Tararua Range
Winter Camping Holdsworth
With a clear forecast for the night we headed up hoping to catch some photos of the night sky. I lay under the star lit sky for a few hours until it got too cold.
Dorset Ridge fast pack trip
This was a last minute trip based on a good forecast, we stayed at Dorset and went off track from Tarn ridge down to Arete Forks
SK Main Range 2019 report
Dear Swallow, on your commemorative weekend I finally completed a Main Range SK on my third attempt. A huge thank you for all your inspiration and guidance. It was four years ago that I first heard about SK from yours and others reports. I was captivated by the intense adventurous spirit. At the first SK […]
Neil Winchcombe Loop in the Snow, Tararua Range
This was our third attempt to complete this ridge, I had taken the kids upto Field Hut a few weeks earlier and played in the snow. I knew the snow would still be on the tops but was unsure what the condition would be. I rented ice axes and we took our poles and micro […]
Tararua SK the second attempt
In March after the annual Tararua mountain race we spotted a good weather window for my second SK attempt. Inspired by Glens successful mission we decided to do a 9pm start. It was an amazing night, clear sky and bright stars. Seanoa picked us up from Kaitoke and drove us to Patara. The plan […]
PLB’s are life savers, Bridge Peak Penn Creek
It was close to 5pm, it would be dark in less than an hour. We were all cold from the freezing river crossings. We had put ourselves in a dangerous situation especially for the the youngest member of our team who was showing signs of exhaustion and hypothermia. It was time to use the PLB […]
Tararua Main Range SK Attempt
After our SMR in April Anthony and I planned to make an attempt on the famed SK route. Dave gave us some compass and gps training, Chris gave us a timing schedule and I got lots of help on the food to take. In December it all came together. The perfect weather window was lining […]
A Year in the Mountains 2016
Over a year ago I started reading these amazing stories about people traversing the length of the Tararua’s in a single day. The stories were filled with adventure, challenge and inspiring country. After completing our Great Walk challenge I was looking for the next challenge and something closer to home with less nights away from […]
Dundas Loop
October 16 2016 In preparation of our SK challenge I wanted to explore the Northern section of the route from Putara to Dundas. In the planning the route we had two options. One was the Dundas loop the other was a Banister loop. The day was looking mint, as we drove to Putara we could […]
Snowy Southern Crossing Attempt
In the last week of July a good cold snap hit the country bringing snow to the Wellington hills. On the Sunday we ran in the Mukamuka Munter in the snow. Later in the week the weather cleared for a shot at doing a snowy Southern Crossing. Marta and I set out from Otaki, Tim […]
The Tararua Peaks Southern Main Range (SMR)
The reason we pack survival blankets It was 1am Sunday morning, we had arrived at Parawai Hut Otaki Forks after 19 hours of hiking, a bit of running and the normal Tararua scramble on steep rough country. How did it come to this, an unplanned few hours rest before the last slog over the emergency track […]
Broken Axe Pinnacles and Plane Wreck
After we hiked up Mitre Peak a friend shared a video of The Tararua Peaks we are planning a mission over in April. The next video was a mission over this trail. This was the same day as the Tararua Mountain race that was on the Holdsworth to Kaitoke course. I’m a big fan of […]
Mitre Peak
Mitre Peak is the highest point in the Tararua’s, often it is covered in cloud and blowing a gale. We delayed our trip by a day and scored an amazing day above the bush line. The trip took us 9 hours return. See you out there!
The Southern Crossing
This epic crossing runs between Kaitoke and Otaki. Every 2 years the Tararua Mountain Race is held over this trail. It is a wild tough trail and most times I have been on in it has snowed even in December! Here is a 3min video overview
Ruahine Range
Ruahine Tops 1,600s and 1,700s: Saw tooth instead of Dragons teeth.
We had planned our Dragons teeth Adventure, spending hours researching the high traverse. Flights were booked based on a good long range forecast and the excitement was building. This trip has been on the wish list for a few years. Then the forecast took a turn, 77mm of rain for Friday night, not what we […]
Ruahine CL Main Range route
The Ruahine Range is the largest of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand that form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington. The CL Main Range route starts from Comet Rd at the Northernmost point of the range and follows the main […]
Ruahine main range Sunrise to Limestone Rd
After 2 months of lockdown that had us running circles around our homes we were allowed to travel and stay overnight in the huts. We had planned to go back and finish our Ruahine main range trip early April, the weekend was a cracker, 5km winds at 1700m on Mangaweka! But we were in lock […]
Ruahine winter trip “Howlett Hut Saw Tooth fast pack trip”
Relive video of our route
Ruahine Traverse Comet Road to Sunrise Track
On my first trip to the Ruahines I was treated to beautiful sunrises, dramatic landscapes and towering snow capped peaks. My father in law pulled out an old DOC park map showing the whole range on one large bit of paper. Al had made a few attempts at traversing the range and it looked like […]
Epic Adventures
Kaimanawa Kaweka traverse packrafting the Mohaka
The count down was on for our second try at the famed dragons teeth route in Kahurangi-national-park, the covid out break was starting to sweep the country. The forecast was looking good for 3 days but it was going to rain 40mm on Saturday afternoon. We should be past the high route by the time. […]
Arthurs Pass | 3 Passes + Newton Saddle
At the end of our first day I was thinking we were going to have an easier than planned three day adventure in Arthur’s Pass, but by the end of day two I was wrong. Anthony eyed the steep snow covered scree slope from Park Morpeth hut, it looked very intimidating. We had a perfect […]
5 Passes Route Mount Aspiring National Park
This trip had been on my list for a few years. I had been on the Routeburn a few times recently and did a Rees Dart family tramp as a teenager. I had met a few folks who had done the route, all raved about the amazing country. After reading Geoff Spearpoints “The Great Unknown” […]
Full Moon on Tongariro
Chasing the perfect full moon mission we headed north on August 4th and had a cool adventure starting at 10pm and finishing the next morning at 7am. Get away from the crowds on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, do it under the Full Moon. This trip we did a loop of Tongariro. With the moon reflecting […]
Fire & Ice, Ball Pass Ski Adventure
What makes a great adventure? A quest An unfamiliar environment An element of risk I turned the big 50 in July and to celebrate I planned a ski touring adventure with my good mates Anthony and Andrew. None of us had ever been ski touring before but we have been on lots of great adventures […]
Nelson Lakes, 5 passes D’Urville to St Arnaud
After finishing our Travers Sabine circuit we started planning our next visit to Nelson Lakes. There was talk of St Arnaud to Lewis Pass, after a few conversations and some map study that route seemed an under utilisation of the beautiful alpine country on offer. I plotted a route from D’Urville hut up the valley […]
Travers Sabine Circuit plus Blue Lake Nelson Lakes
I first visited Nelson Lakes in 2012, I was amazed by the beauty of the lakes and mountains. I knew I would be back but didn’t expect it to take so long.This circuit had been on my list for 3 years. After a Tararua mission in September I received some encouragement to arrange a trip.I […]
Kaimanawa Kaweka traverse
When you look at the map of the North Island there is a huge wilderness area East of the desert road all the way out to Hawkes Bay. A few years ago I tramped a magic loop on the edge of this area up the Waipakihi river and back over Umukarikari. The Big Sunday Run […]
Fresh crayfish, ocean swims and unbelievable sunsets! Aorangi Undulator A100
Fresh crayfish, ocean swims and unbelievable sunsets! It’s not what I expected from my first multi day adventure event. I have been on an adventure journey for the past ten years, it started with the Tararua Mountain Race, that got me into the Tararua’s for the first time since a school tramping trip. During the […]
Mud Snowboards and Crampons, Mt Taranaki round the mountain
I hadn’t been to Egmont National Park for 30 years. I can still remember the dramatic landscapes and the steep rough terrain. Planning this trip I was inspired by the Sunday Big run crew who ran it last year and after reading about Symes hut in Wildernesses magazine I thought this would make a great […]
The Old Ghost Road
Four months of lead up and planning came unwound with a notification from my Air NZ app. Your flight to Nelson has been cancelled please contact the help desk to rebook. After the Tararua Mountain Race last year I joined the Ridge Runners facebook group. I saw the odd post but a post about a […]
Alpine
Haast Pass to the Wilken
Arriving on the tops above Haast Pass we had our first view of the spectacular main divide we would traverse. It was more dramatic than I had imagined. 3 months and many hours of planning had come together, an excellent forecast gave us a chance to follow our A plan. The A plan was inspired […]
Angelus Snow Trip
On the Friday night we ate like kings – tortillas warmed on top of the cast iron fire, filled to overflowing with hot sticky beans, carrots, cheese, greens, even sour cream had made its way in! No weight saving de-hy to be seen. One of our members had forgotten his spoon and proceeded to chisel […]
Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku | 3-day Hike | Marlborough Walks | NZ
At 2885m (9,645 feet), Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku is the highest New Zealand peak outside the Southern Alps and is a popular three-day hike for experienced groups with good navigational skills. Tappy, as the locals call it, was the springboard for legendary mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary’s climbing career that took him to be the first person to […]
Other
Fast Pack Gear Info
Fast Pack Gear Info Weight grams Here is my gear list for a 3 day 2 night mission. I try to keep my pack to 6kgs before water so I can jog sections of the route and fast walk the rough and steep sections. Ultimate Direction 25L Fast Pack 555 Shoes I wear Salomon XA […]
Aorangi Undulator
November 5 2016 Chris Martin runs a crazy event in the Aorangi’s called the Undulator, (Not for the Weak) it has 3 mean as climbs and was an amazing day in the sun.
Goat Pass (Coast to Coast Run Course)
At a TimeZoneOne event in our new Colombo St office I met one of our amazing clients Matthew Mark from Ronald McDonald House. In chatting with Matthew I found out he was a keen outdoors man. After we chatted about a few past missions Matthew kindly offered to take me on the Goat Pass trail next time […]