Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2016 i Wilderness

DOC is increasing the daily limit of helicopter landings from 14 to 80 on the Ngapunatoru Plateau at the head of Tutoko Valley in Fiordland National Park. The plateau borders the Pembroke Wilderness Area and is accessible only by helicopter or via an arduous journey from the Hollyford Track and Glacier Creek. It’s a popular alpine climbing area of the Darran Mountains, and is also an area where helioperators provide glacier trips for tourists. According to DOC, the rising tide of tourists means the department has to look at ways of allowing more access to popular destinations. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment estimates that 3.3 million people will visit New Zealand next year. Marie Long, director of planning and permission for DOC, said it “can’t turn a blind…

We are very lucky to still have the white heron (kotuku) here in New Zealand. After the only breeding site at Waitangiroto (near Whataroa, West-land) was discovered in 1865, the species was almost exterminated to satisfy the demand for its beautiful ornamental feathers – used by Maori to adorn the heads of chiefs and by Europeans in women’s hats. At one stage in 1944, there were only four nests recorded. Conservation measures since have seen the population increase to its current 200 with around 30 breeding pairs. An iconic ‘Kiwi’ bird, it is rarely seen except by those who specifically seek it out. The bird is the largest, longest-necked of the egret species in New Zealand. Standing up to a metre high, its plumage is a stunning all-white. It has…

The upper Wye Creek basin is the perfect destination for a spontaneous camping trip. Camping on high alpine terrain usually requires a gruelling approach. Thanks to The Remarkables access road, we were spared the long walk to this beautiful destination. After arriving in the early evening we set out on the short walk to Wye Creek. We decided against following the Wye Creek Route and were rewarded with a much easier approach. One of the access roads to a ski lift took us to a saddle between points 2050 and 2035, where we crossed. The faint trail was a lot shorter and easier than the actual route. It took us to our destination in under two hours where we pitched our tents by one of the lakes. We spent the…

LIVERPOOL HUT, MT ASPIRING NATIONAL PARK A trip to Liverpool Hut combines a variety of tramping terrain and makes a great location for a two- to three-day tramp. Walk to Aspiring Hut through open terrain, much of it still grazed, along the expansive and scenic Matukituki Valley. The hut is an NZ Alpine Club classic with river stone walls, ample lounging space and great views. From here, the tramping becomes more intimate as the track enters the beech forest, crossing swingbridges and an open flat. As the valley begins to narrow at Pearl Flat, the Liverpool Hut Track climbs steeply for a bit over 500m to the hut, situated just above the bushline. The hut is positioned opposite Rob Roy Peak, one of the tallest in Mt Aspiring National Park…

* 12-POINTS – The most commonly-used crampon and good for all-around conditions, whether walking up a snow slope or kicking into steeper snow and ice faces with the front points. * 10-points – Tend to be used for easy snow slopes and ski touring. * In step – Best used for short periods to help get over a stretch of ice. ALLOY OR STAINLESS STEEL Lightweight alloy is fine for occasional use where you are unlikely to be scrambling across rocks. Stainless steel is more durable and longer-lasting. ANTI-BALLING PLATES These are important for preventing wet snow clogging the bottom of crampons. Some crampons come with anti-balling plates already attached, while others have to be purchased separately. TYPE OF BOOT A more flexible boot will require a more flexible crampon…

Mount Aspiring is New Zealand’s third largest national park and offers some of the best tracks and scenery the South Island has to offer. This is the reason there are so many well-known tramps which either partially or wholly lie within the 3555km2 limits of the park. The Route-burn is probably the most famous of them all, but there are many others that are equally dramatic, if not even more so: Young-Gillespie Pass, Rabbit Pass, Cascade Saddle to the Rees, the classic five passes tramp and of course the mighty West Matukituki with Mt Aspiring itself towering above the bush-clad valley. There is something for everyone here, whether a multiday tramp to remote Lake Nerine high above the Rock Burn, a gentle valley stroll to the spacious Mt Aspiring Hut,…

Spinal twists can relieve back pain and help balance muscle tension in the back. Be gentle and avoid the temptation to wrench too deeply into the twist. 1 Sit on the floor with both legs extended. If your hamstrings are tight, or it's painful for your lower back to sit in this position, sit your hips on the edge of a folded blanket or towel. 2 Bend your left knee, bringing your left foot to the floor over the top of the right leg. If your hips do not stay on the floor, bring the foot inside the right knee. 3 Flex the toes of your right foot. 4Bring your left fingertips to the floor behind your hips and press into the floor to sit up tall through the spine.…

The mountain biking season on one of the Great Walks could be extended by an extra three months. DOC is asking for public input on their proposal to increase the biking season on the 78km Heaphy Track from its current duration of five months to eight months. The season now runs from May 1 to September 30, but the proposed season would span April 1 to November 30, excluding the four days of Easter. DOC said the motivation behind the proposal is to promote use of the track and to give mountain bikers more opportunities to ride outside of the winter months. “The current mountain biking season is mostly in winter when cold weather, including snow, can make riding the track more difficult,” said DOC Golden Bay operations manager Andrew…

DOC has announced its plan to reopen the Dart Track later this year. The popular track has been closed since January 2015 after heavy rain caused a large slip and lake at Sandy Flat. The trail should be fully open by November, allowing trampers to once again complete the full Rees-Dart circuit. The landslide at Slip Stream has posed numerous issues for DOC, which has been monitoring the erosion for the past year. DOC’s operations manager Geoff Owen said after the slip, the river environment was “particularly volatile” due to heavy rainfall. Now that the land has had time to settle, work can begin to rehabilitate the walking trails. DOC will begin work on the track at the end of winter, and will create a 4.4km stretch of new trail.…

CAPTURE SOME DRAMA Interesting cloud surrounding the mountains can add much mood to the shot, giving it a sense of drama. Often, it’s the days with mixed weather and light breaking through the clouds which lead to the best photographs of snow-covered landscapes. Weather is also an important part of any winter landscape and capturing it will give the shot a more wintry feel. INCLUDE SOME PEOPLE Try to include something in your shot to show a sense of scale, otherwise the grandeur of those epic snow-covered peaks can easily be lost. This could be a person or any recognisable object such as a tree. This will also add foreground interest to the photograph. WATCH WHERE YOU STEP When you are walking about on the snow, trying to find the…

Mountains form the dividing point of river headwaters and it’s for that reason the Southern Alps are called the ‘Main Divide’. Similarly, the axial ranges of the North Island – the Raukumara, Urewera, Ruahine, Tararua, Rimutaka and Kaweka-Kaimanawa – form a major watershed too. Ever had the experience of standing on a summit, one foot in the headwaters of a major river, and the other foot in the headwaters of an entirely different catchment? Many major New Zealand rivers begin their journey on the flanks of a mountain, then writhe through gorges before emerging onto the lowlands and eventually disgorging into the sea. While many mountains are the source of two major rivers, far fewer form the headwaters of three or more. Here are four watershed peaks that do. 1…

On the afternoon of Monday June 20, 1966 the chief ranger of Arthur’s Pass National Park was advised that four young climbers who had set out to climb the Otira Face of Mt Rolleston the previous day were overdue. He was not greatly concerned. True, it was late June, but Sunday had been fine and the mild start to winter meant the face was still in summer condition. It was not unusual for people climbing Mt Rolleston to traverse the peak and emerge, a day late, down the Waimakariri River. But as the weather began to deteriorate throughout Monday, alarm mounted and with good reason, for the following week saw the unfolding of one of New Zealand’s worst mountain tragedies. Five people lost their lives. All four climbers, Jeffrey Wilby,…

Eric Buenz’s daughter is teething right now – so he jokes, perhaps a little wearily, that the powerful ongaonga he’s studying might help her pain and her parent’s sleep if he rubbed a bit on her gums. It’s science black humour – ongaonga, or Urtica ferox (from the Latin ‘to burn’ and ‘fierce’), is a remarkably poisonous plant, one of the deadliest in New Zealand, and one of a handful of plants in the world that have been responsible for killing someone just by coming into contact with them. It’s made an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Dangerous Stinger. Touching the spines causes intense pain – they contain histamine, serotonin and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and multiple stings can cause inflammation, rashes, and itching. High levels…

Roca Kalimnos 9.8mm x 60m $279.99 Designed for all climbing – indoor, sport climbing and multi-pitch routes, easy to handle and clip carabiners to, works with all belay devices, Hard Choc technology resists impact on rough rock edge. 64g/m. www.gearshop.co.nz Black Diamond Couloir $129.90 Minimal harness for technical skiing and mountaineering, nylon-webbing construction, quick-release leg loops for easy on/off while wearing skis or crampons, two webbing gear loops, can be worn under a pack or clothing, 15 kN-rated belay and haul loops. 230g. www.southernapproach.co.nz Petzl Sama Harness $149.95 Endo frame construction distributes weight, four gear loops, hi-tenacity abrasion-resistant tie in, double back buckle for ease of adjustment, stretch leg loops. Women’s fit is the Selena. 370g. www.petzl.co.nz Black Diamond Magnetron Vaporlock $69.90 Locking carabiner with magnetic gate, pear shape increases…

As a keen tramper from a young age, our son Fenn is now 10 and getting stronger and fitter by the day. My husband and I recently took him to Roaring Stag Hut in northern Tararua Forest Park – a perfect trial run for longer tramps that he and his Dad are planning in the near future. A few minutes down the track, we crossed a swingbridge and followed the Mangatainoka River for about an hour. It was an easy walk with several short tracks along the way down to the river. Crossing a second swingbridge over a small creek, the track moved away from the river and then started to climb. We enjoyed the initial gentle gradient up the spur, but it quickly became steeper and soon there were…

HOODS Adjustable hoods trap warm air around your head without blocking visibility. COLLARS AND CUFFS Cuffs keep out wind and snow and can be self-closed or elastic. Elastic hidden cuffs retain more warmth. Collars should zip up under or just over the chin and should be filled with insulation. Some are lined with a fleece-like fabric. BAFFLES Down jackets utilise baffles while synthetic garments may be quilted to hold the insulation in place. INSULATION Synthetic insulation has come a long way and now offers similar weight and compressibility to duck and goose down. Down is now being treated with hydrophobic coatings which allow similar performance to synthetic fills when wet. When choosing a down-insulated jacket, take note of the loft, or fill power (the cubic inch volume that one ounce…

SEND YOUR PIX Get your photo published here to receive a set of four Light My Fire Sporks – one for you and three for your friends! Learn more about Spork at ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

For Kelly Purdie, walking 4500km is not about the bragging rights, although she’ll certainly be entitled to such; rather, it’s about spreading information about Juvenile Parkinson’s Disease, which her sister has been living with for 20 years. Purdie, 37, is originally from England, but has lived in New Zealand for nine years. When she spoke to Wilderness in early May, she was about one-third of the way into her walking tour of the South Island. She started in January, armed with the basics: a tent, sleeping bag and pad, stove and GPS. Her walk began in Dunedin, as she was eager to get the southernmost parts of her journey done before winter sets in. While she says her walk is largely motivated by her desire to see the beauty of…

Located between Christchurch and Grey-mouth, Arthur’s Pass National Park has a huge variety of hikes and climbs. The Mt Bealey Track offers spectacular views of Arthur’s Pass Village, the National Park and 2275m Mt Rolleston. Because the summit can be reached within 4-5hr, most people do a return climb of Bealey as a day trip. But once past the bushline and above 1300m, various flat campsites can be found along the unmarked route leading to the summit, inviting trampers to spend the night surrounded by the park’s rugged peaks. With most people in the area heading up the Avalanche Peak Track to the north, you’ll likely find a quiet spot to pitch your tent. WILD FILE Access Track starts at the southern end of Arthur’s Pass Village, 15min walk from…

This month, Wilderness is launching Sounds from the Trail, a podcast that will bring you stories from the backcountry to the frontcountry, and everything in between. The first episode is part of the Hut Life series, in which we visit huts around the country, meeting the people who stay in them and hearing their stories. Wilderness recently journeyed to Pinnacles Hut, perched in the rolling hills of Coromandel Forest Park. Pinnacles is New Zealand’s largest hut, with 80 bunks, electricity and a large kitchen equipped with gas stoves. When Wilderness visited, it was a fairly quiet Saturday night; a school group had 30 fewer students than planned and several other parties had cancelled last-minute. It made for a comparatively intimate gathering of around 40 weekend warriors, many of whom had…

If tramping and paddling had a baby, it would be packrafting. Packrafts are inflatable rafts that pack down as small as a one-man tent, and weigh as little as 2.5kg. You can carry them rolled up at the bottom of your pack, strapped to the outside for easy access, or on your back for short distances. They’re smaller than a raft, bigger than a kayak, and are intended for people who plan to tramp far and wide to access remote rivers, or for the adventurous tramper who wants a multimodal approach to covering vast swaths of backcountry. Packrafting has been around for at least a century, with rudimentary packable rafts used in North America as early as the mid-1800s. Nearly 100 years later, sturdier prototypes were manufactured as airplane survival…

Crisp days, snow on the tops, no sandflies, fewer people, clearer air and haze-free views; winter has lots of merits. There is also the joy of your boots crunching through snow, and at day’s end the guilt-free warmth of a good fire in a hut. It’s colder, of course, so you need to carry warmer clothing. The days are shorter, and avalanches can pose a risk, but provided you make allowances, these should not be impediments to a safe trip. Here are seven tramps that are better done in the colder months. ROUND THE MOUNTAIN TRACK, TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK The track around Mt Ruapehu gets considerably less use than the Tongariro Northern Circuit, but in many ways exceeds it for sheer variety. There are many waterfalls on the western side,…

Bad outdoor gear is truly hard to find. If you’ve got a tent that doesn’t shelter you from a storm, it’s probably fair to say you shouldn’t have bought it at The Warehouse in the first place. Buy a tent from an outdoor store and you’ll get one fit for purpose that won’t let you down. Same goes with boots, packs and jackets: as long as the fit is right and the use appropriate, you can’t go too far wrong. This is why we bring you the Gear of the Year awards: to separate the best from the best of the best – those products which stand apart from all others. A TENT FOR ALL SEASONS MSR Elixir 2 $649 The Elixir 2 is a versatile, durable and lightweight three-season…

When we crested the top of Takaka Hill to find it covered in snow, we knew we were on to something special for our trip into the wide open river flats and beech forest pockets of the Cobb Valley. We dropped into Trilobite Hut, near the car park, to find it full and steamy. A party of six had tried to make it into the valley earlier in the day, only to be turned back by a blizzard. They were now planning to spend the rest of the day thawing out in front of the fire. Fortunately, the weather improved and we left the others to the warmth of the hut to set off under an overcast sky and a light snowfall. Sunshine occasionally broke through the clouds, revealing a…

A late afternoon start had us racing the setting sun to reach Hinerua Hut before dark. Shortly after leaving the car, we dropped to the Tukituki River, crossing it three times before reaching the shelter of the forest where the climb began to Hinerua Ridge. Darkness overtook us a short time later, so we walked by the light of our headlamps for the final hour to the four-bunk hut. In the moonlight, the hut looked magical, surrounded by pure white snow. We woke early in expectation of a long day’s walk to Waterfall Hut, an historic hut at the head of the Kawhatau River and located on a beautiful sand bank at the confluence of Waterfall and Pinnacle creeks. From Hinerua Hut, we climbed a spur to join Broken Ridge…