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MARCH 2016
The perfect week in Nelson Lakes
WHERE TO CAMP, FISH, TRAMP AND CLIMB WIN!
One of 50 compact first aid kits from AIDE
ASPIRING’S forgotten Inside the race to climb the North West Face
10 MYTHS OF TRAMPING WITH KIDS It is easy, others don’t mind, it isn’t dangerous
face SLEEPING BAGS AND MATS
All you need to know before
you buy
TAKITIMU MOUNTAINS MAPPED IN 3D
10 top trip ideas
HOW MUCH TRAMPING EQUALS A STEAK ‘N’ CHEESE PIE?
# 30 years of exploration beneath Mt Owen # THE WALKING POLE SO
COMPACT IT FITS INSIDE YOUR PACK # 5 MULTIDAY PACKS REVIEWED AND RATED # Day and overnight trips in the Waikato, Tararuas, Otago and Marlborough
RUAHINE BLUNDERS
The missteps that have led to landholders locking trampers out of the Ruahines www.wildernessmag.co.nz NZ $9.95 Aust $9.95 INCL GST
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contents March 2016 FEATURES
28 The perfect week in Nelson Lakes National Park The best climbs, views, mountain lakes and valleys 38 None shall pass
How blunders and missteps have seen large parts of Ruahine Forest Park blocked to trampers
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44 The forgotten face of Mt
Aspiring The inside story on the first ascent of Mt Aspiring’s North West Face
WAYPOINTS
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20 True solitude
Barker Hut, Arthur’s Pass National Park
22 Kahurangi high
Mt Owen, Kahurangi National Park
24 See more
Troublesome tributaries
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50 Subcribe this 30
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MARCH 2016
month to receive an AIDE Void first aid kit worth $20!
YOUR TRIPS, YOUR PIX
What did you get up to last weekend?
Alan and Adrienne Grant celebrated New Year at Little Wanganui Saddle, Kahurangi NP
Janey, Jack, Bridget and Shane climbed Mt Titiroa, Fiordland National Park
Hazel Phillips, Tyron Guthrie, David Forsyth and Maria Niva were armed and dangerous at Waipakihi Hut
Rupert and Mitch MacLachlan tramped the Lewis Pass Tops
Brooke, Finn and Tim Knight tramped to Te Puia Lodge in Kaweka Forest Park.
Richard Ellis cooled off in Manganuku Stream, Raukumara Conservation Park
Scot, Tina, Denise and Martin walked the Kepler Track
Liam and Tessa Wilson visited the Bus Stop Overhang on the Mt Somers Walkway
Luke Ingham celebrated his third birthday on the Queen Charlotte Track
Connor Sullivan tramped to Rangiwahia Hut, Ruahine FP
SEND YOUR PIX
Get your photo published here to receive a set of four Light My Fire Sporks – one for you and three for your friends! Learn more about Spork at ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz
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MARCH 2016
N AT I O N A L
PA R K S
THE PERFECT WEEK IN NELSON LAKES NATIONAL PARK Nelson Lakes has something for everyone – kayakers and boaties, trampers and climbers, hut baggers and day-trippers. Pat Barrett leads us on the perfect week in a perfect park
N Catch dinner from the jetty at the head of Lake Rotoroa
elson Lakes National Park is the icon of the Nelson district, embodying all the facets of mountain landscapes and something more – a beauty that pervades every hidden nook, from exquisite Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa to the craggy summits of the Travers Range and rolling alpine tops of the St Arnaud Range. But it’s lakes and rivers that are the essence of this park. The Matakitaki, D’Urville, Sabine and Travers dissect the
VISIT A LAKESIDE HUT AND FISH
At just over 14km in length, Lake Rotoroa is the largest and longest lake in the park. Its narrow profile reaches well into the centre of Nelson Lakes and makes it an excellent entry point – albeit by boat. You can hire a water taxi to the lakehead where you have a choice of two comfortable huts: Sabine or D’Urville. These huts are located close to the entry points to their namesake rivers, and are linked by a good track and swingbridges, making possible a day trip between the two, fishing the lake shore as you go. The settings are beautiful and tranquil as you are far enough away from the rivers to be removed from their constant roar. Serenity reigns, encapsulated by the lapping of the lake and the wide sweep of the forested hills descending to the shore from craggy tops. Brown trout are reasonably plentiful, though shy, and if you are observant you will see numerous eels around the jetties at dusk.
park from south to north, all adding to the flow of the Buller, a mighty South Island river, with its source at the outflow of Lake Rotoiti. Forests blanket the valleys and, where they are absent, rolling tussock flats spread along riverbanks and terraces and climb far above the bushline, wrapping the ridges in golden hues. Glaciers have vanished, but their legacy remains – they have carved all the valleys, lake beds and mountainsides, and laid a necklace of jewels across the high basins; alpine tarns, for which the park is renowned.
Beech varieties dominate the forests, granting a spaciousness and airiness to the canopy, and only in the lower reaches of the Sabine and D’Urville do they give way to podocarp, growing alongside red beech on the shores of Lake Rotoroa. Nelson Lakes is a synonym for tramping tranquillity, such is the attraction of this remarkable slice of the Southern Alps where many trampers begin their outdoor ‘career’, amid valleys decked in green. I grew up here, in a tramping sense, as my first major South Island expedition was a five-day Easter trip traversing most of the
major rivers with my tramping club. We had the lot; sun, snow, rain and flood.Yet it didn’t deter me and I have journeyed back to the park more times than I can remember, to camp, walk, tramp, canoe, climb and hunt. There is everything here, and though perennially popular due to its ease of access, stunning views, and great huts and tracks, you can readily get away from the crowds and into some authentically remote locations. So, with a week to spare and with so many worthy options, how would you spend it in Nelson Lakes National Park? This is my round up.
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
e h T LONGEST
CAVE
NEIL SILVERWOOD
Neil Silverwood reports from the 31st annual expedition to explore the extensive cave network known as Bulmer Cavern beneath Mt Owen
Cavers at one of the two permanent camps in Bulmer Cavern
WILD ACCESS
NONE SH
A L L PA S S
JONATHAN ASTIN
Matthew Pike uncovers the fall足outs and government botches that have led to a favourite tramping region becoming increasingly shut off to public access
MARK WATSON. FROM THE THE BOOK 'OUR MOUNTAINS'
WILD CLIMBING
A climber eyes Aspiring’s famous North West Ridge with the recently climbed North West Face in shadow to the left
T H E F O R G O T T E N FAC E O F
MT ASPIRING
The mysterious North West Face of Mt Aspiring, one of the enduring oddities of New Zealand alpinism, has finally been climbed. Naomi Arnold has the inside story