Wildernessの June 2017 の目次

SOME GOOD cheer for DOC at last: it has finally been given a funding boost, and a substantial one at that. On the surface, the $76 million DOC has been promised in the 2017 budget looks great: tracks and infrastructure will be enhanced to spread the load of tourists and local trampers. Fantastic: such improvements will make the outdoors more accessible, allowing more people to enjoy a wider variety of tramping and walking experiences. Hopefully some of this spend will be slated for the upper North Island, which lacks opportunities for weekend hut trips for the approximately two million people who live there. There is also talk of creating two new Great Walks and a series of Great Short Walks and Great Day Walks. I’m less enthusiastic about this –…

DARRANS ACCIDENT TO HAVE INDEPENDENT REVIEW THE NEW ZEALAND Alpine Team plans to conduct an independent review of the accident that claimed the lives of team members Conor Smith and Sarwan Chand over Anzac weekend. Both experienced and competent climbers, Smith, 22, and Chand, 27, were attempting a rock climbing route on the south face of Marian Peak. Their intended route was Barrier Knob to Barrier Peak, with a descent into Marian Valley and then to ascend Marian Peak. It’s believed they sustained a factor-two lead fall, meaning the lead climber fell below the belay, which can happen when the belayer is on a ledge during a multi-pitch climb. In such a scenario, the force of the fall can pull out the protection set for the belay anchor. New Zealand…

Watch the forecast While there is often snow on the high peaks for most of the winter, it is not everyday you get snow at lower altitudes. Keep an eye out for a southerly front with low temperatures for the perfect shots of frozen landscapes. Get up early Once the sun rises, snow can begin to melt really quickly. If there has been snow or a hard frost overnight, head out before it melts. Your best bet, to avoid driving in icy conditions, is to overnight in a hut or to camp near your favoured location so you are within walking distance of your subject. Pick your subject While grand snow-covered vistas work well, sometimes smaller more intimate scenes can make the best photographs. Pick an interesting subject, so you…

IN THE WHOLE gambit of tramping experiences, one of the most exhilarating is standing on a rock outcrop, surveying the surrounding country. It’s the sort of situation likely to make you feel slightly superior to all those lowlanders stuck in cities and towns. The best outcrops offer stable footing, perched above a giddy drop. To 18th century romantics, the mixed feelings of awe, terror and pleasure induced by such eyries were ‘sublime’. Last Anzac weekend, my tramping party enjoyed a sense of the sublime on a rock outcrop in Ruahine Forest Park. Eastwards, we overlooked the immaculate beech forests of the Ikawetea Valley, lined below in ranks of ridges. To the west sprawled the golden tussocks of the Mangaohane Plateau, and beyond rose the frosty crown of Ruapehu, glistening with…

BUYING AN ICE AXE Length If you are looking for an axe to take your tramping above the snowline, a shaft between 60-70cm should be fine. Shorter axes can be used, but are generally designed for more technical climbing. Reverse or classic curved pick? If you’re mainly angling up snow slopes, then a classic curve is more comfortable under your hand. If you are swinging your axe into alpine or water ice, get a reverse pick. Shaft types A straight or slightly curved shaft is best for tramping and basic climbing. Heavily curved shafts tend to be for specialised use and are not suited to general climbing conditions. Leashes The leash will prevent a dropped axe skating for miles down the slope. If your chosen axe does not come with…

BLACK DIAMOND IOTA $79.99 AT JUST 56g, the Iota is Black Diamond’s most compact and lightweight headlamp. A single switch controls all settings, making it easy to scroll through the various functions and light outputs. It is powered by a rechargeable lithium ion battery, charged via a supplied USB cable. On full power, the Iota produces 150 lumens but can be dimmed to just four lumens. With a single charge, the battery is rated to last two hours on full power and 20 hours on the lowest setting, which produces just enough light to read a book. The Iota is splash proof (rated to IPX4), which means you can use it in the rain, but don’t submerge it in a river. Black Diamond markets the Iota as a lamp for…

INSULATION Once bulky and non-compressible, synthetic insulation has come a long way and now offers similar performance to down insulation. At the same time, down is being treated with hydrophobic coatings which prevents it from clumping so it can still perform when wet. When choosing a down insulated jacket, take note of the loft, or fill power (the volume that one ounce of down fills when full of air) – it is usually measured between 500 and 800: the higher the number, the greater the warmth with less fill required to achieve it. BAFFLES Down jackets use baffles to keep the fill from moving around. Synthetic garments may be quilted to hold the insulation in place. POCKETS Two handwarmer pockets and a chest pocket are the norm, with some large…

Fixing it or finding fault IN VISITING several West Coast huts recently I gained a brief insight into a range of user expectations and contributions to these backcountry assets. At Youngman Stream and Tarn huts, I read in the hut books that both had recently been repainted by DOC, assisted by a team of volunteers who enjoyed the challenge in wild weather. Two days later, I headed up the Mikonui River to Explorer Hut. The route had recently been marked with rock cairns in the upper riverbed, and the final stretch to the hut had also been cleared and marked. In the hut book, I read how Permolat Trust members had cleared four routes that depart from the hut, cut back nearby vegetation, re-piled and painted the hut, and built…

My feeling of triumph has evaporated, leaving a dull sense of stupidity and dread I stand at the base of the Brown Wall, looking up at the twin slanting cracks of Captain Kronos, studying the route and gathering the nerve to try leading it again. Lured to try it as a first gear lead four years ago I backed off, spent; Matt finished it and declared it more like 5.9 than 5.7, another Joshua Tree sandbag. Two years later, a better climber, I returned to try again. I got further but again found myself in over my head: reaching a point where I could find no secure purchase, I clung to the rock as long as I could then fell. My neck saved by the rope, a finger-width cam, and…

Stewart Island lies between latitudes 46 and 48 degrees, smack in the middle of the Roaring Forties. While the north of the island contains three major tracks, the Rakiura Great Walk, North West Circuit and Southern Circuit, the south remains comparatively wild and untouched. It’s a vast area of windswept plateaus, granite peaks and huge bogs. It is wilderness in every sense of the word and, apart from the occasional fisherman and the odd hunting party, it’s rarely visited. There are no permanent residents and the land is mostly void of tracks and, for that matter, information. While researching our planned trip, I could only find fragments of intel – talk of a track here, a hunting bivvy there – but in keeping with the wilderness values of the area…

MACPAC POWDER JACKET $349.99 Insulated snow jacket, seam sealed with three-point hood adjustment, lift pass sleeve pocket, stowaway snow gaiter, mesh goggle pocket, underarm venting, adjustable cuffs, jacket to pant connector system. 800g (m); 790g (w). www.macpac.co.nz MSR SNOW PICKETS FROM $84.99 Aircraft-grade aluminum T-beam, tapered drive-end penetrates easily, multiple beveled attachment points allow vertical and horizontal placement. 61cm, 91cm. 369g, 525g.www.ampro.co.nz MSR SNOW FLUKE FROM $99.99 Patent-pending design utilises a frame-and-decking combination to reduce weight without compromising holding power. 7000-series aluminum frame, corrosion-resistant galvanized steel cable with urethane-coated nylon decking. 195g (sml), 250g (lge). www.ampro.co.nz MSR STRIKER 240 PROBE FROM $129.99 7000-series aluminum construction, 13mm lower sections to maximise stiffness, 11mm uppers reduce weight, quick-link ferrules for fast single-pull deployment, lock-pin assembly, offset 5cm depth markings. 240cm (packed: 46cm).…

Get your photo published here to receive an Opinel No.5 folding knife worth $20. Learn more about Opinel at ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

It was the best trip of my life. It’s given me confidence to push my comfort zone ABOUT A YEAR AGO, Scott Sinton was on a boat tour in Doubtful Sound. While puttering around the many arms of the fiords was breathtaking, he felt he barely had enough time to take it all in. He vowed to return, but with a stand-up paddleboard. And so, with a week to spare before walking the Milford Track in late March, the Auckland-based photographer borrowed a friend’s stand-up paddleboard for a seven-day, 150km-voyage through Doubtful Sound’s many arms. Sinton has had his fair share of paddling epics. He was the videographer for Paddle for the North, a documentary in which a group of friends canoed through Canada’s Yukon Territory in 2013 to raise…

BAD WEATHER and snow in the high mountains are not reasons to stay at home. That’s the lesson we learnt on an early winter trip to Top Dingle Hut. Even though we were welcomed with dark clouds and rain, this circuit from Ahuriri Base Hut provided great tramping. The Dingleburn Route from Ahuriri is well marked and leads steeply to a ridgeline that forms an outlier to the Huxley Range. When we arrived at the 1450m ridgeline, we were greeted with 30cm of new snow. Descending to Dingle Burn Valley, we followed snow poles to Top Dingle Hut, which could be heated to tropical temperatures thanks to its open fireplace. The following morning was too nice to simply retrace our steps, so instead we decided on a climb of Mt…

BIG AGNES HITCHENS $870 THE HITCHENS is a top shelf sleeping bag for all season use. With its streamlined design, ultralight ripstop nylon shell and 850-fill power down stuffing, it delivers phenomenal warmth to weight. Big Agnes has focussed its energy on delivering a high performance lightweight bag. Gone are the superfluous features. The nylon shell shaves precious grams, as does the half-length zip. A single cinch cord completes the Hitchens’ features. As a result, it weighs a mere 770g, of which 510g is down. This is pretty revolutionary for a four-season sleeping bag that is rated to a comfort limit of -7˚C. It’s about 400g lighter than my current winter bag, which I considered to be light. Every detail has been pored over to cut weight without compromising comfort.…