Here is the heart of Arthur’s Pass National Park, and it contains all the landscapes for which the park is famous: huge braided riverbeds, lofty snow-capped and sometimes glaciated mountains, beech forests in the east and rainforests in the west, tranquil alpine lakes, giant cascades and beautiful river flats.

These features have led me back over many years of tramping to experience the beauty and challenges of trips through the ranges, especially from east to west across the Main Divide. My journeys with friends have been along tracked and untracked routes as we sampled every facet of the landscape.

I’ve traversed every major trans-alpine route in the park, overnighting in the many excellent huts before continuing up and over through peaks and tarns to reach a western catchment and walking this back to the highway.

There are also many day trips, mostly from the highway on tracks to the bushline and beyond. They can be tailored to your fitness and the prevailing weather conditions – a pivotal decision point, as no trip is a given in this often hostile environment. This is another reason I love this map and its diverse potential adventures.

But, for me, the best trip is to Tara Tama. It’s remote, high, moderately difficult, guarded by the Taipo River, and is ‘out west’ where the rain lives. This last point makes attaining the summit much more of an achievement as you need to read the weather conditions well to make the cut. That and the river level, as the Taipo has to be forded to gain the track.

It’s a fair climb, too: 1654m from riverbed to the summit at 1854m. That’s just over a vertical mile of ascent, so be ready for a bit of sweat and tears. It is best done over two to three days. This allows time to experience the remote nature of the ridgeline traverse to the peak. Stay a night at Scottys Bivouac, spot some chamois, complete the last jaw-dropping traverse to the broad summit – and get down. The summit vista is magnificent and takes in a huge chunk of the western national park. While you are up there you’ll see why I love this map so much – all that grand terrain. Think of the trips to be done.