Is New Zealand a trail running Mecca? We headed for the Motatapu trail to find out.

Wanaka running

Having dipped in and out of running for a few years, I have a bit of a mixed bag of experience in running. I have mainly ran on tracks and trails in the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, using it as a way of getting out and enjoying myself without the pressure of scientifically analysing my routines or runs (although I am a sucker for strava). So when I moved to Wanaka, with its many walking trails, I started to feel the urge to get out and explore the area through running and so far, I'm loving it.

Flat runs, hilly runs and lots that end with a splash in the lake, Wanaka seems to have it all. Getting out after work for some 'stress release' and beautiful scenery, picks up the motivation and soon Lucy and me were thinking about hitting the longer trails.

New Zealand is often described as having one of the best back country hut systems in the world. The people who run the show DOC (Department Of Conservation), say that there's over 950 huts. These range from very basic dog hut style shelters to modern, fully serviced, cosy wilderness hotel type huts. Due to the effort put in to this extensive hut system, New Zealand has opened up some fantastic multi day hikes through amazing uninhabited valleys, over mountain saddles, across glaciers and along coastal cliffs.

New Zealand trails were first brought to my attention by a friend, after returning from hiking tip to tip on the 3000+km Te Araroa trail(The Long Pathway). The adventures, the huts, the scenery, the people he met, it all enthralled me into adventures that I could have half the world away, especially the story of one man running the Te Araroa.

So in was inevitable, us wanting a longer trail to run, great back country huts and the Te Araroa passing through Wanaka, we had to give some of it a go....

Our weekend aligned and the weather looking borderline for getting into the higher hills, it looked perfect for a trail run and the Motatapu trail sounded like a winner.

The Motatapu trail runs from Glendhu Bay to Arrowtown, over 57ish kilometres of hilly backcountry. Although people run it in a day on the annual adventure race, completing the 3000 metres of ascent and descent over a distance, longer than a marathon was enough of a challenge for us over two days.

The borderline weather turned into two stonking hot days, which meant we had to be very aware of our hydration and effort output, with the long climbs and very few clean water sources.

Counting litres, calories, salt and hours, this started to seem like all that scientific stuff you see in all the magazines and Internet, but the rewards were massive. Big climbs, steep descents, technical traverses, were rewarded with big views of the surrounding peaks and later back to Lake Wanaka. The first day finished with a shuffle along the last gradual ridge, snaking down from above 1000 metres to the hut at 600 during twilight, with the added bonus of the hut to ourselves. Magical.

I must admit that having never got into the sciencey bit behind running, I tend to be one of the more lazy participants in stretching and even with doing some the night before, I still woke to that feeling of '5 rounds with Mike Tyson'. Nothing a coffee and OSM bar couldn't fix and we found ourselves on top of the last saddle, feeling ready to crunch the K's. The last few kilometres into Macetown, the official end to the Motatapu trail, was a treat in the summer heat. In and out of the river, crossing, traversing and the occasional dip, really helped ease the heat.

Macetown marked 15k till the end, which if ran constantly, would make up the last 2ish hours of our trip. Unfortunately for us, the steep trail had taken its effect on our knees and energy levels and despite our best efforts the time seemed to fly by without the miles we needed to cover and at 7 k left, we were given a dilemma...

Take up the offer of a ride with a 4x4 family, or stick it out till the end.

In our defence, we only had an hour and a half till our bus and we really wanted some greasy food from Arrowtown... So we cut the trip slightly short, but with a knee in a state that running was off the table, why soldier it out when life presents you with an offer like this. I could probably think of some more justifications, but the shredded beef, pepperoni and mozzarella topped pizza was good enough for my conscience.

So is New Zealand a trail running Mecca? From the walks we've done and the huts we've stayed in, I would say there's enough to 'go at' for a life time. Although some are better suited to runners than others, with a range of difficulties and track conditions. With the Motatapu trail being a fairly new trail and enough height gain and loss over the two days to climb Mount Aspiring from sea level, it maybe wasn't the best for our first taste of New Zealand adventure runs. With that said, over our celebration pizza we talked about what overnight run we should do next, which has got to be a good sign. However, the next one will probably be a flatter track.

A bit of postscript:

Anyone who see's my Strava log from the run, will see that it didn't exactly go according to plan. The long time and few kilometres covered, showing the steady pace and the confusing start position showing the unfortunate tell tell sign of a wrong turn right at the start. But just like all our other adventures in New Zealand, the negatives are far outweighed by the endless positives. Despite the mistakes and grueling challenges, we were completely sold on the idea of trail running/speed hiking. With Wanaka offering a range of trails, I believe we will be hooked by the time we decide to leave. Maybe even becoming Trail running junkies...

Our New Zealand summer alpine starts here; Beasting on Brewster.

Having our days off aligned again, we decided to wander up to Mt Brewster to see what condition the mountain was in, with the hope to climb a chimney on the north side or the classic south west face. On top of the obvious summit challenge we wanted to get a photo for the Christmas cards to send to family and try and see the meteor shower we heard on the news.

Driving along the Haast pass road with towering valley walls reminded me of the walks we did in the glacier carved fiordland, right until we saw Mt Brewster perched over 2000 metres above us and covered in what looked like loads of snow, then I remembered this time, we're going to the top! 2 kilometres and 1000 metres of ascent guard the popular Brewster hut. Climbing the tree rooted path through beech forest in temperatures of the high teens, we started to feel the effects of the 45 hour work weeks, but planned our hydration points and soon found ourselves marveling at the view across the Southern Alps.

Enjoying the Alps

Having chat's with folks returning from a night at Brewster Hut, told us of the busy night they had of 20 people and only 12 bunks, leaving people to sleep on the deck outside with the Kea's as 5am alarm clocks... They also told us of 2 climbing parties who had been forced to turn around due to soft snow and cornices and that there was a party who was giving it a go that day. Although I've learnt to take information gained from folks on the hill with a pinch of salt, this information coupled with the amount of snow we'd already seen started the bubbling feeling from my stomach of 'this isn't going to be as straightforward as we first thought'. Lucy however, seemed to be happy in the thought that she wasn't drafted for work and that she was out on an adventure no matter what.

Camping high in the hills is always a special event; mountain visa's, escapism and the chance of a light free star kissed sky. Our 1900 metre spot was no different; a glacier, countless summits and never ending skies, gave this spot the wow factor. It felt so raw, that the whole camping experience felt as if I was camping in the hills for the first time again. As I became accustomed to camping again and after we filled our belly's with the normal camping food, we started to replan the next day. Having spoke to the climbers who reached the summit that day after a 12 hour climb and descent (not including the 5 hour walk down) we decided that we would err on the side of caution and decided that the less committing west ridge would be our best option for this trip and fell asleep with the warm sun still beating down on us, ready for an early start.

Camp spot

With the warmer summer alpine temperatures comes the beauty of early alpine start's. 3am rolls around and the stars are out and a chill is in the air. Unfortunately, my quarter-assed attempt at photographing the sky, mountains and camp spot whilst packing down and cooking breakfast resulted in poor photos. Even with a full assed attempt, I still think the photos wouldn't do the star's justice. Millions of star's scattered the sky from horizon to horizon, with a denser band running straight over head showing off the impressive Milky way. Having the perception to reach out and touch the star's only enhanced the surreal experience of traversing towards Mt Brewster.

Across the glacier

Tramping across the glacier as dawn broke on the mountains was a refreshing experience, away from work, Wanaka business and the general everyday life, this was our weekend and this was why we came to New Zealand.

After four hours we reached a spot height of 2200 metres and realised we had a decision to make, commit another few hours to get to the summit and accept the long day ahead or take the conservative option and snap the Christmas card shot there and cherish the experiences so far away from the all too familiar summit fever.

All I can say is that after 12 hours on the go we arrived back at the car having picked the conservative option.... and finally made it back in time to scoff some food and shower before falling asleep.

Our high spot

Even though we didn't reach the summit, or even get on the climbing route we wanted, we still had a fantastic weekend less than 2 hours drive from Wanaka. Despite the slight regret for not committing, we're still fired up and ready for the next alpine adventure.

Wanaka Weekend Warriors

Roy's Peak track

We knew the moment would come. The moment when we stop playing everyday, find a job and settle down for a few months to earn some money. Two days after completing the Routeburn and Caples circuit and the weather looking horrific for the foreseeable future, we had our moment, we decided to look for jobs and a room and now, three weeks later we can officially call ourselves weekend warriors again.

After a few days in and around Wanaka, we knew when the moment came, Wanaka would be the place to periodically settle down. With a lifetime of walking, mountaineering and climbing within 2 hours of driving we spent most of our first week sport climbing, broken up with job interviews and room viewings.

Jobs were sorted fairly quickly with a lot of shops taking on summer/Christmas employees, but rooms seemed to go like hot cakes! Three nice room viewings and they all went the same day. After missing out on the chance of living with a crazy cat woman, we started to think we would spent the rest of the summer in the tent and even started to plan how to make the tent as comfortable as possible. But then a house that we were waiting on got back in touch and we had a room! Away from town, next to the climbing wall and great views across Lake Wanaka, the gods had aligned again.

So two weeks in and we're saving money, trail running in our spare time and warrioring it out on the weekends.

So far we've popped up Roy's peak, done some more sport climbing and I've had a mad one man mission up Mt Tyndall as Lucy had to work. But with an ever growing list of climbs, peak, tracks and trails, our weekends will be booked up with playing for the foreseeable future.

The appoarch valley to some of the treasures of Aspiring national park

As we descend back into weekend warriors, we hope that the weather will sort itself out, as a stormy spring has decided to plague the Alps. Snow down to 600m, strong winds and the occasional superheated day, mixes to form; weather watching, last minute decisions and praying. But this is all the fun of becoming a Wanaka Weekend Warrior, a skill we hope to master in the coming months.

Mt Aspiring from the start of Mt Tyndall's north ridge

Killing time in the mountains

500 km and 6 days, is what separated us from Peel forest and Te Anau, our next planned adventure in the form of the The Milford track and the whether was looking like a mixed bag.
The weather was looking good for a day at Mt Cook and we couldn't resist a view of 'The Cloud Piercer', so headed along a very scenic road, which traversed the shores of Lake Pukaki towards the seamlessly increasing lump of Mt Cook.
$20 brought us a campspot at the end of the road with a 360 degree mountain vista; Mt Wakefield, Mt Oliver, Mt Cook and Mt Sefton, cocooned us with an alpine evening glow from their glaciers, ridges and summit.

Mount Cook 

Mt Cook

A startling alarm clock woke us early with the rumbling and crashes of the steep icefall from the Tuckett Glacier, below Mt Sefton. With the illusion of being able to reach out and touch the cascading snow and ice, gave us a 10 by 3 kilometre TV screen as we sat, cooked and ate breakfast.

Alarm clock, in the form of Mt Sefton Icefall

We had a forecast of one fine day, turning into 100kph winds and rain for two days, and after researching most of the classic two day trips from the village we managed to settle on two different day walks. Lucy went for a pleasant walk to Kea view point and the Hooker Glacier viewing area, spotting ice bergs, Mount Cook Buttercups and bouncing on suspension bridges. I must have picked the shorter straw and went for the endless staircase up to The Mueller hut, but managed a traverse of the fake summit of Mount Oliver, needless to say we both had amazing views and spent ten minutes showcasing our photos to each other.

Iceberg

Swing bridge

Mt Oliver ridge

So with the weather turning, we decided to head to Wanaka and see what we could find to entertain us for the next couple of days, and we found a bit more than a couple of days worth of entertainment...
Wanaka was described to us before we left the UK as having the "Wild West sorta' feeling", but when we rocked up and into a hot tub at the Mount Aspiring holiday park, we lost any wild west expectations. Googling, skimming lonely planet and a long browse through the mountaineering guide book, raised the expectation of the chilled out, lake side town to a new level and we seemed to be bombarded with single and multi day trips, but of course the weather and maybe the hot tub and sauna dictated our days. Two days chilling and exploring the town and one day hiking up a steep slope with ever expanding views. Managing to ascend the height of the UKs highest mountain, Ben Nevis without even reaching the summit of the very impressive looking and aptly named Shark Tooth Peak, but decided to call it a day at 1,685m and head for the tub...

Wanaka Frisbee golf

Mt RobRoy

Unlike Queenstown, it looks like Wanaka is going to leave a burning desire to return and explore the hidden and not so hidden adventures in the area, with a list that's already too long, we'll have to make sure our next time here is a lot longer than we first considered.

Wanaka tree