January 2013 preview

New Zealand's magazine of the outdoors since 1991

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Smashing

the age barrier Why tramping through your retirement is good for body and mind

Hiking shoes tested

New Year

Resolutions 12 ways to make 2013 your best year ever in the outdoors

Top Hobbit hikes Take an unexpected journey through Bilbo’s Middle Earth

The best lightweight shoes for summer adventures

Guided

along the Hillary Ridge An exciting ascent of Aoraki/Mt Cook by its most difficult route january 2013

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

Plus Do the Tararuas deserve their stormy reputation? » How to buy stoves, water filters and walking poles » Canterbury’s Ragged Range mapped in 3D! » Seafood paella recipe

contents January 2013

Available from all Macpac stores nationwide and these independent stores: Shoe Styles – Kerikeri Out Of Doors 72 Picton St - Howick, Auckland Out of Doors -Whangamata Mariposa - Takaka and Nelson Let’s Get Outside The Mall Queenstown Racers Edge- Wanaka

24 FEATURES

34 Guided along the Hillary Ridge High-altitude mountaineer Pat Deavoll risks a lynching by guiding Aoraki’s south ridge 40 Your best year ever

REGULARS 4 Editorial 5 Pigeon Post

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Your letters to Wilderness

6 Big Picture

Twelve New Year’s resolutions to ensure your best year in the outdoors

Hearing whio

50 What’s age got to do with it?

24 Off the Beaten Track

Tackling the seven summits on Mt Richmond Forest Park’s alpine route

30 Wild People

8 Last weekend

What did you get up to last weekend?

A mission to climb 100 peaks is just the motivation Don French needs to get outdoors

Why tramping into your dotage is good for body and mind

10 Walkshorts

32 Wild Comment

WAYPOINTS

14 Five reasons to get outside this month

78 Out There

Mt Ida, Mt Ida Conservation Area

14 Wilderness Word

16 Places 18 Places

Gertrude Saddle, Fiordland National Park

20 See more

Three places to see braided rivers in the South Island

22 Top 3

The top Hobbit hikes in New Zealand

News and events

Enter our crossword competition to win great prizes

23

Do the Tararuas deserve their stormy reputation?

Made of New Zealand

80 Hotshot Valley head

Subscribe to win Win one of eight pairs of Black Diamond Trail Cork Ergo walking poles worth $159 each!

www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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contents January 2013

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64

Wild Buyer’s Guides

69 Backcountry stoves 73 Water filters and purifiers 75 Walking poles

THE MANUAL Trips, skills, health, gear

WILD TRIPS

56 Te Tapahoro Bay, Lake Tarawera Scenic Reserve 57 Jans Hut, Rimutaka Forest Park 58 Shallow Bay Hut, Fiordland National Park 60 Kiwi Burn Hut, Mavora Lakes Park

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62 Wild Review

Lightweight hiking shoes put to the test

64 Wild range

Cover: Make discovering every nook and cranny of your local park a New Year’s resolution. Find more resolutions on p40.

Photo: Petr Hlavacek/ nzicescapes.com

2 january 2013

Ragged Range, Rangitata-Rakaia Conservation Area

68 Wild Cuisine Campfire paella

68 Wild Skills

Survival skills basics: stay put

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Your trips, your pix What did you get up to last weekend?

Deb Hughes woke to a few unexpected visitors at Harataonga Bay on Great Barrier Island

Edwina Dyson went to Cannibal Gorge Hut

Members of Auckland Baptist Tramping Club did a cloudy walk to the Coromandel’s 80 bed Pinnacles Hut

Stephanie Potter took advantage of a spectacular day to climb to Mt Ruapehu’s Crater Lake

Amber and Ruby Fordham enjoyed the view from Te Mata Peak in Havelock North

Brothers Jost, Ulrich and Konrad Siegfried tramped the Pouakai Circuit in Egmont National Park

Malcolm McNamee and his partner Jenny visited a frozen Lake Angelus in Nelson Lakes National Park

James Butcher spent a day in the mountains near Arthur’s Pass Village with his mate Keeley Rhynd

Send your pix Get your ‘Last weekend’ photo published here and you’ll receive an original Spork courtesy of www.ampro.co.nz. Head to www.wildernessmag.co.nz – search ‘last weekend’ – for full submission criteria.

Peninsula Tramping Club members climbed Mt Adams

8 january 2013

Woody Lee climbed Mt Ngauruhoe with the Palmerston North Tramping and Mountaineering Club

EXPEDITION: THE SHARK’S FIN

Mugs Stump’s early Shark’s Fin attempt fails because of an avalanche resulting in a dislocated shoulder

MERU CENTRAL, GARWHAL HIMALAYA

1986

Conrad Anker, Doug Chabot, and Bruce Miller are repelled from the Shark’s Fin due to loose snow and lack of gear

2003

The Radish Midlayer

Photo: Renan Ozturk

“The higher you go, the more critical every piece becomes.”

—Climber and world class photographer Jimmy Chin relies on Summit Series™ for difficult alpine climbing on the first ascent of the Shark’s Fin In 2008 Jimmy Chin screamed, “I’m never coming back.” Before committing to an attempt just two years later, Jimmy and teammates Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk collaborated with The North Face on a head-to-toe system of apparel engineered specifically for the route. The Meru Collection focuses on lightweight construction to enable a rapid, hybrid climbing style, durability for abrasive granite found on the Shark’s Fin, and insulation for the brutal alpine cold. Relying on a few crucial layers at over 20,000 feet, Jimmy led the final two pitches that eluded the team in 2008, heel-hooking and hauling himself onto the summit ridge.

To check out The North Face Summit Series® visit: thenorthface.co.nz For stockists info visit us online or call Ph: 0800 805 806

2011

JANUARY / The Radish Midlayer hood was engineered to fit under the helmet for added warmth with improved visibility and articulation

OCTOBER / Jugging 2,000 feet above the glacier before another difficult modern aid pitch, Jimmy braves subzero temps in his Radish Midlayer www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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24 january 2013

The author takes in the view from Purple Top

Raymond Salisbury tackles seven summits on the Alpine Route in Nelson's beautiful, big backyard

We are geographically embarrassed. The luminous beams of our headlamps light up the swingbridge dangling across the river, but there is no sign or obvious track to the nearby hut. The descending darkness has reduced our vision to a pathetic circle of torchlight. What should have been a straightforward stroll to the hut has become an embarrassing epic – it’s easy to miss track markers and misread the map at night. It’s also painstakingly slow going over the rocky and rooty track sided by steep drop-offs.

Malcolm and I had trudged up the track alongside the Wairoa River with twilight biting at our heels. Exhausted, we just want somewhere soft to lie down; a brief touch of comfort in a warm mug of tea.When we stumble into the ageing shanty at Mid-Wairoa at 9pm, dinner is long overdue and the air temperature is a tropical zero degrees.

The following day starts with a deserved sleep-in. Long tramps often seem to start slowly, as the body gets accustomed to pack-carrying and the legs get used to the punishment. By the end of our tramp we will both be well-oiled tramping machines.

We are in Mt Richmond Forest Park, on the long pathway that is the Te Araroa Trail and a spectacular 4–5 day circuit nicknamed the Alpine Route.

Highly underrated, this loop is, perhaps, the best kept secret in the top of the South.

Across the bridge, the well-marked trail climbs steeply up the valley wall for a couple of hours, finally emerging from the dark shadows onto an 800m knob.

From here the barren Red Hill can be seen to the south-west – a distant massif of serpentine rock devoid of any vegetation. At a signed junction, an undulating sidle track leads off towards Tarn Hut – this diversion gives our screaming quad muscles some reprieve. A kereru darts and fantails flit. Malcolm spots a quartet of goats before we continue our intrepid journey upward. www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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Guided along the Hillary Ridge

34 january 2013

www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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Marty Schmidt

Climbing the exposed, knife-edged Hillary Ridge

40 january 2013

2013 resolutions

With the New Year spread out before you, don't let this opportunity slip through your hands. Make 2013 your best year ever. Now is the time to dream, to plan, to be inspired. Wilderness has served up 12 challenges for you to tackle, one for each month of the year. As the saying goes, ‘Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans’. So put your boots on and go for it...

By Raymond Salisbury

Most people struggle to keep their resolutions. As Winston Churchill once remarked: “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” Yep, change does not come easy, but the rewards for self-discipline are worth it. However, if at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished!

www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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Ragged Range

Rangitata-Rakaia Conservation Area

L

ike a great rough-sided triangle, the Ragged Range is lodged between the Rakaia and Mathias watersheds in central Canterbury.

Beginning on the Main Divide at Mt Neave (2290m) it heads east and south before finally running over Manuka Peak to reach Manuka Point at the confluence of the Mathias and Rakaia rivers. Much of the range’s territory is taken up with tributary streams of these two mighty rivers which, in only a limited way, provide access over the range.The entire range boundary, contained as it is between the rivers, is often difficult to access, but when conditions are favourable some excellent trans-alpine and climbing excursions can be made, especially to the west.

- Pat Barrett

64 january 2013

5- Evans Hut

Standing on a terrace at the mouth of Cattle Stream in the Rakaia Valley, Evans Hut is owned by the NZDA and sleeps six. If coming over Observation Col it is a good place for a night’s stay before heading up or down valley.

6- Observation Col

At 1816m, Observation Col, between the South Mathias and Cattle Stream, is a long steep ascent to make a crossing of the Ragged Range. The Col is straightforward but requires a big day for the crossing, usually 10-12hr.

The Ragged Range, centre, under a coat of winter snow

7- Martius Col and Glacier

Another alternative from Cattle Creek is to ascend its southern headwater to Martius Col, cross the Martius Glacier and descend to Whitcombe Pass on the Main Divide.

From here the Whitcombe River can be followed to Hokitika Gorge or the Louper Stream can be descended to the Rakaia.

8- Whitcombe Pass

A must do route in any keen tramper’s log book, the classic Whitcombe Pass, though only 1239m, is a challenging and rugged multi-day traverse of the alps from east to west. Once again the fearsome Rakaia must be forded to access the pass.

9- Rakaia River

When in flood or high the Rakaia is a frightening sight to behold and some have made the error of attempting to ford it when still too high for safe passage – tragedy inevitably ensues. The south bank can be followed well into the headwaters without requiring a ford of the main river.

Several huts are located on this bank, some of which are station huts and will require permission to use.

10- Poachers Pass

1- Mathias River

Providing the Rakaia can be forded safely, the Mathias allows easy and speedy access to its forks with the west/north branches and a variety of options for journeying farther in the hinterland up valley. The valley is broad and contains no true gorges and is a spectacular gateway to the Canterbury Alps.

2- West Mathias

Constricted but not impassable, the West Mathias can be ascended from West Mathias Bivvy to reach Kea Pass and Westland. The route over the pass requires good navigation through some difficult country.

3- South Mathias

The steep and bouldery South Mathias is easier to access than the West Branch and leads to some rugged Main Divide Peaks.

It’s also good hunting country.

4- Mathias Hut/Centennial Cabin

These two huts stand near the junction of the west and north branches of the Mathias and make good bases, or overnight stops, for exploring the upper valleys. Mathias Hut is owned by the NZDA and sleeps nine; it has a great outlook over the valley.

A rough tramping route across the Ragged Range, Poachers Pass (1618m) links the lower Mathias with the Rakaia via Hut and Jellicoe streams. These streams require low water levels and a lot of boulder-hopping as well as permission from Manuka Point Station.

11- Banfield Hut

A small attractive hut belonging to the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, the sixbunk Banfield Hut lies in scattered forest cover beneath the Arrowsmith Range with an outlook over the Rakaia Valley to the Ragged Range. It could be used as an overnight stop between the Ragged Range and the lower Rakaia. www.wildernessmag.co.nz

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Valley head Geoff Wayatt and I had dropped into the head of the Dingleburn Valley from a saddle with the Ahuriri Valley. We were now faced with southerly rain showers moving up the valley. But not to worry – Top Dingle Hut is just 45 minutes away, down at the edge of the beech trees. Shot on a Panasonic Lumix GF1, 1/100sec, f6.3, ISO100.

- Ewan Patterson

Submit your hotshots to editor@lifestylepublishing.co.nz

80 january 2013