From the President – April 2023 – Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club

Kia ora,

This article provides a brief update on club activities, including:

WTMC April recap: Committee, trips and lodge updates
Intentions for the year to come
Coming up in May

If you have any questions, comments or ideas please get in touch.

Ngā mihi

Anne de Ferron

Luxmore hut and a dusting of snow on the Kepler track – EM group, ANZAC weekend (credit: Beverley and Blair)

WTMC April recap

From the Committee

New committee – The new WTMC committee was elected at the AGM on 5 April. Following the changes implemented earlier in March, the committee is now made up of seven positions, which will help us run the club more effectively and share the load amongst volunteers. You can read more about our new committee members and their respective roles here. The lodge convenor role is still vacant.
We have also a huge number of volunteers helping run the club and lodge behind the scenes, you can find out more about our volunteers and the jobs we need help with here.

Aknowledgements – I also would like to thank the outgoing committee and volunteers who supported the club over the last 12 months – in particular, thanks to Tony Stephens for leading the Committee and our Club over the last year or so, and to Brian Goodwin who stepped down from the Lodge Convenor role after over a decade.

FMC elections – The Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand (FMC) are holding an election to vote on their executive for the 2023-24 year. As a member of FMC, WTMC has 5 club votes which we will use to vote for the new president, as well as 13 general Executive member roles. The committee is looking for comments from our club members so that we can best represent the club’s views in this election. If you have any opinions, please email the Liaison Officer by Sunday 14 May. More information about the FMC election and candidates can be found here.

Trips updates

Next trip schedule – Planning is underway for the new trip schedule, which will cover July to October. Whether you plan to lead a trip or just go along to one, please email your ideas of trips to the Chief Guide.

South Island adventures – WTMC made the most of the long weekends this month with no less than four trips on the South Island, from Nelson Lakes via Lewis Pass and all the way down to Fjorland National Park. Keep your eyes peeled for trips reports in the coming weeks.

Cyclone Gabrielle – The impacts of the recent extreme weather events are yet to be fully assessed. Several club trips in the Kawekas and Ruahines have been postponed until we have more certainty about track and hut conditions. A good reminder for trip leaders to keep an eye out for DOC alerts and to expect the unexpected – read more.

Te Papakura o Taranaki – Following the initialling of the Treaty Settlement for Taranaki Maunga, Mt Egmont National Park will be renamed Te Papakura o Taranaki, “the highly regarded and treasured lands of Taranaki”. The park and its peaks will become a legal person named Te Kāhui Tupua, and it will have an entity to act as its voice: Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi, made up of iwi and Crown appointees – read more. WTMC celebrated with a speedy Around the Mountain Circuit trip on 1-2 April.

Lodge updates

Easter Lodge – From Lodge host Murray:
“Well who knows what the future has to hold, but if I had used the weather I had when leaving to head North for Easter lodge (pouring down rain for the last three days ) one wonders why go – Well Ruapehu has its own way of thanking those that ignore weather forecasts and just go.
The weather was fine for the first three days of Easter and then we had rain, low cloud and mist. And yes those who did attend all got to do things on and off the mountain. One party came for the Tongariro Crossing and had a great day’s walk, others to just walk the local tracks, or visit the hot pools. Even the younger kids had fun outside hunting for Easter eggs. Yes – the sunsets of Mt Egmont through the BAY window all add to visiting the Lodge, and the stars – on a clear night the sky is ones oyster even sightings of the Space Station. No matter the weather, all visitors get to enjoy this from our Mountain Lodge…”

Lodge bookings – The lodge will be open for the winter season – bookings open on 1 May.

For updates about the lodge, check out the WTMC Ruapehu Facebook page.

Easter egg hunt at the lodge – Easter 2023 (credit: Charlotte)

Intentions for the year to come

As President, my role is to foster a positive club culture and effective processes so our Committee and volunteers are appropriately supported to deliver our club activities, and all our members feel welcome and can safely enjoy the outdoors through WTMC – regardless of their background, age, ethnicity, gender, experience or abilities.

I am looking forward to taking a bird’s-eye view across our club activities and systems. With support from the committee and our volunteers, I would like to focus our efforts towards the following priorities for the coming year:

Promote a sense of community amongst our members, for example by:

setting up a group of volunteers to generate and implement ideas that will ensure that we cater for all, regardless of their background, age, ethnicity, gender or abilities. (e.g. review our club processes, reach out to other clubs or hosting a club night for specific groups, etc)
encouraging members to propose or initiate social events through WTMC (e.g. movie night that relates to the outdoors, weekends at the lodge etc.)

Facilitate a positive and collaborative working environment for our volunteers, by:

implementing the new governance structure, ensuring everyone understands their role and responsibilities and that the workload is shared appropriately
encouraging everyone to bring their ideas to the table and drive changes where they can benefit the club and our members
improve our systems to support accountability and transparency
taking a firm approach to any behaviour that is disrespectful or inappropriate.

Strengthen the long term viability of the club, including:

continuing work initiated on tidying up our financial reports
developing and implementing budgets and ensure each club activity breaks even
continuing to implement our long term investment strategy
keeping an eye on decisions that relate to RAL and managing any implications for the lodge and the club

Identify and implement any changes we need to make under the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022. Amongst other things, this will involve:

reviewing and updating our club constitution
updating our processes to meet new financial reporting and auditing requirements
setting up a complaints process

If you have any thoughts/questions on these topics or if you are interested in helping out, please email .