Wilderness April 2017

MY HEART goes out to the parents of Christian Prehn, the 19-year-old German tramper who went missing in Nelson Lakes National Park in 2014. I’ve got a young daughter and the thought of her just vanishing one day makes me sick to the stomach. It’s the not knowing that would eat at me. Christian had come to New Zealand for his gap year. He was intent on spending his time in nature and to that end had planned a series of South Island tramps. But a few months into his stay, he was walking the Travers-Sabine route and was at the crux of the trip: Travers Saddle. It was here he placed his pack on the ground, presumably to find a better vantage or to climb Mt Travers, and disappeared.…

DOC’s unsung heroes AT A TIME when DOC often comes under fire for its many alleged shortcomings, an unheralded success story has to be the composting toilets installed at Manson-Nicholls Memorial Hut at Lake Daniell in Lewis Pass Scenic Reserve. Let’s give a shout out for the hardworking, and unpaid, DOC earthworms slaving away in the dark confinement at the back of the toilet block of the (French-made) Ecodomeo dry composting toilet, one of the first of its kind in New Zealand. These diligent workers are transforming faecal matter and toilet paper into compost that only needs removing every five to 15 years. Voilà – no fuss, no mess, no smell! So cheers to DOC, viva la France, and let’s have more of these brilliant toilets installed at huts around…

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…

IT TRAVERSES a sacred taonga, a volcanic spectacle, an apparently famous movie landscape, and is an undeniable bucket-list walk. It’s also become the pin-up poster child in the current debate raging about tourism growth in New Zealand’s national parks; the place everyone quotes when they complain of crowds, car park overflows and crapping on the track (sorry, the alliteration was too tempting and anyway, tragically, it’s true). ‘Basically a conga line with a picnic at the top’ was one social media description, this January, of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (TAC). More than 1000 walkers a day has become a regular occurrence. On the busiest day this summer, 2750 people walked the track. ‘People jams’ on the steepest, highest section are common. More toilets were added this season but there were…

Bettina Grotschel, 35, Germany Start date October 14 BETTINA GROTSCHEL has finished the trail, celebrating after 133 days of tramping 3000km from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Grotschel’s last update was from Arthur’s Pass, where she had a rest day in between some foul weather, dealing with swollen rivers and challenging terrain. After reaching Lake Coleridge and the Rakaia River, she got a ride to Methven and a shuttle with three other hikers to the trailhead on the other side of the lake. After another two days of walking through tussock country, she arrived at the Rangitata River and then Mesopotamia Station. “It was breathtakingly stunning,” Grotschel said. At Lake Tekapo, she climbed back into the mountains and “the impressive view at Breast Hill over Lake Hawea,” which is where she…

“Backpacking is 90 per cent mental. It’s only 10 per cent that is physical. If you know you can do it, you can probably do it.” - Talie Morrison TALIE MORRISON is living the tramping dream. Much as a ski bum might follow the winter chasing powder, Morrison follows the sun, spending the northern hemisphere summer tramping in her native Colorado and the southern summer exploring the backblocks of New Zealand. But though Morrison is a self-described “70-year-old hippy”, living in a van for four months of the year, she’s no bum. She’s led a full life of travel, raising children and working as a wilderness guide where she helped at risk teens and earned the nickname ‘Talie Tadpole’, which has now become her trail name. Lately, Morrison has become…