⛰️#17 - Kathmandu Shorts Win, Track Theme Songs, Tasteful Nature Calendars, & Lots More.

And we are back with the 17th NZ Hiking Newsletter, sent every Thursday.

I'll let you know what’s going on in the hiking scene in New Zealand, along with other related bits and pieces I find interesting.

Alright, let’s get into it.

🧑‍⚖️ DOC’s Annual Review

DOC has published a 46-page PDF about visitor activity for the year ending June 2024. You could skim read it, but if not here are some of the more interesting things I found:

• International visitors who listed holiday/vacation as the purpose of their visit were more likely to visit a national park than those visiting friends and family, or visiting for other reasons (62%, 29% and 22% respectively).

• Fiordland and Aoraki Mount Cook were the most popular national parks (~1 in 5 international visitors head there), while Rakiura and Kahurangi were the least popular, with 1% of visitors heading there.

• In terms of attributes, the highest-rated one was natural scenery/wilderness with a 99% satisfaction rating (no Subpar Parks here). The lowest rating could probably have been predicted, but the “Availability of public facilities (toilets, rubbish bins etc)” should be proud of their 89% satisfaction rating.

• Pinnacles Hut (Coromandel) continues to be the most popular bookable hut in NZ, with 15,906 bed nights booked. In the South Island, Welcome Flat Hut (West Coast) leads with 6,644 bed nights booked.

• In total, 249,277 bed nights (nearly $9 million in revenue ex GST) were booked on the Great Walks and campsites, and 1,007,069 on non-Great Walk bed nights.

Does anything seem random there for you?

Pinnacles Hut gets lots of love being so close to Auckland, you can visit year-round, and it’s a large hut which makes sense. I’m a little surprised Welcome Flat on the Copland Track won the South Island though!

🏅 Kathmandu Shorts Win An International Award

• Kathmandu recently won an ISPO award for their Seeker Shorts (specifically the Women’s Lined 4” Shorts. The performance shorts won thanks to three technologies:

  • Carbon capture: they capture carbon emissions from steel mills before they enter the atmosphere….it eventually turns into polyester

  • Advanced recycling: using nylon made from recycled plastic waste such as car tires

  • Bio based anti-odour finish: they use a citric acid-based Ionic+ Botanical finish. Sounds fancy 🤷 

I’ve heard of ISPO previously but do struggle to verify how legit the award is when you:

A) nominate yourself for the ISPO award

B) scroll down to the bottom of the website, they have a link to the ‘Best Betting Sites’ 😅

That said, I did head to Kathmandu to try on the shorts (the men’s version/no changing room selfies sorry)…they felt light, but having worn the same shorts 99% of days for the last few years (I have multiple pairs), it quickly felt pointless in me trying to have a rational way to judge them.

You can read more about the shorts and winning on the ISPO website here. The award earned Kathmandu plenty of articles praising the shorts, so it’s a PR win for them at worst.

😹 Hiking Funny

🗒️ Other Track News Etc.

• In what’s been a rough year start to the summer for Great Walks, the Paparoa Track is partially closed with a steep slip closing the section of the trail between Pororari Hut and the Pike29 Junction. This will be the case until December 21st. You can still do out and backs on the trail (source).

• The Canterbury University Tramping Club has launched a ‘Tasteful Nude Calendar’ for the 2nd year running, with proceeds going to Kea Conservation. It’s $20, available at Further Faster and the CUTC website. Last year they raised $2,500 for the Kea Conservation.

• Construction has begun on Egmont National Park’s most popular hut, Pouakai Hut. The hut was closed for bookings in mid—October when dismantling begun. The plan is for the new hut, with more capacity (16 bunks to 34 bunks), to reopen in mid-2025 (source).

• As much as we joke about it, in NZ it does often take a few years for trends to reach our trails (sun hoodies have taken off in the last year or so). The website, overseas-based site, Adventure Alan & Co. (a great resource for ultralight gear) identified two trends that have become more popular in 2024 (full article):

  • vestpacks

  • sturdy ultralight freestanding tents

  I’m guessing it’ll be a few years before we start seeing them in noticeable numbers on the trails here in NZ. I’d be interested to hear your experience if you’ve purchased something that fits the category.

• Did you know the Humpridge Track has a theme song?

• The Interislander is now sponsoring the Te Araroa Trail. The Cook Strait ferry crossing is now an official part of the trail, called The Interislander Connection (they took a few coffees to figure that one out…). More details here.

• I mentioned in a previous edition the Desert Road between Turangi and Waiorou was closing on Jan 13th for a couple of months, meaning access to lots of tracks would be out too. But DOC Turangi has said that you’ll be able to access Kaimanawa Road from the northern end during the closure to access the tracks and campsites. It’ll be best to call them first if you plan to head there, just in case things change.

• I wasn’t familiar with the Bucklands Peak Track in the Paparoa National Park before coming across this post which showed a few photos of the hut and track thanks to BushWorks.Ltd. I wasn’t familiar with this track, so now on my to-do list, with the track to the peaks having from what I can tell, lots of variety.

• The Federated Mountain Clubs announced 535 huts got some tender love and care in November as part of the Love Our Huts campaign. Wahoo.

• DOC had their 2023-2024 Annual Review earlier in the week. There’s a Media Release here highlighting bits and bobs, but there wasn’t too much groundbreaking information. If you’re really keen, you could watch the full 3 hour review on Vimeo. I’m not even going to link it, I watched the first 15 minutes but that was more than enough for me.

🎁 A Couple Of Competitions To Enter

• NEW Huge Kiwi Camping Family Tent with Backyard Travel Family - enter here (closes December 18th at 9pm)

• NEW Win Interislander Travel Vouchers - enter here (closes December 17th at midday)

• NEW Hiking Tramping Giveaway with Alice.Adventuring - enter here (closes December 17th at 5pm)

• NEW Radix Wishlist Giveaway - enter here (closes December 15th)

• NEW Zempire Shelter Giveaway - enter here (closes January 2nd)

• 7 Days of Hazy Campervan Travel - enter here (closes December 22nd)

• FuelMe Snacks Giveaway - enter here (closes December 13th)

• Wilderness Wonders with Real Meals - enter here (closes March 31st, 2025)

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

I stayed local this week and ended up at the summit of Ben Lomond a couple of times. It was my first time up the summit for the summer, with plenty more to come. It’s such a good spot to have on the doorstep.

I also had the opportunity to head out to Ben Lomond Station for a few hours to check out the lodges and get a taste of the trails (private land, permission required). What an awesome spot! It’s a bit out of my budget, but it’d be awesome to have a couple of nights up there to explore.

Have a great week, hike it up.

As always, reply to this email (or message me on Whatsapp +642041702764) with anything and everything…I’m happy to chat.

Chur,

Jub

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