⛰️#27 - Have Your Say, Mini Huts, Attenborough, Mountain Rescue Video, & More.

And we are back with the 27th NZ Hiking Newsletter, sent every Thursday/Friday.

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.

🏞️ One Week Left To Have Your Say On The Future Of National Parks

You might have heard about the massive staff cuts (700+) at National Parks around the USA recently. People were fired, like Park Ranger Alex Wild, whose post about his termination spread like wildfire (bad pun) struck a chord with millions, and drew lots of backlash against the current administration.

Then there’s Nate Vince, Yosemite’s only locksmith. Terminated. Who is going to maintain the hundreds of keys for the National Park? He apprenticed under the previous locksmith for four years before being handed the keys (slightly better pun?) to the job. These are just two of the hundreds of stories that have sparked protests from communities that rely on the tourism economy thanks to National Parks.

All that to say, it’s best to be proactive rather than reactive sometimes (do as I say not as I do).

Submissions on two proposals relating to the future of our New Zealand National Parks close at 5 pm on Feb 28th. Make sure to have your say.

The two discussion docs released by the Government are proposals to:

• explore charging for access to some public conservation land  

• streamline concessions and planning processes and enable more flexibility around land exchange and disposals.

I’m not going to tell you what to say, but the FMC has a little write up here to help what to think about. Let’s try to avoid needing to protest.

YOUR TURN:

Open this link for an overview og the discussion docs. From that page you can read more about the documents and click the links to enter your submission.

😹 Hiking Funny

Yay for some Attenborough.

🗒️ Other Track News Etc.

• If you’re a fan of the small hut replicas from Kemi & Niko, then you’ll want to subscribe to their newsletter where you can get first dibs on a small batch of their next release, Blue Range Hut in the Tararua (the link will be sent at 6pm, Feb 27th in their newsletter).

• May 13th to 28th. If you or someone you know plans to do a Great Walk next summer, they can pencil in those dates they’ll open for bookings. DOC says they’ve upgraded the systems to handle the traffic. I’d still be surprised if it goes smoothly…but fingers crossed it does. It did confuse me they put the most popular option (Milford) on the last date, May 28th…there’ll be a lot of people who miss out on the Milford Track and then their backup option might already be sold out? Full dates and details are here.

• The weather has been pretty calm throughout much of the country lately, so there’s been lots of awesome work on huts and tracks throughout the country. Some recent ones include:

  • Leitch’s Hut (Waikato)

  • Kiritaki Hut (Ruahine’s)

  • Townsend Hut (West Coast)

  • Goat Pass Hut (Arthur’s Pass)

  • Track Clearing (Tararua)

  • Old Women Hut (Otago)

  • Arete Biv (Tararua)

  • Mount Curtis Hut (West Coast)

  • …and if you’re planning to head to the Kaweka’s over the next couple of weeks, then take a look at these dates for huts you might want to avoid.

• The clearest lake in the world (Blue Lake in Nelson Lakes National Park) got a feature on CNN last week, discussing how people should not touch the lake water to keep its clearest lake status.

• The video below is from what ended up being a successful heli-rescue situation on Mount Taranaki. We often read about rescues, but seeing video from before the call to help was made, through to the rescue happening was different.

• There’s another boost to conservation tourism thanks to the International Visitor Levy, with $30,000,000 to provide funding for 12+ projects (including huts and bridges). The $30 million, is to be spread across three years. And interestingly, this is from the pool of money earned by the IVL when it was $35. It’s up around $100 now, so there could be heaps more funding in the future 🤞🤞🤞🤞 (source)

• In September last year, you also had to start booking NZ Alpine Club Huts, which were previously first in first serve. Richard Wesley wrote a pros and cons article about this on the NZAC website as it’s a controversial topic.

💬 A Cool Quote & Photo I Liked

Here’s a quote I liked that Tara Dower used on this photo with an equally awesome photo to go with it.

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

While it ended up with a good chunk of hiking for the last two-thirds, I ‘ran’ the Shotover Moonlight Ultra this past weekend. Located on Ben Lomond Station, the scenery and ridgelines were epic.

Here’s the 2024 highlight reel:

Ben Lomond Station, being private land, isn’t usually accessible making this an awesome opportunity to see some views pretty close to QT I wouldn’t normally get access to.

I didn’t get the result I was after, but had lots of type 2 fun. Other than not having a proper beer on offer for finishers, it was a great event, and if you’re a trail runner, I can highly recommend it.

You can also book the lodges on the property to explore the trails: https://benlomond.co.nz/activities/freedom-hiking/

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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