A wrap of the biggest stories and best writing about the outdoors from New Zealand and around the world.

Nothing seems to be beyond the capabilities of British Paralympian Karen Darke.

Since becoming paralysed from the chest down in a rock climbing accident back in 1992 she’s sea kayaked from Vancouver in Canada to Juneau in Alaska, hand biked from Kazakhstan to Pakistan, won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and set a world speed record for hand biking (74km per hour!).

Now she plans to become the first person to hand bike across the Antarctic Plateau, but isn’t quite sure exactly how she’ll do it.

She’ll set off in early December, but the main concern is encountering sastrugi – snow deposits – which might make hand biking impossible, in which case she’ll resort to a cross-country sit ski, which would make travel painfully slow.

“Nobody knows what conditions will be like down there because they change every year,” Darke told Outside. “We feel like we’re pushing the limits with the bike.”

She plans to reach the point where the 79th latitude and 79th longitude meet, as 79 is the atomic number of gold. Read more at Outside. 

Bumper year for South Island ski fields

With so much news about the struggles of Ruapehu’s ski fields this winter, it’s easy to forget that others fared far better. In fact, better than ever before.

Southern Lakes ski areas passed a million skier visits for the first time this year, with an estimated visitor spend of $550 million.

NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson told Otago Daily Times that the Australians “came back in droves” and that a large number of visitors came down from North Island, with ski fields there being closed for much of the season.

And although the Ruapehu closures increased demands for ski fields in the south, Anderson said he doesn’t like to see others struggle. “It’s not good for the industry if we lose Whakapapa and Turoa, even for one year.” Read more at ODT. 

Invasive pests learn and adapt

That’s the message to trappers from wildlife biologist Cam Speedy, who says we need to share knowledge and change our trapping techniques if we’re going to continue to be successful.

Speedy has worked in predator control for more than four decades and is working alongside Predator Free NZ to get more people to start trapping in their own backyard.

“If we keep doing what we’ve always done, our tools are going to get blunter and blunter and pests are going to beat us,” he said.

“We’ve got this philosophy that there’s no IP (intellectual property) in Predator Free, we’re all in this together. And we all need the knowledge.” Read more at Stuff. 

Conservation trust buys forest with critically endangered species

In Taranaki there’s a 361ha block of bush called Patui Forest. It’s home to the likes of kiwi, New Zealand falcons and moreporks and is frequented by critically-endangered long-tailed bats.

And its future is now in good hands, as it’s just been bought by the Native Forest Restoration Trust.

The community-based group buys land across the country and restores native forest and wetlands – it now owns 7500ha in 30 reserves across the country.

“Purchasing this reserve is just the start – we will also need to actively manage the area to restore the forest, control pests and enhance the habitat to ensure that the native plants and wildlife can flourish,” said trust manager Sandy Crichton.

“Patui isn’t open to the public yet, but it will be once we’ve provided signposted tracks and made a start on interpretive signage. Once we’ve thought through these aspects, we’ll put a QEII covenant on the property to protect it forever.” Read more at Stuff. 

Popular Northland track reopens

Many visitors to the glorious Kai Iwi Lakes, north of Dargaville, also like to take the 2.3km track to the wild Ripiro Beach.

But last year DOC closed Kai Iwi Lakes Coastal Track due to safety standards that were difficult to address, as most of the track went over private land. This led to numerous complaints to Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission.

But by chatting to relevant landowners, access has been reinstated and the track can be developed. Read the full story at New Zealand Herald.