Thanks to WTMC scholarships that helped to cover some of the cost, Mathew and Anne signed up for a backcountry avalanche course and an intermediate snowcraft course with the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC). Jon had already utilised a WTMC scholarship to attend a summer rock course earlier in the year, but signed up anyway … Read more
The Club is trialling a new approach to some of our alpine trips this year. We want to avoid the work that goes into organising an alpine trip that is cancelled due to weather, and to give enthusiastic participants their best chance at getting some time on the snow. Alongside our normal fixed schedule (which … Read more
Snowcraft graduate, George Bowman, will be giving a talk on this winter’s WTMC Snowcraft Course and what life in the mountains has been like since. He will be digging deep into the snowcraft experience, and carving out what it was like to complete the course.
It was the weekend before last, a double bluebird day, a rarity. As a recent ‘snowcrafter’ I found myself visiting the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to get in some practice. However, my eyes were constantly drawn to beauty. Stood there, timeless, always in my peripherals, Mt Ngauruhoe. It was then I knew I had to return, … Read more
INTRODUCTION Snowcraft 2018 is now complete, with 20 students participating in this introductory course to moving safely and efficiently in an alpine environment. While still following the familiar and established course format of theory sessions mixed with two weekends on the mountain, we progressed with the emphasis introduced last year on keeping the skills relevant … Read more
Henry will talk about what you need to know and do for joining in on our awesome alpine trips this winter, including the Snowcraft 2018 Introduction to Alpine Movement course, and opportunities for progressing to more extreme adventures. Come along and get stuck in! Check out this post from our newsletter archive from a past … 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
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
Conscious that we had only had one weekend away instead of the usual two I made the offer to the group that if they came up with an idea for a post Snowcraft trip and organised it I would come with them on it. Dan and Amie were up for the challenge and in no … 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