Brass Monkey Biv

Brass Monkey Biv A 2 day hiking loop trip through the Lewis Pass Tops passing by the Brass Monkey Bivouac and over the summit of The Apprentice. If you belong to a mountaineering club then maybe every now and then you think about actually climbing to the summit of a mountain. But one immediate problem … Read more

A Fairytale climb of Gloriana Peak – Spenser Mountains

I almost pulled the pin on this trip. By the Thursday evening before we were due to leave, the weather forecast had changed daily, if not hourly, for the past few days. And the Interislander had already bumped our outbound sail to a less convenient time for everyone. I was weighing up whether it was … Read more

Lake Christabel Hut

With the weather forecast for the weekend looking grim four of us headed (along with the EM group) from the train station to check in for our ferry ride to Picton. Once we were on the ferry heading to Picton there was no turning back. The ride over was smoother than expected with the rain … Read more

Pell Stream Pioneers – Mission Accomplished! (mostly)

Background As far as we can tell, no WTMC club trip has visited Pell Stream hut in the Lewis Pass area in recent years. The hut is considered to be ‘remote’, receiving few visitors. This was the club’s third attempt to get to Pell Stream hut since January 2016, and Catherine, David, and I had … Read more

Pell Stream – Blackadder Rest – Lake Daniell

This trip was a merger of the Pell Stream (Easy) and Lake Daniell (Easy-Medium) trips. David’s original plan was to camp at Kawatiri Junction on Friday night, get to Pell Stream Hut on Saturday night, and continue to Manson-Nicholls Memorial Hut at Lake Daniell on Sunday night. In retrospect, it’s clear now that the Easy … Read more

Lake Christabel

Our South Island jaunt to Lewis Pass was initially a bit stop-start due to the usual vagaries of Inter-islander Ferries. This time they managed to load too many passengers and cargo. ‘Fortunately’ the captain noticed before we entered the Cook Straight (7m swell) and we headed back to unload the trains! Handy tip number 1, … Read more

The Zampa Not Tops Trip – Is this what a MF Trip is really about?

No wonder the Medium Fit trampers make their trips sound so mysterious!  I have been aspiring to be an MF for months, no maybe years, and I finally thought I dared to join one of the mysterious MF trips. Well, actually I was thinking that they might not tolerate me as a punter so I … Read more

Christmas Tramp: Lewis Pass to Nelson Lakes

New Years Day 2010 a bunch of keen yet slightly crazy trampers jump onto the interislander on a 9 day excursion taking them deep into the heart of the Southern Alps going from Lewis Pass up to Nelson Lakes. The initial plan is to head over three alpine passes Three tarns pass, Thomson Saddle and … Read more