Learning the Skills and Tools of Alpine Travel with Hillary Outdoors

• 12 Oct 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• A few weeks back I enjoyed a special opportunity to firm up some alpine skills with the support of a WTMC scholarship on a Hillary Outdoors alpine instruction course. The two days up at Ruapehu were a nice crash course in travelling in a mixed alpine environment practising the tools of the trade. Our first ... Read more
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Orongorongo Valley Hut Bagging

• 12 Oct 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• There are over 60 private/club/DOC huts in the Orongorongo valley. Our mission was to see how many we could find from out base at Paua hut.I had worried about the weather for the weekend as the forecast had predicted some rain. However, the Friday was warm and sunny and we had a pleasant tramp over ... Read more
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Lodge Update: Our Maunga September 2021

• 12 Oct 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Unlike last year lady luck was with us following the announcement that the essential part of New Zealand was to move back to level 2. That meant that we completed ski week 1 and opened again for ski week 2 and hopefully the coming school holidays. Ski week 2 was very successful with the only ... Read more
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From the President …in September 2021 …

• 23 Sep 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Tēnā koutou Although Covid-19 continues to present challenges for us all, there’s still lots happening and to get involved in. Wellington is fortunate to be back to covid-19 alert level 2 so we’re able to run most club trips again with a few extra considerations. The new trip schedule is on the website here. A ... Read more
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Hiking The Burtton Track

• 18 Sep 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Up bright and early to start our day trip meeting at the Railway Station: 7AM. It was really great having two cars for this trip as the starting and finishing points are different. The road to the start of track is gravelly and potholed, take care when driving.  The start of the track is Scott’s ... Read more
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Committee Activity: September 2021

• 6 Sep 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Greetings Readers, it’s National Lockdown 2 and your humble Newsletter Editor finds himself a bit bored and with (unsurprisingly) few trip reports coming in. What to do? I decided to canvass your committee about their lockdown exploits and to summarise them here. Interestingly, between us we’ve managed to photograph Wellington from almost every angle Maj-Britt, ... Read more
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Taming the Mud Monster on Stewart Island/Rakiura

• 6 Sep 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” As I took my first few steps out of the backpackers in Oban on Stewart Island/Rakiura I kept reminding myself of this famous quote by mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary everytime the nerves threatened to overwhelm me. I was setting off on a continuous circumnavigation of Stewart ... Read more
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Lodge Update: Our Maunga August 2021

• 29 Aug 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• It certainly is a case of deja vu after last year’s devastating lock down coincidentally about the same time of the year. We can only hope that the hard level 4 will get us out of this without too much damage. My thoughts go to all involved last year and this year to make the ... Read more
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From the President …in August 2021 …

• 26 Aug 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Tēnā koutou It’s been quite a mixed month for everyone and the club. At such a time, it’s important to not lose sight of the many recent great WTMC moments. The Families Group enjoyed its awesome annual campfire cookout at Battle Hill with about 30 people. The kids had an absolutely wonderful time, learning how ... Read more
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Want to upskill your tramping or mountaineering? A WTMC scholarship might be just the thing!

• 12 Aug 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Launched in 2018, the WTMC scholarship programme is about supporting club members to gain experience and skills.  We often think of the club’s courses in leadership, bushcraft and snowcraft or the local alpine club section courses. These are great courses and an excellent first step on your tramping and mountaineering journey, so be sure to ... Read more
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Annual Families Cookout

• 12 Aug 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Every year since 2016, the Families Group has spent a day at Battle Hill, cooking lunch on a fire, enjoying the jumbo swing, feeding eels, sometimes swimming in the stream, and generally having a wonderful time. This year we had a turnout not seen in several years, with nearly 30 people arriving to cook over ... Read more
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Lodge Update: Our Maunga July 2021

• 2 Aug 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• We have passed the first group of school holidays with a good turn out of families staying at the lodge over the two-week period. Unfortunately, only the lower mountain was open for skiing due to the poor covering of snow on the upper mountain. Happy valley was open most days for skiing and the Rangatira ... Read more
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From the President … in July 2021

• 29 Jul 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Tēnā koutou I’m delighted that we now have a full Committee – and really pleased to welcome our new Chief Guide, Anne de Ferron. Anne has been leading trip for many years, as well as helping the club with the Mountain Film Festival and in many other ways. So many thanks to Matt C for ... Read more
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From the Editor, July 2021

• 26 Jul 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Greetings, Readers. It is I, the Newsletter Editor, coming to you with information and requests The Request Please keep sending me trip reports! Without trip reports to publish I would have to find a job or something to occupy my time with, or worse, I’ll start making up my own trip reports and then you’ll ... Read more
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King of the Hill

• 26 Jul 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Bleary eyed I emerged from my car at Takapu Rd Station. Here I encountered my first obstacle: getting into the WTMC van. This was was far too difficult for half past six in the morning, taking a swift blow from Richard’s boot to finally dislodge the door from its jammed state. At Wellington Station we ... Read more
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Flying Bed Story

• 25 Jul 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• So you think skiing at Ruapehu is a bit of a hassle. A lengthy drive to the WTMC Lodge, sharing bunkrooms with noisy (or not noisy enough) others, cooking, cleaning and the other odd jobs that are actually just part of lodge life are all too much for you? Well, if so, then you don’t ... Read more
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2021 Best of the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival National Tour coming to Wellington

• 16 Jul 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• The best of the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival National Tour is once again coming back to Wellington with a double feature! The festival started in 2002 and is internationally recognised as one of the world’s premier mountain film festival events. It’s NZ’s original mountain film festival with an international adventure film maker’s competition, as ... Read more
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• 26 Jun 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Lodge Update: Our Maunga June 2021 Last weekend we had the pleasure of joining a club trip celebrating the winter solstice. A good time was had by all with a Christmas meal, great music, dancing, and lots of good fun. The day trips on Saturday were varied but most did the Kiriwhakapapa circuit in pleasant ... Read more
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From the President … in June 2021

• 24 Jun 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Tēnā koutou I appreciate Wellington moving back to Level 2 is a settling time for many members, the club and our outdoors community. We will send out more information in a few days when it is clearer whether we are likely to return to Level 1 early next week or stay at Level 2 for ... Read more
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Te Puia Tramp

• 20 Jun 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Looking through past trip reports it seems the club has a tradition of organising Te Puia tramps over Queen’s birthday weekend. And it’s a great tradition; what’s better than soaking in hot pools on a winter tramp. So the 2021 tramp was organised to live up to the tradition and make the most of the ... Read more
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Holly Hut

• 20 Jun 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Intro The group had signed up to do Syme Hut, but changed plans given the conditions and out of respect for the two climbers who lost their lives on Mt Taranaki 4 May. Our first night was at Konini Lodge by the Dawson Falls Visitor Centre. Saturday we drove 50 minutes around the mountain and ... Read more
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From the President … in May 2021

• 27 May 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• May has been another month of hearing about lots of fantastic club trips and adventures and getting to experience a range of club events.  The new Committee also had its first meeting and agreed on its priorities for the upcoming year. Building leadership capability and capacity will be an important focus – both in terms ... Read more
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Maketawa Hut

• 26 May 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Having done the drive up to Taranaki on Friday night (as is traditional), we and the Easy-Medium group all stayed at Konini Lodge at Dawson Falls visitor centre. It’s a great facility with cooking equipment, hot showers, decent bunk rooms and the rest; although in my experience it’s always been cold – consider yourself warned. ... Read more
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Tablelands – Cobb Valley (combined EM and M trip – Kahurangi National Park)

• 26 May 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• Thursday 1 April: Our Easter weekend’s tramping began with a late ferry crossing to Picton, where we stayed in a bunkroom at Sequoia Lodge Backpackers. Friday 2 April: Next morning we drove to Kahurangi National Park, with stops at Pelorus Bridge and Motueka. We arrived at Cobb Reservoir roadend in the early afternoon and set ... Read more
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Tutuwai Hut

• 26 May 2021
• Wellington Tramping and Mountainneering Club
• We shared a van with a medium group heading to Alpha Hut, and left Waiohine gorge road end at around 9:30. We first “investigated” a trail that headed down to the river, before heading back and crossing the river on the swing bridge. We next “investigated” the start of the trail to Cone hut, before ... Read more
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