The Tramping Report

Te Araroa gone off track?

The Te Araroa (NZ long tramping trail) website is gone.

It was useful as it had the maps and route descriptions and occasional news updates from Geoff Chapple about how the project was going. However the plug has been pulled, though I suppose it could be just an admin oversight.

Geoff must still be in the business as The Herald published an article by him just a few weeks ago: Little known NZ mountain trail offers big views.

If anyone knows what the situation is please drop me a line by clicking this email address, or just post the info directly by commenting below.

River crossing technique

Last night Honora ran an excellent theory session on rivercrossing technique for the Christchurch Tramping Club. The session was based around a useful video produced by the NZ Mountain Safety Council, "River Safety - Do you need to cross?".

During a winding up Q&A Adrian Busby, the club president, interjected that people shouldn't wear glasses when they cross a river. Adrian doesn't wear glasses himself, and he didn't give any reasons for this idea of his.

Whatever was behind his surprising statement, I can only think of disadvantages to leaving my glasses off in a river.

I haven't had a chance to check in with others about it yet, and I do think it's worth following up either way.

So if anyone's got any ideas on pros or cons for wearing glasses while crossing a river please drop me a line at this address. Or if you prefer to go public just click on  'comments' below.

Arthurs Pass Management review

DoC's Poma Palmer has been beavering away for the past year on a review of the Arthurs Pass National Park management plan. The draft of this is supposed to be released around now.

I've been told Poma was likely to try sliding in some sneaky changes to make it easier to remove Ranger Biv. Well I don't know Poma so I've no idea if he will, and I've even less idea of why he would go to that sort of trouble. But people do say there are those in DoC who just don't like people in the mountains at all, unless they're restricted to a ticketed place on a tourist track and paying big bucks for the privilege.

I hope we manage to keep Arthurs Pass as the great natural environment adventure land that it's been for the past three generations. The Kiwi approach to free, unrestricted tramping is very much a part of our culture.

Whatever, here's a link to an item on DoC's  website outlining the review process.

Keith gets a buzz

Outdoors all-rounder Keith Dekkers once told me he only went tramping for the social contact. He said his real love was what he called 'buzz sports'. These were things like skiing, cave diving, flying a microlight, mountain biking, etc. It was the adrenaline rush he was after.

Well I heard Keith recently got a real buzz out of a trip to Stewart Island.

He was down in remote Port Pegasus with a big group of kayakers, mostly just paddling around. However they'd also done the usual thing down there, walking inland to climb Bald Knob and the Frasers Peaks.

Well unfortunately Keith got himself stung by a bumble bee and he had an allergic reaction to it. He had to be lifted out by helicopter and flown to hospital in Invercargill. There he received the standard treatment - a hefty injection of adrenaline.

Yeeeehaahh!!!!

Avalanche Pk tramp/run

Jo Milne mentioned she'd been up Avalanche Peak on the weekend and that there'd been people running up the mountain. She seemed impressed, and I agree it's enough of a grunt just walking up.

Anyway, it was a reminder to me that the 2006 Avalanche Peak Challenge was coming up shortly and the people Jo had seen were checking how their training was coming along.

Then tonight Honora said Dave "Wattie" Watson asked if we would help with marshalling again. I enjoyed myself so much last year I wouldn't want to miss it.

The event is being held on Saturday the 25th of February. That's only two weekends after this one. As usual it has sections for trampers and runners. However DoC have placed an upper limit of 150 participants so I'd recommend getting an application in quickly if you want to secure a place.

Update

The crazy end of year rush plus the move has kept me away from updating Tramping Report.

Honora did get her wallet back ($100 cash, etc included). Some honest trampers handed it in to the police. The police dropped it in to Honora's work.

On the 10th we got away on our one short tramp to try to gain a little pre-Xmas tramping fitness. Look back for the full report of Mottram Peaks, in the Waimak valley. I'll get that up with pics early in the new year.

Right now we're just off to Arthurs Pass for a few days at Big Tops Hut in the Koropuku valley. There'll be news of that on the 4th.

I hope the nor'westers don't spoil your plans. 

Summit Road Society

I've traced my family's introduction to tramping on Christchurch's Port Hills back to at least the 1850s.

The earliest of them tramped over the hills on the Bridle Path from Lyttelton to their new home. I've often stood where the Bridle Path crosses the Summit Road and tried to imagine what it was like for them back then.

Countless other times I've been there just totally involved in the enjoyment of tramping on the Port Hills for its own sake.

Many Christchurch people, even without such an ancestral connection, have a strong personal attachment to the city's hills.

The Summit Road Society needs the support of as many as possible to help protect more of the Port Hills for our own and future generations.

Please check this link to the website of the Summit Road Society. And give thought to adding your name to their membership. It's a very cheap investment.

"Poor example" of CTC skills

On 24 July I stuck my neck out and wrote about Wilderness magazine showing a group crossing a river using a strange and dangerous rivercrossing technique.

See No way to cross a river and then back button to here.

The August issue of the magazine had a letter from Russell Chilton of Ashburton commenting on the photo:

Poor example
... The method shown in the photo gives next to no support if one person in the group slips and falls. In fact, it is downright dangerous. I am disappointed that an "experienced" group of trampers should even think of using the method shown, let alone submit a photograph of it to your magazine...

I met Russell at a Mountain Safety Council training weekend at Craigieburn few years ago. He's a very experienced MSC instructor and a hunter and well qualified to make the comments he did. So I was glad to see him sharing the same concerns I had.

Wilderness magazine Editor Colin Moore added a note at the end of Russell's letter that he didn't think the group actually crossed the river linked up like that.

I don't know why he wrote that as my information, from people who were there, is that they did.

I didn't mention the connection with the Christchurch Tramping Club in my original post. I might as well have though as most of the people in the photo are well known in the outdoors as as being in the CTC.

Alan Ross has openly defended their decision for being linked up for the rivercrossing the way they were.

Well I don't know, Alan.... loyalty is a fine thing but....

I haven't come across anyone who knows of that technique being recommended on any rivercrossing course the tramping club, or anyone else, has run. So it really has the appearance that it was just dreamed up at the time.

All I can say is it doesn't do the club any good if it wants to have a reputation for competence in the outdoors.

The shame of all this is Honora is putting a lot into making sure the best training is available in the CTC. And maybe it's just the club's long-of-tooth and longer winded that are letting the side down.