🏔️#70 - Save Park HQ, Rain Jackets Now Need Love, 88% Think They're Adequate, & More.

And we are back with the 70th weekly NZ Hiking Newsletter.

I came across a new term this week (via this article), alpine divorce.

Definition: “Going on a hike, climb or other outdoor adventure with a male partner, only to be abandoned or left behind…”

The term has been going viral on TikTok, but was first coined way back in 1893 (not a typo), in this short story by Robert Barr. The more you know…

Moving on, it was a slow NZ hiking news week this week, but I’ve cobbled something together.

Conservation week starts on April 20th. I won’t dive to much into it, but there’s plenty of events happening around the country, or you could create your own event. Good starting point here.

Alright, let’s get into it.

🗒️ Track News Etc.

• Some BCT Hut Works. The Backcountry Trust newsletter (subscribe on their website - near the bottom) popped into my inbox this week, and there’s more great hut work being done by them, in partnership with DOC and companies supporting BCT.

  PAKIHI HUT - Urutawa Conservation Area

  • To quote the work done: “Re roofed the hut, installed a new wood burner, painted the inside and outside, and built a new woodshed. The polycarbonate sheeting around the verandah was also replaced. To top it all off, the team sanded the floor and gave it a fresh coat of linseed oil.”

  KOROPUKU & OTEHAKE HUTS - Arthurs Pass

  • At Koropuku, Matt Hewat and Ryan Hart lead a team to re-roof, re-paint, and install two new windows in the hut. They were ably supported by a strong volunteer crew of Markus, Honora, Frank, & Oli. For many years Honora and Frank have been keeping the track to this hut open and making sure the hut made it through to these better times. A whole bunch of rotten framing was replaced along the way and the hut was relined. Many of the delightful quirky touches of this hut were maintained to keep the character of this NZFS 4-bunk hut.

    At Otehake Hut, Hugo Young and Aaron Gillespie also launched into a re-roof, which held a few nasty surprises by way of rotten purlins. On the flipside of the hut, a keen volunteer crew of Caleb, Theo, Neville and Peter got stuck into re-piling pretty much the entire hut. A heroic and unglamorous task! The west end window also got replaced which inevitably involved the replacement of some linings and framing.

• Coroner Report, 3 Years Later. In April 2023, Christopher Huelsmann was killed while hiking to the top of Mount Taranaki after being struck by a rock. This week, the coroner confirmed that was the case and that it was accidental after hikers above dislodged a rock that caused other rocks to come tumbling down, with one hitting Huelsmann. Unlucky, but it’s definitely something to always be wary of in alpine areas. Full Details here.

😹 Hiking Funny

🗒️ More Track News Etc.

• Hut Design Gets Shortlisted. Brass Monkey Hut was a fun hut build to follow last year (related video), and this year the hut and its designer, Graeme Jacobs, have been shortlisted for Nelson & Marlborough Architecture Awards. That’s fun.

• Hooker Valley Bridge Update. There’s a small update on the new Hooker Valley Bridge being constructed. The main support beams have been laid and the cables have arrived from Italy (random), so it’s starting to look more like a bridge 🤯 The planned opening is for July/August this year. There’s more info about the technical aspects here and the progress update here.

• Save Park HQ. The Arthur’s Pass Visitor Centre (opened in 1959) was shut due to not being earthquake-proof, with a temporary visitor centre opened across the road. In the 7 years since, there has been little news about plans for the damaged visitor centre, with a group ‘Save Park HQ’ not letting the matter be forgotten. It seems crazy Arthur’s Pass doesn’t have a large visitor centre in the town. You get so many people driving through it can become an attraction on its own.

  • If you’re near Arthur’s Pass on April 25th, they’re hosting an Alpine Museum Archives Open Day. Could be interesting.

  • That did lead me to finding this write up from Tony Perrett who was a Park Ranger at Arthur’s Pass from 1970 - 1975. He shared a few good work stories.

• 88% of Hikers Reckon They’re Adequate. This is an interesting from a study gauging how prepared day hikers and trail runners are in the Rocky Mountains. The answer for what ‘prepared’ is can change, but based on what this research paper suggests, only 25% of trail runners and 16% of hikers were prepared. However 88% felt like they were adequately prepared, that’s quite the miss match. Read more here.

• A Quick Intro To PFC-Free Rainwear. The NZ Alpine Club posted a useful article on how rain jacket construction has changed over the last few years. In short, most rainwear is now more environmentally friendly due to fewer microplastics. As a result, we need to take care of rain jackets to stop them from wetting out. Worth a read.

🎧 Podcasts For Your Ears

• Rob Frost - Guiding Trans-Alpine Expeditions | The Tramping Life - Spotify Link here

  • I’ve seen Rob post in places here and there, but it was interesting to hear his story and how he got into his business. Based on his chat, there’s plenty of demand for guiding trips that are a bit out of the norm.

• Scaling a Cottage Outdoor Brand with Chris Schabow, CEO of Enlightened Equipment | KORE Outdoors Podcast - Spotify Link here

  • Enlightened Equipment went through some controversy a couple of months back that damaged their reputation. That said, I do enjoy listening to the business side of outdoor companies, and Chris is an easy person to listen to.

• It’s not exactly a podcast but you might enjoy listening to this podcast style video below of a former The North Face designer who has jumped to Durston Gear this year. If you’re into product design, a must listen. Or read the recap notes here.

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

Last weekend was great! With two awesome days, one to the summit of Mount Crichton, and the other to Brow Peak from Arrowtown. That’s the most vert I’ve done in a while and my legs were feeling it this week.

Brow Peak can be reached in various ways, with the ridgeline either side of the summit super fun to follow. The number of people who go to Arrowtown yet don’t even know the trail network from the town centre is one of the biggest crimes in NZ tourism.

Mount Crichton summit. It’s a tough day out…but it was fun to take some friends for their first trip up there. I’ve made the summit maybe four times now, and I’ve updated my blog post with a GPX file from what’s been the smoothest route I’ve taken. The more times I do it, the less faff about with route finding I have,

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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