⛰️#18 - Tough Mums, End Of PLB's, Epic New Hut Build, & Lots More

Author

Jub Bryant
December 19, 2024

And we are back with the 18th NZ Hiking Newsletter, sent every Thursday (it’ll be Friday for the next couple of weeks because of Santa and stuff).

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.

Table of Contents

📻 Is It The End Of PLB’s Thanks To One NZ?

That’s a click-bait heading if you’ve ever seen one. Sorry.

But earlier today, One NZ announced they’ve started rolling out Satellite TXT to customers with certain plans and phones. (Press Release here). They say it’s the first globally, but I’ve heard that Apple iPhones can do it in the USA and Canada…technology confuses me!?

Customers with Pay Monthly phone plans will/have receive a notification they can use the service (at no extra cost), providing they’ve got one of the following phones: Galaxy Z Flip6, Galaxy Z Fold6, Galaxy S24 Ultra and the OPPO Find X8 Pro.

There are pros and cons to this of course.

Yay for connecting the world even further, but also, ugh, the world is even more connected than it already is.

PLB’s definitely won’t be coming to an end though (duh, obviously).

Satellite TXT is great for keeping people in the loop with your progress. But it does require a clear line of sight to the sky, and at this stage, it can take up to 10 minutes for messages to be sent.

And we’ve all seen the drama when tech shuts down airports and everyone has to be manually checked in…will this affect things?

I can see Satellite TXT being great to let people know where you are on hikes, but it shouldn’t be a lifeline and a substitute for PLB’s. What happens if you’re in cold weather and your phone runs out of battery faster than expected etc.?

Then there are people who wouldn’t carry a PLB, now they’ll have a better chance to contact people in an emergency…I guess this is a good thing. But yea…lots of variables.

If we don’t think of Satellite TXT as a pure emergency thing, it’s a positive…as long as we don’t get hooked on the perfect outcomes!

📚 Fun Book Musings

I just finished a book related to the outdoor world, “One Tough Mother:Taking Charge In LIfe, Business, and Apple Pies” by Gert Boyle.

Gert Boyle was the longtime boss of Columbia Sportswear Company (surely you’ve heard/seen it), having taken over from her husband who led the company before suddenly passing away from a heart attack. Gert, a happy housewife and mother, took on the job of running the company, learning the ins and outs of running a business on the fly along with her son Tim.

Together they went through some turbulent times with the company was struggling to stay afloat (if it wasn’t for the person who was about to buy the company being a jerk, they would have sold up and moved on).

But they came out the other side, and while Gert has passed away, Tim is now a billionaire so it’s safe to say Columbia Sportswear Company has done alright.

A few of the interesting/fun/random things I learned in the book:

  • Gert was 9 years old when Hitler took over. As a Jewish family, her Dad was fortunate enough to have the resources to have the family immigrate to the USA.

  • The company was initially called the Colombia Hat Company. Gert’s father started the company a few months after they left the USA and moved to Oregon.

  • They took a while to find an advertising strategy that worked. In the early days, a worker fed the pigeons around the office. Once the pigeons trusted the worker, he’d pick them up and put Columbia Hat Company stickers under their wings. When the pigeons flew…they’d be a flying billboard. Guerilla marketing at its most ethical best.

  • The most successful advertising campaign, which stuck around for a long time, featured Gert as the ‘tough mother’. They used her in lots of print and TV ads. This gave buyers enough motivation to try the products…and then they’d be hooked for life.

    An example of the kind of ads you could expect to see with Gert when they shifted to TV advertising (is this where Macpac got their last ad idea from ?):

  • The Bugaboo jacket was the first product that put Columbia Sportswear on the map in 1986. Named after the Bugaboo Mountains in British Columbia, it was a 3-in-1 jacket. The biggest differentiator was the bright colours (as well as offering colours that might appeal to woman) and the affordability of the jacket.

    It was $90, rather than competitors who charged $200+. They didn’t compromise on quality either. Here’s a wee bit more of a write-up about the original Bugaboo.

😹 Hiking Funny Truth

🗒️ Other Track News Etc.

Photo: Anthony Behrens

  • This read about the story of rebuilding of Leon Kinvig hut (above) is well worth your time. The hut was destroyed by a river changing course a couple of years ago, but if you flick through the photos you’ll see how good the new hut is…or click here. Great colour scheme!

  • If you plan to head out to Craigieburn Forest Park (west of Christchurch), check that the tracks are open on the DOC website. Due to the fire a couple of weeks ago, many tracks are closed until they can be assessed in the New Year (source).

  • I enjoyed this piece in the 1964 mag about a gig at Meadow Hut (Pisa Ranges, Otago). Each ticket got a bunk bed in the 20-bed hut for the night.

  • A nice write-up about a mother and daughter walking the Te Araroa Trail together on NZ Herald.

  • While the Love Our Huts and Tracks campaign has finished in an official capacity, you can still head out to the huts on the list to give them some TLC. You can still register your huts, and see which huts need some love on the FMC website.

🎁 A Couple Of Competitions To Enter

  • NEW The Christmas Stalk with Swazi - enter here (closes December 24th)

  • NEW Win a $200 Radix Voucher - enter here (closes December 22nd)

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

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

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

Kepler Track Ridgelines

I had a big weekend of trail running taking in a few of the best local tracks in Otago. The highlight would have to be going around the Kepler Track again. It’s my second time doing the loop, and the ridgeline was way more awesome than I remember!

Another spot I enjoy is heading up to the summit of Mount Crichton. It’s a difficult hike, and you’ll want to have some good experience of hard hikes under your belt. That said, as long as you don’t have summit fever, even heading up past the treeline for a couple of kilometres and returning would make for a great day out, with an awesome view for a picnic.

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.

Catch you on next Friday.

Chur,

Jub

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