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

One NZ (formerly Vodafone) announced a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellite business to provide mobile coverage for all of NZ via Starlink. The agreement will give customers the option to connect to the intranet via satellite starting late next year.

This could be game-changing for those who work outdoors, but it will increase the challenge for trampers trying to get away from it all. On the Tramping in New Zealand Facebook page, trampers had mixed reactions. “How horrible it will be to go into a hut and find everyone on their phone,” said one. “Having one more method of communication while out in the bush WILL save lives,” said another.

NZ Search and Rescue stressed that even with mobile coverage carrying a personal locator beacon would still be important due to its instant connection to emergency services. Read the full article at Stuff.

Tramper killed by boulder on Taranaki Maunga

A tramper was killed by a boulder while tramping on Taranaki Maunga on Sunday. 

Liana Poutu, Te Atiawa, said iwi members and DOC staff had visited the site on Monday morning. “The main reasons were the recovery of the tūpāpaku (body of the deceased) was done fairly quickly, and also it’s very stormy up there so our Atua and the elements are taking care of cleansing that site on behalf of us,” Poutu said. “We went to the Maunga this morning and conducted karakia up there… but we’ve decided that we didn’t need to place a rāhui.” 

Poutu said she understood it happened on the Summit Track and there were “a number of people on the maunga yesterday”. Read more at Stuff.

Christchurch man’s ‘rave hiking’ trend going viral

While many enjoy heading out into nature on a hike, they don’t bust out their best dance moves while doing it — except for Fletcher and his growing online community. “Rave hiking is the combination of two things I love…dancing and hiking,” he said.

It began as a pandemic pick-me-up but now he’s rave hiked all over the South Island. “It’s gone global,” said Fletcher. “I’ve had people in mountains in Greece, Canada, the UK — all over the world.” He said you don’t have to be a good dancer to get this natural high, instead “we should be focusing on: how much joy does that activity bring you?”

Watch the Seven Sharp video to get the full experience.

The snowpack in Colorado is eating hikers’ shoes

Colorado is in the midst of a spring warm-up, with the snowpack in many parts of the mountains freezing solid overnight and softening into wet, heavy snow during the day. For some hikers, who have ventured out without snowshoes, that’s led to a loss of footwear. 

Summit County Rescue Group (SCRG) said it had performed three rescues on Quandary Peak, a popular 4300m summit, in less than a week. All involved hikers who had lost their shoes while post-holing through the soft spring snowpack. 

For those who end up leaving their footwear above the treeline, SCRG joked that it would be “auctioning off all shoes and boots found on Quandary this summer after the snow melts”. Read the full article at Backpacker.

Milford Track sells out quickly despite booking issues

Bookings for the Milford Track were effectively sold out by noon last Thursday despite the system crashing for several hours. The website crashed shortly after bookings opened when 10,000 people tried to book at the same time.

Department of Conservation booking services manager Cameron Hyland said DOC acknowledged the frustration “We acknowledge how difficult it was for some people trying to book a spot. The Milford Track did sell out quickly despite the issues – though this was definitely a more frustrating process for the users than it should have been.”

Last year, places on the Milford Track were almost completely taken up within half an hour of bookings opening. Read more at RNZ.