiar with. The weekend also coincided with the “roar”, about which we realised we knew strangely little. In case you’re in the same camp: the Red stag’s roar (or rut) runs from March till June, with late March/early April the prime time. The Sika roar runs from mid April to late May. What cues make them roar? The weather, in-season hinds, challenging stags, and (possibly) the moon. I’ve heard deer roar on several trips recently. Up close they sound a bit like a dog and quite threatening. From further away, it’s more like a yawn.
The problem with the roar is not the stags but the hunters. Not so much those who tramp in, but those who helicopter to remote spots and commandeer huts. On that weekend in the Ruahines, heading down towards Wakelings hut, which is definitely in the seldom-visited category, we met a couple of hunters heading up to the tops. They were friendly enough but told us the hut was “chocka”. Interestingly it was only their group of three in the four-bed hut (though the beer choppered in with them probably occupied equivalent space to another person). We were happy enough to fly camp (and happy that the hunters knew where we were!) but it adds a different dimension to tramping at this time of year.
Remember that Snowcraft is coming up soon, and that it’s now being run only every two years. If you’re keen to acquire some basic alpine skills, don’t miss out on a place on this year’s course.