Mt Owen at dawn

The mountains in the northern South island are pretty much snow free over summer and autumn so it is a good time to get back to basic’s here away from the bigger hills with tramping trips in our local Kahurangi national park . Generally fairly rugged but mainly bush country with only a few alpine tops, easily accessible and well tracked it is the ideal terrain for trips with the kids. I don’t particularly enjoy tramping in bush for long hours on foot - often with a heavy load so I figure the Kahurangi offers great mental as well as physical training.

In other aspects, although New Zealand is slowly opening up after more than 2 years of closure, foreign travel that many of us look forward to still remains largely out of reach with very few and very expensive flights arriving or leaving from here in the South Pacific. It seems increasingly unlikely anything interesting regards travel will be possible this year and that ever increasing pile of proposed international journeys I plan is more likely to get bigger rather then smaller.

The main idea now in my plans for the next few months is keeping morale together to keep training and improving and be ready for times when it is possible to get out an do some of those projects that are building up in my mind - something admittedly I struggled with last year. Without doubt though and greatly in favour of anyone in this region trying to keep in condition the local environment here is highly conducive to healthy living.

Compilation of a variety of autumn trips.

Almost the last trip! Close call here - not all trips in the Kahurangi are benign.

One interesting project over the last months was heading to Mt Arthur with local multi sport and adventure racer Caleb Hill as he tried to be the first to break the hour running to the top of Mt Arthur.

Like most I am in a survival mode holding pattern at the moment but still fortunately have the opportunity to get out occasionally and getting out is now an escape from the daily grind as much as anything else. It was good to meet up with the Hoetjes brothers -Jos and Ben , old compatriot’s from the Tibetan plateau expedition but this time separately on two mountain trips - with Ben to Mt Burn’s and Jos to Mount Arrowsmith. The winter and spring have been been a roller coaster in the mountains locally of alternating warm rain or cold snow - either way its been wet. This fortunately meant that there was plenty of chances for day trips locally on Mount Arthur for snow fun and a bit further afield in the Kahurangi national park on Iron Hill as well. The trip to Iron hill was done with some local young fellas and was a real blast to film them snowboarding - and yes I even managed to get out on skies myself a few times this season. Filming wise I also started on a project that I wanted to do for sometime and that is interview and film some of the older generation that have lived their lives to the full. Tony Charlton, alpinist, cosmopolitan teacher, multisport man and scrabble guru (he’s always picking up on my spelling errors!) and inventor John Winkie, who raced bike’s both with and without motors in between managing container shipping in different countries were my first two attempts at this. Although I could only capture and process into a short U tube video a small portion of these two’s amazing lives I hope it gives an inkling into “lives well lived.”

above - Jos and right myself on Arrowsmith.

below with Ben on Burn’s.

Below - A Couple of inspirational guys - both English immigrants , John and Tony !

Above, with the young guys on Iron hill.

Below - Mt Arthur provided several days good trips this season and I took the chance to get out when I could , often with friends such as Thomas and Anthony here in these 4 pictures.

Below , camping and mountain biking in the school holidays with Carl, Regan and Leo.

Heading into the Raglans.

Old timers will complain that winter’s aren’t what they used to be. Certainly the last three years have been placid weather wise and the winters benign - last winter so much so I cannot recall anything worth calling a storm. Well, this year they can relax - a traditional old style miserable wet and stormy winter is back. In between the wet and windy we have some great frosts and some good snow.

I’m back apple pruning again this year and I’ve taken to wearing mountaineering boots out on the orchard whilst pruning to keep my feet in better condition and it really works. Real winters mean much better quality snow conditions and that has been noticeable after last years thin crust and icy shell. Soft and dry powder - awesome!!

Unfortunately my current work conditions have meant far less time to get out but fortunately conditions up the hill - on our local mountain Arthur have been good since mid may giving some easy access fun. Below some winter photos.

Above and video - The Raglans provide easy access and largely unvisited ground to play on - Hoar frost late in day shows how cold it gets although young Charlie feels no cold in shorts and t - shirt.

Leo - kids fun.

On of the locals looking rather good on white.

Heading up with some young guys to film snowboarding on slopes of Mt Arthur

So far a quick overnight trip in the Raglans has been the only more serious mountain trip - was good fun and seriously exhausting for me.

Mt Arthur has provided plenty of snow trips already this winter.

View over the mountains of the upper south in early winter conditions.