Wilderness February 2017

SUMMIT BAGGING MY OWN SUMMIT bagging trips have been met with varied levels of success. The most memorable was a couple of winters ago when the plan was to climb Ruapehu, descend the northern Waihohonu Ridge to dart across marshland to the southern slopes of Ngauruhoe, which we’d climb with a camp on the summit. The next day Tongariro was to be ticked off followed by an easy walk out. We had three days but needed four and we didn’t even come close to achieving the objective, making it as far as the Lower Tama lake on our second evening and only summiting one peak: Ruapehu. And by summit I mean Summit Plateau, some 200m below the mountain’s highest peak. In general, stringing together a bunch of summits is easy…

NEGLECTED RUAHINES My friend and I walked the main range of the Ruahine Range over seven days just before Christmas. This exhilarating trip started at Comet Hut and went all the way to Heritage Lodge; a distance of around 100km. We passed dozens of signs and tracks leading to a large number of huts, shelters and bivvies. As we were heading for Sparrowhawk Bivvy, the wind was picking up; by the time we had arrived it was very severe. This brilliant little sanctuary was our refuge for two nights. While the cloud was low and winds were howling, we stayed safe, warm and dry. We passed the time reading the hut book. We read of Kaiapoi and his DOC team from Ongaonga who had been up to paint this well-loved…

What did you get up to last weekend? Get your photo published here to receive an Opinel No.5 folding knife worth $20. Learn more about Opinel at ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

NOROVIRUS OUTBREAK ON TRAVERS-SABINE It was a nasty welcome to the New Year for 40 trampers who contracted norovirus on the Travers-Sabine circuit in Nelson Lakes National Park. No one knows how the outbreak occurred, but DOC was made aware of people being sick at West Sabine Hut on December 30 and walkers departing the trail also said they were sick or had encountered sick people. DOC has not confirmed the outbreak is norovirus, but the symptoms, vomiting and diarrhea, are consistent with the illness, which can spread easily in confined spaces. “As soon as you have vomiting in a closed space like a hut, even if vomiting into a bag, you have airborne contaminants,” said Nelson Lakes operations manager John Wotherspoon. “It’s real easy for that stuff to go…

MARIA WEINMANN, 43, GERMANY, AND DAVID KLEBER, 50, USA Start date: November 16 Maria Weinmann and David Kleber are making steady progress down the North Island. About to start their river journey on the Wanganui River, they said they’ve been challenged by more rainforest drudgery but were buoyed by reaching the 1000km mark and finding pockets of trail magic. The highlights were the Timber Trail and Hauhungaroa Route, with “massive trees covered with velvet moss looking like something out of a fairytale” and the view of Lake Taupo. The couple also had the opportunity to stay at a sheep farm and watch professional sheep shearers, “doing their work masterfully.” After the sheep shearing, they found a unique bit of trail magic set up by a 12-year-old boy, Sam Pepper, who…

I knew the 3000m peak challenge was going to make my life richer DESPITE CLIMBING 24 of New Zealand’s 3000m peaks, mountain climber Penny Webster still calls herself an amateur. She’s ticked off a total of 72,000m, spread over the course of the past 35 years. Webster, now 57, finished her 24th summit last November. To say Webster is modest is an understatement; she’s one of an estimated dozen Kiwis who’ve done the 3000m peak challenge since the mid-1950s. Growing up in Christchurch, Webster says her childhood was full of tramping, camping, exploring for gold, and skiing. She joined her high school’s tramping club, and says it was on a trip home from Arthur’s Pass that the climbing seed was planted. While on the train back to Christchurch, she saw…