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.
Our plan had been relatively simple – walk to Angelus Hut via Speargrass Creek, climb the peak, then return via Robert Ridge. In the week before we set out, conditions looked more and more ominous, with south-easterly gales, heavy snowfall and the avalanche risk in the alpine zone rising from moderate to considerable. Dan decided … Read more
This trip was an EM tramp heading for Cupola Hut in the Travers Valley, Nelson Lakes, led by Richard. Six of us signed up for the trip and several of us had been on trips led by Richard before. We were to share the trip with a medium group led by Mike Moore, who were … Read more
On Friday 5th August we met at Wellington railway station with heavy rain showers passing overhead. There were two trips joined in one minibus for the weekend away. Ours was the Upper Travers, arranged by Mike Moore, a three-day excursion to Nelson Lakes National Park. The plan was to take the water taxi from St … Read more
20 beginner alpinists, 5 instructors, 2 teams and 1 mountain to conquer. Two packed vans and one car left a windy Wellington behind, with sights set on Mt Ruapehu. The drive up offered long and tedious discussions about what the name of our team was going to be, and to Brendan’s delight we settled for … Read more
This was a weekend traverse of Aorangi Forest Park, starting from the sea, ending at the sea, and going over some big hills in between… Friday night we converged on Platform 9 and bundled into the club van to test drive the newly opened Smart Motorway. Opinions about its performance varied slightly but generally were … Read more
The Ruapehu snow season’s well and truly kicked off with a couple of storms to coat the mountain, plus something like a metre of snow over the last week. We now have a base of over two metres which sets us up nicely for a primo season. Our Lodge on Mt Ruapheu is filling up nicely and … Read more
Applications for FMC expedition scholarships are open now and close on the 15th September. We know you are an adventurous lot, so we’d like to encourage WTMC members to apply. For the first time FMC is able to offer Expedition Scholarships to adventurers of all ages, so whether you are a family, adult or veteran … Read more
We thought you might like a quick update on the WTMC trap line. The trap line is based at Upper Makaroro in the Ruahines and encloses a river valley that is home to Whio (Blue Duck). Members of the WTMC visit the trap line around once every month to empty the traps of predators and … Read more
Billed as an Easy-Medium, the Kawakawa Hut trip sounded like just what I needed after a long break from overnight tramping and a hideous cold. As benefits a trip of this grade, proceedings commenced with a coffee at Martinborough and it was 11am before the actual tramping began. Being new to the area, I’d done … Read more
In late June four of us headed up to the Ruahines to tend to the WTMC trap line. The tramping club adopted the line in early 2015 and it forms a circuit, with another line, to enclose a section of the Makaroro River where Whio (Blue Duck) live. The idea is to visit the line … Read more