Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
Check out the latest news and trips reports below or view the archives using the menu on the left. If you want to know more about the newsletter including submitting stories, see Newsletter>Publication Details. To learn more about the club, check the top menu. Some links will take you to the old website, but content will eventually move to this site.
Looking for some great adventure stories from WTMC members for your relaxed reading or inspiration for future tramping trips? Well go no further than the recently published 2018 WTMC Journal. Read about a 9 day trip to the fabled Ivory Lake, mountain biking the Heaphy Track, packrafting safety instruction and much more. The Table of … Read more
Two and a half years ago Elisabet and I signed up to a High Alpine Skills course in Temple Basin, Arthur’s Pass. On day one our American instructor Pete sat us down and asked each of us what our motivations were for the training. Why did we want to take on the risks the mountain … Read more
Photos by: James Wratt (professional looking ones of birds) and Tash (group shots from the top of the trig). A bleary-eyed group of strangers met at Wellington train station at 7am on Sunday morning. We drove north and arrived at Paraparaumu Beach in good time for our 8:30 sailing with Kāpiti Island Eco Experience. Our … Read more
North Mangahao Bivvy’s claim to fame is being the most northern official hut in Tararua Forest Park. As a part-time hut bagger, I needed to tick this one off the list. However, rather than coming from the eastern side which requires permission to cross private land, I decided to challenge myself navigationally (and in other … Read more
Who names a mountain “Hopeless”? By all accounts, “an early survey party with a poor attitude”! Three days before our ferry left Wellington, I carried out my standard ritual of emailing all the trip plans to my Dad. He usually replies with “Thanks Son, be safe out there” or encouraging words to that effect. This … Read more
Noel started the course of with the question “Who has ever had to cross a river?” The strong take-home message for the day was that river safety was mostly about the decisions made before entering any river, particularly whether to cross or not. There were 16 course attendees including the club members. Many were walking … Read more
After leaving Wellington on Thursday afternoon and staying the night in a Picton Backpacker, all of us were itching to get on the road. Friday morning was an early start for us as we repacked our packs and threw them into the van, keen to get moving. After what felt like an impossibly long drive … Read more
Some of the best skiing at Ruapehu is high on the mountain in the spring time. With this in mind Graeme organised and led a ski touring trip on Labour Weekend based at the club lodge. Over the next 2½ days we skied and boarded the Mangatoetoenui, Whangaehu, Whakapapa, and Mangaturuturu Glaciers, and dropped down … Read more
Day 1 – 23rd Dec 2017 – Hokitika Gorge to meadow campsite (45 mins) We arrived in Hokitika eager for shade and faffing time. Having driven from Picton that morning, we had a couple of hours to faff, eat our last non-dehydrated dinner for a while and get ourselves to the Hokitika Scenic Tours … Read more
As always things have been busy in the world of WTMC this month, particularly on the training front. Club members have variously attended first aid training, a pack-rafting safety course, canyoning abseiling basics and we’ve got river safety training coming up this weekend too. Many thanks to those involved with organising these training sessions and … Read more