Search results by user ID 2299

Re: End of year dinner

Jason — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:16:47 GMT

I'm nominating Rob and myself's efforts on the Libretto Range in Arthurs Pass. I'm pretty sure we hadn't the foggiest where we were from the moment we left Faust until we got back below the cloud line. Fortunately we had a spiritual guide in the form of a hare leading us the whole way. That said when you compare this to the fact that DOC can't get the altitude of their huts right to any closer that 150m in that area then we probably did alright.

Design star wanted

Jason — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:28:07 GMT

Do you fancy yourself as a bit of a budding graphic designer? Or have you got any artistic talent at all?

VUWTC wants your skills to help design the look and feel of the flashy new VUWTC website! It'd be great if you've had some web design experience before but if you haven't that's not a big problem since you'll be working with a web development professional.

Let me know if you think you might be able to help us out.

Bushball rides

Jason — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:15:02 GMT

Hey all,

Is anyone planning on coming in to Bushball a bit later in the day? I have a friend who is keen to come but can't leave Wellington till around 4. If you're planning on coming in later on I'd really appreciate it if you got in touch with me.

Thanks!

The Forgotten World Highway Tour

Jason — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:53:42 GMT

Hey hey,

A few of us are planning an awesome weekend exploring The Forgotten World Highway (43) from Stratford, near Mt. Taranaki, to Taumarunui this weekend. There's plenty of waterfalls, bush walks, quaint little towns, bridges, and early NZ history to check out as well as a few great views.

The plan is to leave on Friday night and drive to Taumarunui where we'll stay for the night, spend Saturday, and maybe some of Sunday exploring and get back to Wellington at a reasonable hour on Sunday. It should be pretty epic!

There are a couple of spots left if you want to come along and there is tentatively another car which would free up a few more seats.

Let me know if you are keen. Food plus ~$60 gas.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=New+Zealand&ll=-39.095963,175.187988&spn=1.728729,3.56781&z=9

Tramping this weekend

Jason — Wed, 04 May 2011 04:30:17 GMT

Is anyone keen to head into the hills this weekend? I've got two months and about 5 trips worth of huts left in the Tararua's to bag. They range of easy day walks to intense full weekend trips.

Let me know if you want to go and have a bit of fun in the hills this weekend.

Roaring Stag - April 2011

Jason — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 06:53:09 GMT

The plan had been to head to the Broken Axe Pinnacles, oneof my favorite easier to access spots in the Tararuas. Unfortunately theforecast for the weekend was bleak so a backup plan was thrown together. And sowe found ourselves setting out on the Saturday morning for a leisurely strollto Roaring Stag via Herepai. Despite abit of drizzle the weather was better than anticipated and it was a pleasantenough walk up to the junction. I don’t think any of us were expecting such ashort walk from there to Herepai either. Unfortunately there was enough low lying cloud to complete obstruct anyview we might have had. Herepai was anicer hut than the pictures I had seen indicated but I was still keen for theluxury of Roaring Stag for the night.

We arrived at Roaring Stag quite early and spent a leisurelyfew hours lazing around the hut, watching the rain and dozing on the deck. I was pretty surprised to wake up a whilelater to the arrival of a friend and former work mate who I hadn’t seen in afew years. It was one of those “lastperson you expect to see” moments. Dinner was a club staple: nachos. They went down really well despiteearlier protests at some of my chosen ingredients.

It made for an easy weekend but added one more hut to mytally.

Holdsworth - Maungahuka Hut Bagging 2011

Jason — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 06:51:51 GMT

Hut bagging is the attempt at visiting as many huts aspossible. Often hut baggers will run a trip to a particular destination just sothey can say they've visited a particular hut. VUWTC has an irregular traditionwhere it tries to bag every hut in the Tararua's over the course of a singleweekend. This is no easy feat since according to the DOC website this includessome 45 huts, bivs and shelters.

After planning a somewhat optimistic trip from Otaki Forksto Poads Road which I'd be wanting to attempt for quite a while I wasreassigned to head up the attempt on another circuit. With a few new huts in mysights I wasn't too concerned with the change of plans but with two sections oftops travel and a rainy outlook the trip was looking just interesting enough.Our intended route was Holdsworth Lodge, Mountain House Shelter, Powell Hut,Mid Waiohine, Aokaporangi, Maungahuka,Neill Forks, Totara Flats and Sayers Hut.

With a long walk in front of us it was fortunate that wewere all feeling quite energetic on the Friday night and had decided to keepwalking until we’d had enough. We had a quick and uneventful walk up to Powellwhere the view was partially obscured by cloud with brief enticing glimpsesacross the valley and back down to the towns below. After a quick breather wedecided to push on to Mid Waiohine for the night. Fortunately the weathercontinued to hold and despite a few spits of rain we picked our way over thetops with relative ease. Isobel presented slightly more of a scramble thanexpected but didn’t present any real obstacles.

Having reached Mid Waiohine at 3am we decided a bit of asleep in was in order so we didn’t’ get moving again until after 9am. The walkto Maungahuka was much as you would expect in bad conditions; Wet, windy, coldand poor visibility. Despite the quickrun down to Aokaporangi (which was far more pleasant of a hut and location thanexpected) the hours we spent exposed up there were rather unpleasant. In factwe stopped at Maungahuka for a late lunch and changed into warm clothes for abit. Despite being cold and a bit irritable I was keen that we press on toNeill Forks for the night. I made my into the hut just on dusk with the othersat various intervals over the next hour or so.

Sunday was uneventful barring the point where I found myselfwading waist deep down the Waiohine in torrential rain. When the heavens openedI could do nothing but laugh at my situation. I hadn’t felt that alive in quite a while!

Thanks to Eamon and Paul for making a great trip. I know itwas a much tougher trip than you signed up for but your stellar attitudes madeit a thoroughly enjoyable walk.

Re: The Amazing Spandex Easter Egg Race!!!

Jason — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 06:12:16 GMT

Hi all,

I details for this event. Make sure you bring along a camera to document your successful completion of the challenges. Extra points will be awarded for costumes and creativity.

No fun run tonight

Jason — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:43:05 GMT

Tonights fun run is kind of canceled since we're heading away at 4:30 for a serious trip up Brooklyn Hill, as such no one is leading a run at 6:30 from the water whirler.

Sorry for the late notice.

FMC Cards

Jason — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:29:12 GMT

Hi team,

I've just received this years FMC (Federated Mountain Club's) cards. This is what you need if you want to get a discounted annual hut pass. They'll be available at all meetings from now on.

Cheers