⛰️#20 - Rescues & Close Calls, Tent Reviews, Hut Chat & A Scary 🐜

Author

Jub Bryant
January 03, 2025

And we are back with the 20th NZ Hiking Newsletter, sent every Thursday (except for this Friday, as mentioned a couple of weeks back).

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.

⛑️ A Wairere Falls Rescue & Sharing Rescue Stories

There was a good result after a man was reported missing at the Wairere Falls near Matamata after being separated from his group. His group only noticed he was missing when they reached their destination for the night, Te Okioki Hut. They hiked on the next day and made the call to get help when they got into cell reception (did someone have a PLB?)

The Wairere Falls

There are some things that don’t add up here…which makes me think that it would be good if we could get all the details behind how people get lost, rescued etc. Whether that’s from the party in need of help, and/or the search and rescue team, that’d be great.

It doesn’t have to be straight away, but for example, we never heard about the guy missing in Wye Creek a few weeks ago after he was found…what were the details?

Just last week Jean-Gabriel Gagnon shared his scary encounter on the Tongariro Crossing the other day, I’ve copied it directly from his post on the Te Araroa Facebook page:

Hi! I have just finished( barely) the Tongariro crossing and thought I would share my experience, so maybe I can warn some others. I crossed it on December 27th and despite the DOC warning I went for it anyway, thinking I should be fine having done Mount Washington in winter and other very windy mountains. As soon as I reach the alpine (+-1100m) it got pretty windy, mixed with the rain and I was already pretty wet, but not cold because of the climb. Around 1400m my hands were already freezing, but I put away my hiking poles and sticked my hands in my pocket, that worked for a while. Around 1650m I was miserable but kept going thinking I only had a little more to go through. ( By this point I could not access my phone anymore because my fingers were freezing and my phone screen was soaked.) It was so cloudy and windy I could barely see and could only look at my feet not be get the chill wind in my face. I even went past Blue Lake without ever noticing it. Then I really started getting worried. I was shivering and could not feel my hands anymore. I got lost ( looking back on it I went to the left of the Emerald lakes) and had to crawl my way there and back not get blown away by the wind gust into the lake. Then, and thank god for him, I met an Argentinian guy that helped me and showed me the way. On the climb towards the ridge we fell over multiple time hitting ourselves on the rocks nearly falling over the cliff. Once on the ridge we literally had to crawl on our stomach, inching ourselves across, all the while having frozen hands and feet. A few hundred meters down we were safe and were trying to calm down from all the remaining adrenaline that was left in us. The rest of the way down to the hut was thankfully pretty easy going. Now somewhere in that process I wasn’t exactly sure I would get to see the end of the day, I had entered kind of a survival state knowing that if I layed down to rest, I would most likely die. A few hours after I can still feel my fingers numb from the cold. If I knew what I know now, I would have never went for it. You can tell me how stupid I was in the comments I don’t care I just wanted to make this post so maybe someone in my the future can learn to make the right choice and go around it or wait another day.

(Video is the last time I had access to my phone at 1650m)

There’s a few mean comments as you’d expect on social media, but most people appreciate Jean for sharing his story as it takes a fair amount of humility to do so. If sharing more of these stories helps prevent just one person make a potentially deadly mistake, surely it’s worth it?

A couple of sources for rescue stories in NZ are:

⛺ A Durston Gear Tent Review With Pete

This is a review of the Durston Gear X-Mid 2P Solid Ultralight Backpacking Tent from Pete. If you follow the world of tents and/or ultralight hiking at all, you’ll have heard of Durston Tents.

Take it away Pete:

Cost: 688 NZD, including shipping from the US

We took this tent on a two-week fastpacking trip around the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Tor des Géants, as well as using it at a campsite in France after our trip. In total, we used it for around 20 nights.

Things I Liked

Space Inside: With two doors and vestibules, there is ample space for two large bags each. I am 6'2" and had more than enough room.

Weight and Pack Size: At 1.1 kg, it’s not the lightest on the market. However, for a tent with both a fly and an inner, it’s very light and packs down to the size of a small sleeping bag.

Quality: Everything about this tent feels premium. The zips are smooth, there are little magnets to hold the doors open, and there are handy pockets inside the inner tent. It held up to torrential rain without any issues. Plus, if you watch the video on YouTube by the designer, Dan Durston, you’ll see how much thought has gone into it, including the many different ways it can be set up.

Things I Didn't Like

Susceptible to Wind: This is not an alpine tent. It only has two guy ropes. While it held up to moderate wind on our trip, it did bend the tip of my walking pole. I wouldn’t want to use it in high winds or on exposed ridges.

Tricky Setup: The tent uses walking poles to save weight, but it can be tricky to get it taut. It’s fairly easy on perfectly flat ground, but that’s not always available. We found having two different pole lengths helpful for adjustments.

Chur Pete!

If you want to see their trip around the Tour de Mont Blanc and Tor des Géants, he’s made a Doco on YouTube that’s a great watch and might make you book tickets to Europe to escape the Kiwi winter. SCENES!

If anyone else wants to do a wee gear review in the same style, email me [email protected].

😹 Hiking Funny

The caption below explains what’s going on, but this is one where you’re there for the (predictable) comments.

“Well i went away on the weekend and my friend left all his poles at home. So this is what I came up with to get through the weekend. Middle swag is attached to the 2 outside swags to hold it up then I had a spare centre bar. Did the job perfectly”

🗒️ Other Track News Etc.

Photo of Nina Hut via DOC.

  • If you’re planning to stay at Lake Sumner Forest Parks Nina Hut, it’s now a hut you need to book online. They’ve kept the hut fee at the standard hut rate ($10 for adults) which is nice. But it must be getting more popular if they’ve decided to do this.

  • When I read “Cattle Ridge Track in the Tararua Forest Park has dodged a bullet in the name of Argentine ants!” I was thinking this was going to be us getting an animal that would rival all the scary ones Aussie has. It turns out, that Argentine ants do bite, but they aren’t painful normally…so my instincts were a bit of an overreaction. But it’s cool the volunteers were able to get to the source of them in the end. They are present in NZ though, and are considered one of the world’s top 10 most invasive species 😲 🐜 

  • Peter de Graaf wrote a good piece on one of only seven DOC huts in Northland. Cape Brett Hut, once a lightkeeper’s cottage, got $290,000 in renovations in early 2024. It’s great shape now, with the hut water supply no longer salty tasting. One thing to note, in addition to the serviced hut fee (must be booked online) you need to buy a $40 (20 for kids) track fee for the ~10km of private land you cross to access the hut. The total track length is ~16.5km each way.

  • A reminder that even if you’re going for a short walk from your house, try to let someone know where you’re going. Maia Johnstone was missing for 42 hours before being found, having fallen down a waterfall. She was found alive but has a long recovery ahead. The way the community came together to look for her was great! (source).

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

Won’t ever tire of the Breast Hill Track.

I got two awesome hikes in over the weekend with a friend visiting from overseas. While it’s more of a walk than a hike, the Bannockburn area is awesome. We did the Bannockburn Loop Track to keep my friend awake until the evening. It’s a cool area (it’s not all just wineries), the sluicngs are pretty unique with nothing else quite like them nearby.

The following day was the ever-challenging Breast Peak Track hike. It was a pretty hot day, and with no water available until you’ve climbed 1000 metres, it’s one you need to be at least a little prepped for. The views go good.

Have a great week, hike it up.

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

Chur,

Jub

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