The Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club (WTMC) aims to facilitate interesting and adventurous trips for outdoor enthusiasts of all levels. With over 500 active members and at least two tramping/alpine trips most weekends, the club needs a pool of confident and competent trip leaders who can safely manage risk in the outdoors.
As part of the club’s efforts to develop newer and emerging trip leaders, the club ran an Intermediate Bushcraft Course over the weekend of 31 Jan – 2 Feb 2025, and were extremely grateful for the financial support offered in the form of a Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) training grant. Dominic and Dave from the Wellington section of Outdoor Training New Zealand (OTNZ) facilitated the course for the club, which proved to be an excellent learning weekend for our group.
The aim was to consolidate and further develop foundational bushcraft skills (including navigation with and without compass, traveling off track in bush terrain, selecting campsites, emergency first aid, emergency fire and river safety), with a focus on the practical aspects of small group leadership whilst on a tramp. We hoped the course would also complement the ‘leading your first WTMC trip’ workshops run by the club, which are more focused on the theoretical aspects of trip planning, administration, and decision making during a trip.
After pitching tents at a private hut in the Kaitoke Regional Park on Friday evening, the group commenced a map and compass lesson. Some attendees were proficient map readers who had fallen into the habit of using phone apps to navigate and needed to refresh and practice their map and compass skills. Others were confident navigating on formed tracks, but less confident navigating through the bush off-track. A few attendees were still learning how to read a map and were using a compass for the first time.
It’s interesting to note the results of a recent Mountain Safety Council survey which indicates phones are now the navigation tool of choice in New Zealand (course participants confirmed this was the case for the group). As technology evolves, the functionality of various mapping apps on phones has improved considerably. The OTNZ instructors reinforced that phones can be a good option as long as they are protected, battery conservation and charging are considered, and there is a navigation back-up (another phone in the group or a map/compass). The instructors also reinforced that basic navigation knowledge is still essential for any trip ( no matter what navigational tool is used), along with knowledge on how to use them.
This prepared the group for the next day which initially focussed on off-track navigation in the Regional Park, before moving into the Tararua Forest Park. In the morning, our lead instructor, Dominic, talked to the group about the various levels of leadership, stressing that it is important to have self leadership mastered before you consider leading others. In the tramping context, this includes having your own gear very well sorted and being fit enough for the walk so that you have enough physical and mental energy to be responsible for others and make decisions.
During the off-track navigation, the group practised using features to support navigation, different methods of walking on a bearing, regularly checking the map to keep track of where you are, and communication. Course participants took turns at leading the group. At various intervals, the instructors also threw in scenarios that might regularly occur on a tramp (eg. a person dropping off the back of the group, injuries and when to use a PLB, a team member who wanted to go a different way to the leader etc). Each leader dealt with the situation and then we had a group debrief and discussion about the particular scenario and leadership considerations.
That evening the group camped near the Tauwharenīkau River, practised emergency fire lighting techniques, and had a debrief of the day. Over dinner, our instructors talked with us about tramping nutrition and how to deal with group members who may not have brought the right food.
River safety was the focus for Sunday morning, with a lesson on techniques for crossing as a group or individual, and how to identify good spots to cross on the banks of the river. This was followed by several practices of group and solo river crossings. Course participants each got the opportunity to lead a crossing. The walk back to the private hut included several more scenarios (totalling 10 scenarios for the weekend) and the opportunity to practice using a bothy emergency shelter (it’s surprising how quick it heats up inside!).
We were all impressed by the facilitation of the course, and the depth of knowledge demonstrated by our experienced OTNZ instructors. The scenarios weren’t pass/fail as such and were designed to be learning opportunities for everyone. The discussion that followed each scenario highlighted that course participants already had significant leadership skills, and this knowledge was able to be shared so everyone was able to gain new insights.
The group debrief at the end of the course showed that all new and emerging leaders got a lot out of the weekend, with the most common highlights being:
- using a map and compass for off track navigation and walking on a bearing;
- river safety; and
- having an opportunity to practise responding to common leadership challenges, and knowing what the options might be to respond (if they were to happen in real life).
The WTMC are especially grateful to the FMC for enabling this course, through the provision of a training grant. Ultimately, this will allow more club members to get out into the bush on adventures, with leaders who are confident in their fundamental bushcraft skills and well poised to handle any number of situations that might occur during a tramp!