❄️MIDWINTER - Tongariro Four Craters Tour

Days: Saturday 22 Aug - Monday 24 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.

We goin biking gang.

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

Meet at the miramar 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.

Overview:

This trip is meant to give members an introduction to the knots and rope skills needed for glacier travel and other alpine ventures. The focus will be on

1. Learning knots useful in an alpine environment
2. Learning haul systems for crevasse rescue

Kathleen and I will give demonstrations and overviews of both of the above. Then, we'll split into groups and practice the skills. There are two identical sessions posted in August.

Who is this trip for:

This trip is open to anyone interested in learning the skills mentioned above. However, if you are planning to go on the later glacier skills course you must attend one of the two ropes practices. You are welcome, and encouraged to attend both for more practice and to help others learn. Please note that attending doesn't guarantee you a spot on the glacier skills course.

Where and when:

We'll be practicing at the Pirie Street Playground It is a 30 min walk from campus, or a short bus ride. We'll be starting at 5pm and going until 8 pm or so (depending on stoke). It's ok to show up late, just keep in mind you may not learn much if you show up 15 minutes before we wrap up.

What you need to bring:

• Headlamp
• Warm layers
• Snack
• Climbing harness (if you own)
• Locking carabiners and non-locking carabiners (if you own)
• Cordalette, slings (if you own)
• Rope to practice with (if you own)
• ATC, pulleys, progress capture devices (if you own)

Days: Friday 21st to Saturday 22nd August

Day 1: Friday evening. We'll meet at the Hunter carpark at 4pm to sort any extra gear we need, then get on the drive. Cheeky feed in Bulls then continue up to Iwakau village at the top of Bruce Road. From there, we've got a norty 30-45 minute walk up the skifield to the TTC lodge, which will be our quarters for the night. 

I'll be driving down from Tauranga with Kate so we'll meet at the carpark. Charlie will still be around. 

Day 2:  Wake up early as (like 3 AM, a proper alpine start!!), have a shared breakfast, get going. This trip will follow the standard route up from Whakapapa up past Glacier Knob to Dome. Considered a serious grade 1 and a technical grade 1. That being the case this is still an alpine enviroment so it is best only to come if you feel confident in your skills and your ftiness and have the right kit. Walk down drive out same day. 

This trip requires Snowcraft experience. 

Planned Route: https://climbnz.org.nz/nz/ni/tongariro/mt-ruapehu/whakapapa-glacier-knob

Plan B: If the conditions are good but not safe to summit we can do the 5-6 hr Tama Lakes Track, an Intermediate level walk. 

https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/central-north-island/places/tongariro-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/tama-lakes-track/

Food: Shared porridge breakfast on Saturday. BYO lunch & snacks for the hike. 

Gear: Overnight tramping gear, plus snow gear: sunglasses, a waterproof jacket and pants (snowpants work as well just get really hot), and gloves. Warm layers. Stiff three-quarter shank boots or better are required. Crampons, ice axes, helmets, and potentially gaiters can be borrowed from the club.

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.

This meeting is a special. Part of it will be presented by members Kathleen Griffin and Anton Afanassiev.
They'll be talking about glaciers, and glacier travel - a skillset we're hoping to build up in the club. This presentation
will be somewhat of a preview of an upcoming peer-instructed glacier skills course. Some topics covered may include:

• What is a glacier (how do they form, move).
• What are the dangers on a glacier (crevasses, snow bridges, bergschrunds, etc...).
•  A short overview of glacier travel techniques to mitigate risks.
•  Some tools and strategies to plan a glacier trip (and other trips) such as Copernicus, mapping techniques, etc...

I recommend coming! 

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 :)