Brought to you jointly by VUWTC, NZAC Wellington and WTMC, join us on Tuesday 28th of July at the Hunter Lounge for a night of Wellington outdoors community quiz fun. We'll be raising funds (and glasses) for Land Search and Rescue Wellington - with some mega quiz and raffle prizes thrown in too!

The quiz

Come along to test your knowledge, share a drink with friends, and make a meaningful contribution to a charity doing incredible work to ensure Aotearoa's outdoor enthusiasts 

Tickets will be sold per team: $85 for a student team, and $175 for a non-student team. Each team ticket comes with a bowl of fries and a large Hunter Lounge pizza! Each team can have up to 6 people in it - we encourage you to fill up your team to the full 6 people! The number of teams will be strictly limited, so make sure your team buys a ticket to reserve its spot - individual places can be filled later (liaise with your clubs to help you find some team mates).

Arrive from 6pm at the Hunter Lounge for a 6:45pm sharp start to the quiz. We would recommend arriving early to ensure you have time to buy your raffle tickets, buy-an-answer coupons and any drinks you may want, and find your allocated table before the quiz kicks off. Check out our event page on Facebook and follow your club on Instagram for more details!

The raffle & buy-an-answer 

Not totally persuaded yet? Thanks to the generous support of epic local and national sponsors we can also boast the most stacked raffle and quiz prizes in Wellington.

Our anchor sponsor Coffee Outdoors, an epic local business catering to outdoors enthusiasts with a carefully curated selection of equipment, has donated over $1000 worth of prizes for quiz and raffle winners. 

We’ll also have $1000s more in prizes from Kiwi adventure heavy weights!

Raffle tickets will be on sale on the night only (strong preference for cash). Tickets are $5 for one, or $20 for 5. You won’t want to miss out on a shot at these. Make sure you’re following us on Facebook and Instagram for some sneak peaks, and in the meantime check out Coffee Outdoors’ full range at www.coffeeoutdoors.co.nz

A new element we are introducing this year are buy-an-answer coupons. These coupons allow you to select up to 2 questions per round to receive a correct mark for. Coupons are $5 each (i.e. $5 per question), with a maximum of 10 coupons being able to be utilised throughout the quiz (maximum 2 per round). Coupons will be available for sale on the night only (strong preference for cash).

Food and drink

The Hunter Lounge offers some fantastic food and drink and will be serving all night. Team tickets include one bowl of fries and one pizza already, but feel free to order extra food and drinks as well! Tables will be allocated so ensure you know your table number before ordering.

A chance to have fun, win big, AND support a great cause? You don’t want to miss this one. Grab your buddies and let's get behind a good cause. We can't wait to see you there!

DELAYED - this trip will be in the next few weekends, I'm waiting for confirmation on construction of the boardwalks.

The Greater Wellington Backcountry Network want our help to install boardwalks over that terrifying enemy (or friend) of the Tararua tramper: mud!

This is your chance to meet several of the backcountry maintenance legends that are GWBN. We'll be walking Dobson's track and installing wooden "rafts" on the worst of the mud. We'll rendezvous with helicopters carrying supplies, and then help carry the rafts to their drop-off points.

My plan is to stay overnight at Alpha hut, fingers crossed for clear night skies as the area is great for stargazing (it's in the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve).

Alpha Hut info

Route:

NOTE: This trip is medium-hard difficulty. Day 1 involves 775m ascent (reversed on day 2). Alpha has 20 bunks, so hopefully we'll all get one.

Day 1 (Sat 25 July) - TBC, waiting for confirmation from GWBN on the boardwalk delivery plan. Well eventually walk up to Alpha Hut, a 7-9hr walk.

Day 2 (Sun 26 July) - Leaving by 9am, we'll return to carpark the way we came (7-9hr). Stop for fish and chips in Petone on the way home?!

Gear:

Please bring overnight tramping gear. Key things are a tramping pack, warm clothing, a windproof raincoat, tramping boots or trail runners, a sleeping bag, a bowl/cutlery, a headtorch, a big water bottle, and a first aid kit/personal medication. Bring a pot/cooker if you have them.

You can borrow club gear (eg packs, sleeping bags), but please ask in advance :)

Full gear list here.

Food:

Please bring 1 breakfast, 2 lunches, 1 dinner, snacks, drinks (NO glass please!), and at least 1 day's emergency food in case we get delayed.

Cost:

- Roughly $15 fuel per person

- Hut payment ($15 for a blue standard DOC hut ticket, you can buy at outdoor stores eg Bivouac, Macpac) - also can use DOC hut pass, or camp for free if you bring a tent

Every year we like to head up Mt Ruapehu & learn a bit about alpine hiking. We learn how to use an ice axe, crampons & some info about safety in winter conditions.

We stay at the TTC Lodge on the mountain, which is one of the most incredible places to watch the sunrise & sunset.

Welcome to the Biannual Snowcraft!! (there will be a second one later in the sem)

Snowcraft is a great chance to learn the basics about alpine tramping. So that’ll be using an iceaxe, crampons & and general info about safety in winter and snow conditions. We will be based at Ruapehu, where we stay in the TTC Lodge, offering the best views of the sunrise and sunset! We are also offering 6 subsidised spots for the Hillary Outdoors Avalanche Skills Course 1 (details towards the bottom of the page).

What happens on Snowcraft?

Dates: Friday 31st July - Sunday 2nd August

On Friday evening we will meet at the gear shed from 4pm to sus ourselves out, then start driving north by 4:30pm. Bulls is about halfway & has a bangin' curry spot so maybe pop in for dinner on the way, or elsewhere (up to your driver really). We should get to Ruapehu before midnight, then we have to walk about 20min from the carpark to the lodge. 

Saturday morning we will rise at a reasonable hour, have breakfast, and sort the day's gameplan. We will split into groups, and spend the day on the mountain learning snow skills, & checking out some cool scenery. Then we'll head back down to the lodge for a mean feed & a bit of socialising. 

Sunday morning we have to tidy up the lodge but otherwise we can decide what we want to do depending on conditions and how people are feeling. There's potential for more snow stuff, or maybe a trip to the hotpools or other locations on the way home. We will likely be back in Wellington late on Sunday.

What do I need for snowcraft?

A comprehensive list will be sent out to those attending, but here's a rough outline of the kind of gear you need:

• Waterproof jacket, pants & gloves

• Boots that are compatible with crampons - this is very important! Bring your boots to a meeting if you're not sure. 

• Sleeping bag

• Warm clothes - thermals, fleece etc

• Headtorch

• Snow goggles or decent sunglasses

VUWTC will supply helmets, ice axes, and crampons.

Costs

Snowcraft 1 (not including Avalanche Skills Course): $150 for those going on the course, and $135 for those leading groups

• The fees for staying 2 night in the TTC lodge
• 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 1 dinner/dessert
• Your share of petrol (it's a long drive!)

Avalanche Skills Course (including Snowcraft 1 costs and fuel): $76, which will be applied atop of the already exisiting Snowcraft fee

• Accommodation in Ohakune on the 30th July
• Dinner for the 30th and breakfast and lunch for the 31st
• Hillary Outdoors Avalanche Skills Course 1

Drivers will be reimbured according to the IRD's kilometer rates.

How do I sign up?

Sign up using the sign up form below. Sign ups will open on the 1st of July and close on the 9th July.

Due to the popularity of this trip it will not be first in first served - priority will be given to members that are currently active in the club (coming to meetings/going on trips) & wanting to go on Midwinter trips in the uni break.

We are allowed 31 people in the lodge so that will be the trip capacity. There will be a snowcraft 2 later in the semester.

Hillary Outdoors Avalanche Skills Course 1 (ASC1): 

We have arranged a private avalanche skills (ASC1) course through Hillary Outdoors 

More information about the course:

This 1.5 day course introduces participants to essential avalanche safety skills needed for travelling in snow-covered alpine terrain. It is designed for individuals who would like to spend time travelling in an alpine environment, or outside of ski area boundaries, but have little or no experience with the avalanche phenomenon. The first day (30th July) is theory evening in Ohakune (where you will be staying that night). The second day is field-based at Whakapapa. You will join the Snowcraft 1 team at TTC lodge at the end of the second day.

If you take part in the Avalanche Course, you will be expected to lead groups on Snowcraft 1 and 2. This is to recognise the significant course subsidy provided by VUWTC. Selection for the course will be based on past/present/future involement and commitment to the club, your availability for Snowcraft 1 and 2 (dates for Snowcraft 2 TBC shortly), and whether you will be able to help with/lead trips in the upcoming Midwinter break.

The course covers an introduction to:

• Trip planning and preparation
• Defining the avalanche phenomenon
• Understanding the NZ Avalanche Advisory
• Weather, terrain, snowpack and how these relate to avalanche conditions
• Travel: Evidence based decision-making about route selection and safe travel techniques
• Human factors and decision-making tools
• Avalanche rescue

Course prerequisites – participants must:

• Be aged 18+ years
• Have solid snow movement skills and fitness level appropriate to travel safely for eight hours in alpine terrain and conditions
• Be physically capable of walking, skiing, or snowboarding in a variety of snow conditions on moderate-angled terrain

Time to stop procrastinating on those trip reports! This is a session for you to lock in and write reports on all the adventures you have been on this year with the club!

Join me at AM103 at 5pm on the 28th July (Tuesday)

Get your grippy socks on and join us as we venture into the Hutt Park Jumperama. 

If you would like to bike: meet outside the Wellington train station by the Gandhi Statue at 1pm. We will depart at 1:15. The ride is 45 minutes according to google maps, and it's all off-road, which is pretty incredible. 

If you don't want to bike, meet at Jumperama at 2pm. There is an 83 bus route, or ride share! 

We will all meet at Jumperama at 2pm and bounce for an hour. If we are having lots of fun we can pay an extra $10 and bounce for 2 hours. I'm hoping to backflip safely. 

Fees: 

- $16 entry to Jumperama (with your own socks)

- $18 entry to Jumperama (socks included) 

Here's a table. One hour - $18, two hours is $28. 

You've visited the Ōrongorongo river & the associated valley, but have you ever met the maunga itself? 

Located in the much less frequented* northern half of the Remutaka Range is a hill after which our popular day walk valley is named**. I propose we go and camp on it in flys so we can feel some solidarity for the poor folk freezing their toes off on Snowcraft the same weekend.

The walk in will involve some degree of bush bashing, though we have a tradeoff available between extra bushbashing v.s. some more road walking. We'll also try and do all the navigation with just our trusty topo maps and compasses!

As you can see in the above low-resolution image, the good folk at the Regional Council have decided that it's in out best interests to lock a gate in the middle of a road which would save us a lot of time if we could drive along. Not to worry however, as we have two (2) alternative routes available.

For route A we walk from what appears to be a carpark ^1 on the ariel imagery along the concepts of a track and then bush bash up a stream until we join another track ^2. We follow the track for a little whiile before cutting down Telephone Creek ^3 to where a tunnel*** comes out ^4. We then walk along the dirt road unil we get to the spur that we will cut down toward Ōrongorongo ^5 (this is the same place route B turns off the road).

At the bottom of the spur we cross the river**** and head up another supr ^6 towards high point 820 before continuing across the saddle to Ōrongorongo maunga itself. All of this is bushbashing so it's very hard to estimate the time for. It's likely that it'll be dark by the time we get there though.

For route B we instead walk along the road from the ccarpark ^1 past the locked gate, following it straight ahead, past where it turns into a dirt track, and turn off at the same point ^5 as in route A. We then follow the same route up to Ōrongorongo.

I plan to camp in a fly on top of the maunga (not the tippity top of couse - tikanga), though how much space we will find is difficult to guess. You are also welcome to bring a tent to sleep in if you prefer to freeze less of course. The next day we walk back out. If we feel like it, we can take the alternative route from the one we took in.

Trip cost: $6 (Your share of petrol). Also, I need a driver to sign up to take us there pretty please 🙏

Things to bring:
- Regular tramping gear, including your waterproof gear and warm sleeping gear
- Clothes you're happy to bush bash in (so your fancy $800 raincoat might not be the play)
- Food for two nights and a way to cook it (one night in the plan, and one as your emergency backup)
- A good level of fitness and gumption (>16km walking, 950-1650m climbing each day)
- NZ Topo50 Map BQ32 (hard copy) & a compass. (We'll be navigating off-track. It's okay if you don't know how to use these yet.*****) 
- A car (if you have one)

If you don't have your own, the club can provide the gear you need, especially things like maps and compasses. Just message @vuwwtc_gear on Instagram.

* Except by cars on the motorway that goes through the Remutakas
** Or perhaps the naming was done the other way arround - I do not know 
*** I am assuming this is also locked, which is why we aren't walking through it. Plus it's pretty long so you don't wanna walk through only to find that it's locked on the other end and need to go back.
**** This is only about 4km downstream from the river's headwaters so it's unlikey to really get big enough to be a problem.
***** If you want, try practising looking up the grid references below on a map manually. You can download a digital copy BQ32 for free from LINZ.

^1 BQ32 6529 2881
^2 BQ32 6705 2733
^3 BQ32 6894 2716
^4 BQ32 7022 2627
^5 BQ32 7178 3029
^6 BQ32 7257 3130

Welcome to Wednesday Climbing Nights!

Want to try indoor climbing for the first time, or meet some like-minded climbers? Come along to our

weekly climb nights! We climb at Hangdog (Bouldering & Top roping) in Lower Hutt, and Faultline

(Bouldering) on Willis St.

This week, we'll be climbing at Faultline, which is a bouldering gym. This means no ropes/harnesses and no

belaying. There are grades for every level of experience, so no matter how much climbing experience you

have you’ll have plenty to get stuck into!

IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME CLIMBING AT FAULTLINE, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

(https://www.wellingtonclimbing.co.nz/first_visit_fl/) AND SIGN THE ONLINE WAIVER BEFORE

WE LEAVE FOR THE GYM!

This week: Faultline

Schedule:

• Sign up! (even if you are meeting us down there)
• Meet outside the VUWSA building at 5:00pm to walk down together or outside Faultline at 5:20 p.m.
• CLIMB!
• You can leave whenever you like (we usually finish up around 7:30-8:00 p.m) and return home independently.

Entry costs: $15 + $3 for shoes

This is not paid for through the club—there is no piking fee if you pull out. Pay at Faultline when we

arrive.

To get the VUWTC entry price, just let the front desk know you are with VUWTC. Our discounted

price is only from 5:30 pm onwards on Wednesdays.

See you there :)

Come along to the most cozy event of the year!

We will tramp to Waerenga Hut, where we will drink mulled wine around a fire, play Thieving Santa beneath a Christmas tree, and share a cozy potluck dinner! Christmas costumes are encouraged!

Sign-ups open on 7/7/2026. We need 5-6 drivers! So if you can drive, please sign up! (You will be reimbursed for fuel). 

Number of people: 20-25, depending on how many drivers sign up! 

Cost: $20

What to Bring:

• A gift for theiving santa!

• Something tasty to share for a potluck dinner

• Lunch, Breakfast and Snacks!

• Pack + Pack liner/drybags

• Raincoat

• Headtorch + spare batteries

• Boots + socks

• Shorts + teeshirt not cotton

• Fleece/wool jumper not cotton

• Thermal top and bottom

• Warm hat, gloves and neck gaiter

• Sunhat + sunscreen

• 1L+ water bottle

• Personal first aid kit

• Toilet paper + hand sanitizer

• Sleeping bag

•  Sleeping mat

•  Hut clothes optional

• Toothbrush + toiletries

•  Bowl, mug and cutlery

If you have a tent and would like to use it, please bring it, we can't fit everyone in the hut.

Bring PLENTY of warm clothing.

To kick the trimester off, join us for our second pub crawl with GEOLSOC as a part of our continuing Greywacke Series.

We will go to a series of pubs and have a pub bingo sheet with challenges to complete and prizes to be won.

Meet at 7pm on Friday the 17th of July at the Welsh Dragon Pub

Welcome to Wednesday Climbing Nights!

Want to try indoor climbing for the first time, or meet some like-minded climbers? Come along to our

weekly climb nights! We climb at Hangdog (Bouldering & Top roping) in Lower Hutt, and Faultline

(Bouldering) on Willis St.

This week, we'll be climbing at Faultline, which is a bouldering gym. This means no ropes/harnesses and no

belaying. There are grades for every level of experience, so no matter how much climbing experience you

have you’ll have plenty to get stuck into!

IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME CLIMBING AT FAULTLINE, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

(https://www.wellingtonclimbing.co.nz/first_visit_fl/) AND SIGN THE ONLINE WAIVER BEFORE

WE LEAVE FOR THE GYM!

This week: Faultline

Schedule:

• Sign up! (even if you are meeting us down there)
• Meet outside Faultline at 5:20 p.m.
• CLIMB!
• You can leave whenever you like (we usually finish up around 7:30-8:00 p.m) and return home independently.

Entry costs: $15 + $3 for shoes

This is not paid for through the club—there is no piking fee if you pull out. Pay at Faultline when we

arrive.

To get the VUWTC entry price, just let the front desk know you are with VUWTC. Our discounted

price is only from 5:30 pm onwards on Wednesdays.

See you there :)

Kia ora everyone

This trip is an easy and fun way to get outdoors for sustainability week and take a moment to appreciate the amazing wildlife that surrounds us everyday!

Please meet Zealandia at 2.15pm for an fun afternoon walk around Zealandia WIldlife Sactuary.  Zealandia is a fenced conservation area that protects native bird species from predation and supports the growth their populations. We will be given a short talk on the history of Zealandia before we go for our walk at 2.30. The student entry price for zealandia is $23 (pay when you arrive) , so PLEASE BRING YOUR STUDENT ID! 

Please bring:

- Student ID

- A rain jacket 

- Snacks/water

- Boots/sneakers