Hauhungatahi – the accessible wilderness

Hauhungatahi Wilderness Area map

Hauhungatahi – the accessible wilderness A hike through the Hauhungtahi Wikderness Area (Remote Experience Zone) in Tongariro National Park New Zealand has 14 National Parks (counting Te Urewera) that cover over three million hectares, or about 11 percent of our land area. Together with numerous conservation parks, including forest parks, we are fortunate to have … Read more

Lodge Social – Whakapapa Village to Mangahuia Campsite

After heavy overnight thunderstorms at the Lodge, this route was predicted to be a wet one underfoot. The initial section from the top end of Whakapapa Village (09:40 hrs) South West to the Whakapapaiti track junction (11:25hrs) contoured around the lower slopes for Mt Ruapehu. Undulating, but a good track through the big gulleys (The … Read more

Lodge Social – Tupapakurua Falls Day Walk

This was a day trip as part of a lodge weekend over 6-8 March 2015. About 20 minutes from the Lodge, we crossed the railway line near the station in National Park village on to Fishers Road. The gravel road took us to a small car park at the start of the track. The local community … Read more

Pinnacles traverse

The trip was a lodge based ice climbing trip. The difficulty: no ice. I only had one other punter and due to severe jet lag they decided to bail too. What to do? The answer was to recruit someone on really short notice. Luckily I was climbing with Simon on Thursday and persuaded him that … Read more

Naturists on Tongariro

Note to the Committee: I feel I must notify you of a conflict of interest I have, as myself and others have formed a new club that inevitably will compete with the WTMC.  A group of us have had a flash of insight that there is a totally un-serviced need in the tramping community, and … Read more

Alpine Refresher

This year we decided to schedule an alpine refresher weekend ahead of the snow courses, the idea being that instructors would get in some practice before the courses started. However, with Snowcraft cancelled due to a lack of numbers, the weekend evolved into an opportunity for people who had previously done an AIC or Snowcraft … Read more