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.
After a bit of a shaky start – I was up there the weekend of the tragic rainstorm about 6 weeks ago! The snow season is going gangbusters with a 2m+ base, and lodge bookings are going gangbusters as well. Weekends are steadily filling up about 3-4 weeks out, and unfortunately we’re needing to turn … Read more
World Wildlife Fund NZ – Launches Conservation Awards WWF – NZ has launched the first ever New Zealand Conservation Innovation Awards to identify new ideas that will help protect the amazing species and spaces in New Zealand. If you’re a backyard tinkerer, laboratory genius, or anything in between, if you have ideas to help communities to … 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
Our trip kicked off to a luxurious start. While we had been planning on staying under a fly on Friday night, weather forecasts of high wind and possible heavy rain led us to take advantage of a well presented backpackers on Ure Road. After soft beds, electric lighting, warm showers and microwaved breakfasts we were … Read more
The weather forecast was not looking good for the weekend when I left work on Friday evening. A colleague said “See you on the news” as I left; the train conductor patted me on the shoulder when I mentioned I was going tramping saying “Good luck mate…. I really mean it” and I noticed that … Read more
In late July, Illona and I ran the club’s annual leadership course. The most inspiring thing about this course is that everyone there is committed to giving back to the club. This year we had eight people keen to learn the basics of WTMC trip leading, some of whom had already led one trip. I … Read more
Updated 24 Aug – incorporating changes to the proposal based on your feedback. Senior Member is now Adult Member, and the Veteran Household sub is reduced from $85 to $80. The committee has been doing some work on the membership categories. We took some steps to make changes a few years ago to make it … Read more