April 2012 - Preview

A perfect day in Queenstown Bag a peak, tramp a valley, brag at the pub

know more, do more, live more

WIN! 5 Therm-A-Rest mattresses up for grabs

3 walk-in beaches

Beat the crowds at these

Survive the

apocalypse

What’s driving the growing popularity of bush survivalism?

white sand stunners

Quiet revolution

How Dunedin has become

the next best mountain biking destination

Waitakere Range closure Kauri dieback threatens recreation in Auckland

april 2012

Plus Kayak to seclusion in Abel Tasman National Park » View

the Silver Peaks in 3D » Hike gold mining ruins » Go off the beaten track in Arthur’s Pass National Park » Win Timex WS4 watches!

www.wildernessmag.co.nz NZ $8.95 Aust$8.95 incl GST

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april 2012

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FEATURES 24 Waitakere closure Kauri dieback disease threatens track closures in Auckland’s most popular regional park

34 A hard mountain man Bill Denz died young but his legacy of hard climbing in New Zealand and abroad lives on

38 A quiet revolution How Dunedin is staking a claim to be the country’s most mountain biking friendly city

44 A journey to the heart

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of endurance Taking up the challenge of the Speight’s Coast to Coast leads a Wilderness columnist into the country’s beating heart of endurance

49 Escape the apocalypse Learning the skills of bush survival is spawning a new form of outdoor recreation

66 Camp of the condors A trekking holiday to Torres del Paine National Park provides out-of-this world views

WAYPOINTS 14 Places Lake Tennyson Scenic Reserve

16 A perfect day The best way to explore the outdoors in Queenstown

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18 Paddle to paradise Abel Tasman’s most exquisite camp ground

20 See more Three places to hike amongst the ruins of New Zealand’s gold mining past

22 Top 3 walk-in beaches From an easy 3-hour stroll to a multiday bush bash, these three beach destinations are sublime

54 Subscribe to win

Subscribe or resubscribe in the month of April to go in the draw to win one of five Therm-A-Rest mattresses worth $299 each! www.wildernessmag.co.nz 1

april 2012

contents 50 26

REGULARS 4 Editorial 5 Pigeon Post Your letters to Wilderness

6 The big picture Black Gold

8 Walkshorts News and events

11 Five reasons to get outside this month

11 Wilderness Word Enter our crossword competition to win great prizes

26 Off the Beaten Track A new twist on an old classic in Arthur’s Pass National Park

32 Wild heritage A short history of backcountry medicine

78 Out There

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Welcome to Fiordland!

80 Hotshot No turning back

THE MANUAL Trips, skills, health, gear

WILD TRIPS 56 Coromandel Walkway, Coromandel Peninsula 57 Moki-Rerekapa Loop, Moki Conservation Area 58 Meg Hut, Pisa Conservation Area 60 Peak Hill, Peak Hill Conservation Area

61 Wild Range

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Wild Buyer’s Guide

70 Softshells 72 Midlayers 73 Baselayers

Silver Peaks Scenic Reserve

64 Body and sole Limber up with these hip and back stretches

64 Wild skills How to safely negotiate bluffs

65 Wild cuisine Piri piri chicken and broccoli stir-fry

65 Wild read Wilderness books

Cover: Camping at secluded Mosquito Bay in Abel Tasman National Park. Photo by Derekmorrison.co.nz 2 april 2012

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Black gold Forest and Bird’s 48-hour Bioblitz held at the start of March on Denniston Plateau on the West Coast saw 150 volunteers and some of New Zealand’s leading scientists attempt to identify the many species of flora and fauna found in the area.

The high sandstone plateau is the proposed site for open cast coal mining by Australian-owned Bathurst Resources. Bathurst has been granted resource consent to mine this publicly owned conservation land but still requires a concession from the Minister for Conservation.

The Bioblitz campaigners hope that Denniston – home to many endangered species including giant carnivorous land snails, great spotted kiwis and green gecko – can be granted reserve status, thus protecting it in perpetuity from development.

The communities on the West Coast rely on mining of high-grade coal like that being held by volunteer Brent Barrett for their economic survival. While Denniston coal would contribute to CO2 emissions, demand for resources means there’s a trade-off: short-term growth or long term sustainability.

But something everybody should consider is that once the plateau’s gone, it’s gone forever.

- Fraser Crichton

6 april 2012

The Big Picture

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waypoints

Paddle to paradise Mosquito Bay, Abel Tasman National Park moderate Paddling to Mosquito Bay in the very southern end of the Tonga Island Marine Reserve in Abel Tasman National Park is a treat reserved for those who choose to explore the park by kayak. There are no walking tracks into this hidden gem, just the highway of a sparkling high tide as it enters the Long Valley Creek and floats you right to the campsite. Or, like us, arrive a little late – around mid-tide and enjoy a pull, drag and grunt to the DOC campsite along the sandbar.

Mosquito Bay has space for about 20 small tents with room to store the kayaks from the overnight high tide. It also features picnic tables, water (boil first) and toilets – DOC classifies it as a Great Walk campsite. It was in beautiful condition for our trip.

Abel Tasman National Park is a treasure trove of bays and headlands on a sea becalmed by its location between the North and South Island. Mosquito Bay is one of the stars here with its bush-clad islet punctuating the view from the camp. The white sand glows when the sun drops behind the park, leaving you marooned in an idyllic bay with the sky providing the entertainment as it drains through the colour spectrum to starry blackness.

Mosquito Bay is also a very sunny campsite – even in winter and it doesn’t take long for the cool night air to be warmed each morning and waking up here is about as magical as watching the sun go down the night before.

If you are paddling north, Mosquito Bay is the gateway to the Tonga Island Marine Reserve. Formed in November 1993, this reserve has an abundance of highlights. Just around the corner from the campsite is the Arches and a short paddle away is Tonga Island with its New Zealand fur seal nursery that rivals the playful juvenile seals of Shag Harbour a little further up the coast. The paddle from Mosquito Bay to Awaroa Inlet would have to rate as one of the best anywhere on earth. A day seems hardly enough here.

- Derek Morrison 18 april 2012

www.derekmorrison.co.nz

The tall trees at Mosquito Bay provide shelter from the midday sun and frame an idyllic outlook to Tonga Island Marine Reserve

Wild File Access By kayak or boat only (easier access at high tide) Grade Moderate paddling experience required if not in a double kayak Time Allow one day to paddle to Torrent Bay and another day to Mosquito Bay, or take a water taxi to Anchorage and allow three hours paddling to explore the coastline to Mosquito Bay.You can also come from Awaroa in the north, but this paddle is a little more challenging – allow about six hours.

Cost $12.20 adult/night with under 18’s free Map BP25

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All carrot, no stick Raymond Salisbury conjures up a new twist on an old classic in Arthur’s Pass National Park

The tarn at Walker Pass reflects the Blackball Ridge

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mountain

ahard There is a well-known saying in mountaineering circles: ‘There are old climbers and there are bold climbers but there are no old bold climbers.’ If ever there was a bona-fide case for this adage it would have to be that of Bill Denz, writes Paul Maxim

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man

Mike Franklin

Right: Cerre Torre and the Compressor Route; Below: Denz on the upper ice fields of the Balfour Face

His focus lay entirely with the unclimbed, un-soloed and un-wintered routes

Bryan Pooley

b

Bill Denz, a Kiwi climbing sensation, was descending from a camp high on Makalu’s West Pillar one sunny afternoon in October 1983 when a small avalanche swept him into a basin and buried him beyond the reach of Peter Hillary and their two Australian teammates. He was 32-years-old.

When word reached his homeland a week or so later, many in New Zealand’s climbing fraternity were shocked although not particularly surprised by the news of Denz’s death. For most people he was a bit of an enigma, known more by reputation than acquaintance. In fact, local climbers hadn’t seen much of Denz during the previous few years as he had based himself in California and Alaska, conducting global excursions in an all-out effort to quench the insatiable climbing bug that had consumed him since his teenage years.

During his absence, a trail of stories filtered back to New Zealand in dribs and drabs: tales of high adventure on North American big walls, Alaskan and Patagonian mountains, and illegal jaunts into Nepal and Tibet. These stories substantiated the previous rumours about this pocket-sized climber with apparent scant regard for conventional, safe and circumspect climbing techniques. Denz, people heard, was brash, competitive, in-your-face and infinitely bold. Not interested in repeating routes, no matter how hard they were, his focus lay entirely with the unclimbed, un-soloed and unwintered.

Between 1971 and 1978 Denz built up a formidable reputation from a seemingly neverending succession of now legendary climbs in the often stormy Southern Alps: the first solo Grand Traverse of Aoraki/Mt Cook (as a 19-year-old soldier), the first solo of Mt Tasman, the first ascent of the Balfour Face of Tasman and a solo on the South Face of Aoraki armed with nothing more than two ice screws and the infamous coffee jar of water. (Denz substituted a missing water bottle with an empty Greggs coffee jar and in many way this symbolised what he was all about during those early and formative years – unconventional, minimalistic, resourceful and frugal. To make his point, he left the empty jar on the South Summit as if to say 'Take that!')

A few days later came another breakthrough, a new line – again alone – up the biggest ice feature in New Zealand, the Caroline Face. On that climb he had topped out in a storm and

had to battle his way off the mountain, learning what his body could withstand and storing that knowledge away for use years later on Cerro Torre. Then there were the big wall adventures and close shaves in the Darran Mountains – more learning by experience!

Always the hard way, the way that Greg Child once coined as ‘the Denz Option’.

Early in the winter of 1975, Denz racked up two climbs that, in retrospect, were probably the culmination of all he had been striving for during those early years in New Zealand: the

original Gunbarrels route on the South Face of Hicks and the first winter ascent of the Balfour Face. The shady and austere flank of Hicks had already felt the bite of Denz’s ice tools but it was a much steeper line out to the left that held Denz’s attention and it was to this that he returned in June with Murray Judge and young Phillip Herron – his teenage protégé. The hardest pitch on the 600m-high route fell to Denz – a 30m ice stalactite hanging off a rock overhang that had been severely problematic on previous battles.

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www.derekmorrison.co.nz

38 april 2012

quiet a revolution Mountain biking opportunities lie as close as five minutes from Dunedin’s CBD

A new track network minutes from the CBD is helping Dunedin stake a claim as New Zealand’s most mountain biking friendly city, writes Sarah Bond

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trips, skills, health, gear

Silver Peaks Range mapped in 3D! Safety around bluffs Tips to avoid big falls

The Coromandel Walkway is an easy meander along the tip of the peninsula

Explore here 1 Coromandel Walkway, Coromandel Peninsula 2 Moki-Rerekapa Loop, Moki Conservation Areas 3 Meg Hut, Pisa Conservation Area 4 Peak Hill, Peak Hill Conservation Area 5 Silver Peaks, Otago

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The return of Wild Cuisine!

Piri piri chicken and broccoli stir-fry recipe Limber up with these back and hip stretches www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

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Peaks

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No turning back The first descent of Westland’s Toaroha Canyon required low water, climbing skills, bold decision making and a little luck! I took this image a few minutes after Keith Riley pulled down our rope, which would have provided escape. From this moment on we were committed. Shot on a Nikon D300s at F 5.6, 1/50 sec.

- Zak Shaw

80 april 2012

Submit your hotshots to editor@lifestylepublishing.co.nz

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