❄️MIDWINTER - Tongariro Four Craters Tour

Days: Saturday 15 Aug - Monday 17 Aug

Route plan: A day touring (or admiring from a distance) all four of the major volcanic craters, via Hardman's Ridge.

Note: We delayed this by a day to be Saturday-Monday

1. Day 1 - Saturday Morning. Meet at the Hunter carpark at 10am and drive to the Mangatepopo carpark. Stop in Ohakune for a late lunch. Walk 30 mins up to the Mangatepopo Hut. It's a serviced hut outside of Great Walk season that still needs to booked. ($25 per night)
2. Day 2 - Sunday. Start at 7am and head up Hardman's Ridge, towards Mt Tongariro, and descending into the central crater. Main difference this time is a slight adjustment to the route to make it easier. This particular route up Hardman's Ridge is considered to be the easiest ascent and non-technical, with the fewest aspects involved to help limit avalanche risk, and a gentler gradient by cutting north. We'll be avoiding the South Crater and likely only gazing at the Red Crater from a far:
   
   
3. Day 3 -  Monday. After an appropriately late morning start, we have options. We could explore the area, drive south to Whakapapa ski field to play in the snow, or head north to the Tokaanu hot pools. We'll aim to be back at Welly by night, stopping for dinner again where appropriate.

Backup days: This trip is fully weather and avalanche risk dependent, and we will delay to another weekend if the forecast 4-5 days out isn't looking good. TBD and will be communicated if necessary.  

Skill Requirements: This is a non-technical route but still proper alpine mountaineering terrain. Snowcraft experience (Or demonstrable alpine experience) is necessary. You will need to know safe traversal, self-arresting, and the basics of identifying avalanche danger and rescue. We'll do a self-arrest refresher when we get up to the snowline.

Fitness Requirements: Medium. Fairly long day, decent level of fitness needed - about 800m up/down, over half of which will be in snow. The Alpine area and upper reaches of Hardman's Ridge will have good snow cover this year. Weather and avalanche risk dependent, of course.

Gear: Overnight tramping gear, plus snow gear - sunglasses, waterproof coat and pants and gloves, stiff three-quarter shank boots or better. Lots of warm layers, the Red Crater is cold and we will have to layer up at top. Crampons, ice axes, and helmets can be borrowed from the club, possibly gaiters.

Food: Bring your own breakfasts and lunches, shared dinner groups are an option.

Cost: $50 for 2 nights at Mangatepopo, and whatever your share of gas is. Expect $100~, plus whatever your individual food costs are.

Got a pile of clothes with holes, loose buttons, or seams giving up on life? Bring 'em! We're getting together for a few hours to sit, stitch, and hang out in good company 😊

No-one is an expert!! This is just a chance to learn a few new techniques or ways to mend with each other to promote fixing our things rather than replacing them.

Bring

• Your own mending materials (needles, thread, patches, fabric)
• The items you want to mend
• Something small to share for a potluck

Time:

5 – 7pm

Thursday 13^th

See you there!!

Ran this trip last sem. It was alot of fun, although this time itll prolly be a bunch colder, but thats no reason not to go!!

No cap on this trip, its serviced by a bus. Which means all it costs is a bus fare! This is a pretty chill day tramp, although your feet do get quite cold!

Plan: 

• We will all meet at 8:25 at Courtney Place Stop A. From there we will catch the 83 all the way to Eastbourne and get off at Muritai/ Kowhai Rd Stop in Eastbourne, 
• Follow route along gollans stream from the map below.
• catch 83 back from Kowhai road or the Ferry from days bay. Depends how we are feeling (also they serve gelato at a cafe at the roadend)

Gear Required:

• Warm clothes. Think puffer jackets, thermals, and fleece pull overs. It will be cold and you will get wet, so prepare accordingly.
• Wet weather gear. Raincoat and optional to have rainpants.
• Suitable footwear; I wore trail runnners last time. So something like that if you have it. But also boots work. Just don't show up in reebok white sneakers.
• Food. Bring lunch and snacks. That should be all you need.
• Water - bring about 1.5 litres.

If you have any questions then please contact me

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 :)

We goin biking gang.

This ride is an epic 5-hill bonanza showcasing central wellington's best mountain biking spots.

Meet at the mirimar pump track at 11-11.30

We will aim to finish up with a golden hour lap of makara peak at around 5

Please bring lights if you are riding home.

Route:

We're going to Waitewaewae Hut! It's about an hour drive from Wellington to the Otaki Forks campsite, and then a 6 hour walk to the hut. Please arrive at least half an hour before the start time so that we have enough time to do any last-minute sorting. 

Waitewaewae Hut info

Gear:

Standard overnight stuff; refer to this link for more information (https://www.vuwtc.org.nz/resources/gear-list.) Definitely bring a pot/cooker and a tent if you have them and can fit them without creating an overtly heavy pack. If you need to borrow gear, please ask at least a few days in advance.

Food:

Have breakfast on Saturday before arriving at Kelburn. Please bring 1 breakfast, 2 lunches, 1 dinner, snacks and drinks, and some emergency food in case we get delayed. Regarding drinks, please bring cans and plastic only, no glass.

Costs (besides the base trip cost):

- Hut payment ($15 for a blue DOC hut ticket, which can be bought at outdoor stores such as Bivouac, Macpac, and Kathmandu.) You can also use the DOC hut pass, or camp for free.

An ongoing collaboration with Karori Kaitiaki at Birdwood Reserve. We will be helping to restore a steep Gully of native bush in the reserve, and clearing Kaiwharawhara stream of Tradescandia. This is an important site for Karori Kaitiaki, as it's the home of the future Birdwood Reserve track. It's a super fun way to do some practical work outside that creates meaningful and visible change within the native ecology of our city. Come along and be part of the action!

Please bring gardening gloves, a water bottle and jacket, snacks and if possible a spade, shovel or rake. 

Hope to see you there!

I am a copycat - I am copying exactly what a few of my mates did literally a couple months ago. But I will do it with more style and aura.

But well this trip is pretty self-explanatory, I want to race up to the tippy top of Mt Holdsworth and not throw my guts up in the process. This will lowkey kinds suck, but it could also be not so sucky.

The DOC time is like 4ish hours up to Powell, to go faster the plan is to run the downhill and flats. So prepare to be running, and pack accordinly.

Gear Required:

• Trail running shoes.
• Plenty of snacks. (I will be bringing energy gels and OSM's)
• 1.5 litres of water.
• PLB if you have one (I will bringing my personal one)
• Running rest or backpack.
•  Something warm like a light weight puffer or fleece, It is winter after all.
• Raincoat. Something light and packable. 
• Headtorch just in case.
• Any questions just ask me.

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 Hangdog, which is a top-roping and bouldering gym. This means some climbs will require ropes, harnesses & 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! 

This week: Hangdog (bring cars!)

Schedule:

• Sign up! (Even if you are meeting us there - they need to know numbers ahead of time)

• Meet at Hunter carpark at 5 pm, leave for the gym at 5:10 pm on the dot.

• CLIMB!

• You can leave whenever you like - but drivers need to have the same number of people in their cars that they brought out. (Drivers - make sure the people you drove out know when you want to leave!)

• PAY YOUR DRIVERS 

Costs: $15 entry + $3 for shoes + $3 for your driver

This is not paid for through the club so there is no piking fee if you pull out. Pay at the gym when we arrive/to your driver directly.

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.