WTMC Ruapehu Lodge – its survival may depend on your help

WTMC Ruapehu Lodge – its survival may depend on your help Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) who has run the skifield at Whakapapa for 60 years is in Liquidation and Receivership. If no buyer can be found before the 2025 ski season it is very likely that all skifield infrastructure will be removed from the mountain and … Read more

WTMC Ruapehu Summer Lodge – and the remarkable Unnamed Glacier

WTMC Summer Lodge - Ruapehu Crater Lake and the unnamed glacier

WTMC Ruapehu Summer Lodge – and the remarkable Unnamed Glacier The smallest glacier on Mt Ruapehu is the most unusual – it is possibly the only glacier in New Zealand not melting away. And it is relatively easy to get to from the WTMC Ruapehu Lodge. There are nine named glaciers on Mt Ruapehu, including … Read more

Mt Ruapehu accommodation – the WTMC lodge at Whakapapa skifield

Summer sunset from WTMC Ruapehu Lodge

Mt Ruapehu accommodation – the WTMC Summer Lodge at Whakapapa skifield The Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering club owns and runs a lodge at the Whakapapa skifield that will be open for public accommodation during 29 December 2024 to 12 January 2025, and is ideal ‘backpacker type’ accommodation near Mt Ruapehu. More people visit Tongariro in summer … Read more

Mt Tongariro – Cinderella and the Dancing Dinosaur

Mt Tongariro – Cinderella and the Dancing Dinosaur A 2 day hiking loop trip through the spectacular mountain scenery of the Tongariro National Park in early winter Sarah, could I please have my shoes back? I looked down at my feet and realised I was having a Cinderella moment at Mangatepopo Hut on Saturday morning and … Read more

WTMC Ruapehu Lodge and the solitary wilding pine 🌲

Aerial view of the location of thee wilding pine

WTMC Ruapehu Lodge – and the solitary wilding pine  🌲  The wilding pine on the Whakapapa slopes of Mount Ruapehu needed to be removed – so Sarah and her teddy bear set out to do the job Some time ago while passing across the western slopes of Mt Ruapehu around towards the WTMC Lodge Sarah Saurus … Read more

WTMC Ruapehu Lodge – the aurora and the honey mead 🧸

Teddy Bears picnic at the WTMC Ruapehu Lodge

WTMC Ruapehu Lodge – the aurora and the honey mead At the WTMC Ruapehu Lodge the Teddy Bears Tramping Club enjoyed viewing the aurora and then also the tasty honey mead Today was an exciting time for us teddy bears at the WTMC Ruapehu Lodge. First there was an activation of the lahar warning system … Read more

WTMC Ruapehu Lodge – a brief history 1952 to 2022

The WTMC Ruapehu Lodge in winter 1954

WTMC Ruapehu Lodgea brief history 1952 to 2022 A concise history of the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club (WTMC) Lodge on Mt Ruapehu from its initial construction in 1952 until 2022. Most club members will know we have a lodge at Mt Ruapehu. Many of you will have stayed there. But the lodge didn’t just … Read more

A WTMC ski trip to Mt Ruapehu Labour Weekend 1948

The fantastical flying bed bus

A WTMC ski trip to Mt Ruapehu Labour Weekend 1948 An entertaining account of a 1948 ski trip to Mt Ruapehu in a broken-down bus, stormy weather, and very little skiing

Mt Tongariro – and the lava lake

The Red Crater Mt Tongariro - Mt Ngāuruhoe behind

Mt Tongariro and the ancient molten lava lake at North Crater A 2 day hiking loop trip over Mt Tongariro and past the once molten lava lake that occupied the North Crater before cooling and solidifying.     When the warrior gods Tongariro and Taranaki fought over the lovely Pihanga flames lit up the sky, … Read more