Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club
Enjoying the great outdoors since 1947
Our team of 9 club members gathered early on an overcast Saturday morning at the Woolshed in Belmont Regional Park. We were all excited to see what the weekend held and looking forward to gaining some new skills to make our tramping experiences safer. There was a wide range of people on the course. The … Read more
After having to cancel the bushcraft course, the next best thing seemed to be a day out in the Remutaka Forest Park for a bit of map and compass practice, with an intro to river safety. We started the day with map reading theory at the Catchpool carpark. Identifying symbols on the map – easy! … Read more
WTMC is once again organising a 2-day intro to packrafting course. The team from Packrafting New Zealand will be coming up to run the course with one day on the Hutt River and one day on the Otaki River (as weather allows). If tramping and paddling had a baby, it would be packrafting. Packrafts are … 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
Do you know do you treat a diabetic? What is the ratio of compressions to breath in CPR? Who do you call when your child has eaten something poisonous? If you have done a St Johns first aid course, you will know the answers to these questions and more! This year, Matt very kindly organised … Read more
This course was a first for the Club. Packrafting is a relatively new outdoor activity in NZ and while a few members had some limited experience, none had any formal training. As part of the schedule planning Richard House managed to get Packrafting NZ from Expedition X Ltd, based in Te Anau, to come up … Read more
This trip was advertised as practicing making yourself comfortable overnight in the bush without a hut, tent or fly and deliberately scheduled with the hope of some rain and arduous conditions in mid-June. A little more challenging than the bushcraft courses we routinely run! With a Saturday morning departure from Wellington, there was time to … Read more
Nick Jennings’ tramping CV is impressive. The list of roles he’s performed for WTMC, Federated Mountain Clubs, Mountain Safety Council, DOC and its predecessors, and LandSAR, is extensive. Mike Gilbert spent an afternoon talking with Nick about the times and places behind the statistics. How long ago did you start tramping? I started in the … Read more
First the winds of change blew through WTMC! Initiation rites that used to be undertaken to achieve membership were abandoned. Initiation rites like having to survive two overnight trips with the club, being seen in a holey ice breaker jumper, proving you can pronounce “Tararua” and know what scroggin is, bribing a trip leader or … Read more
Back in February when the sun was warm, sky blue and rain was but a distant memory (unlike more recent weather), the family group ran its first junior Bushcraft course. Based on the club’s main bushcraft course it aimed to allow older kids to learn some basic skills of the outdoors. Ten kids aged between … Read more