Kudos to the Back Country Trust for the superb new hut it has built on the Lewis Pass tops. Brass Monkey Hut is sited close to where the old dog box Brass Monkey Bivouac once stood, and is an altogether more attractive shelter. 

The hut was financed by a bequest left by Jackie Winters and took 18 months to complete over seven site visits. As builder Matt Hewatt said, “You don’t get to nip to the suppliers or even back to the truck if you’ve forgotten something.” Add inclement weather and alpine conditions and you have a challenging project.

The project shows how far the Back Country Trust has come. From the early days when DOC offered individuals and tramping clubs the opportunity to ‘sponsor’ a hut and take over its maintenance, the trust has developed into a volunteer organisation capable of constructing new huts in alpine places. 

Thanks for all your hard work, team – it is greatly appreciated. 

I had an interesting conversation with Hazel Phillips recently (available in the podcast episode attached to her story ‘Trail of the tenacious’) during which she says she was warned off doing the Three Passes route solo. Asked if she felt the concern was because she is a woman, she said she assumed it probably was. We’ve had female prime ministers, leaders of industry and world champion rugby players and, as Hazel explains in her story, women have been tramping the Three Passes route for eons. First was Raureka, the bold wahine Māori who crossed from the West Coast to trade pounamu and for whom Noti Raureka/Browning Pass is named. European women are known to have used the route as early as 1931 (95 years ago!). I am surprised that there can be any segment of society that believes women are less capable than men at anything, least of all tramping.