The trip was scheduled as going to Nina Hut and Manson Nicholls Hut in Lewis Pass. However the huts were booked by early December so we considered alternative trips and camping rather than overnighting in huts. We met Thursday afternoon at the railway station and then caught the ferry, driving on to Murchison for the … Read more
A brief summary of a week down South – not at Aoraki/ Mt Cook as originally planned (due to stormy, gusty and avalanche prone conditions) – but at Methven and the Lewis Pass, to follow the good weather. Day 1 – Pudding Hill(4.5 km, 1 h) Day 2 – Mt Hutt(9 km, 1,000 m elev … Read more
On Thursday 17th of April, two WTMC groups met at Wellington Railway station at 11.30am to catch the 1pm Interislander ferry to the South Island. After arriving in Picton, we grabbed a quick dinner and then drove south to Murchison in the club van. The night was spent at Kiwi Park Motels and Holiday Park … Read more
Brass Monkeys, a Devil’s Den and Lucretia – all from Lewis Pass A 7 day hiking loop trip through scenery in the Lewis Pass mountains Old mouldy monkeys were out and new monkeys were in! I was on a week’s solo tramp in Lewis Pass and I had been dropped off by the East by … Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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