For Isla Ashby and Louise Hammersley, connection is more important than competition. By Leigh Hopkinson
Isla Ashby and Louise Hammersley were inspired by an all-girls’ trip in the Tararua Range. It redefined tramping as they knew it and revealed the unique dynamic of tramping together as women.
During a Federated Mountain Club Youth Expedition Scholarship, they spent 14 days traversing the two main ridgelines that run the length of the Tararua Range, from Mangahao Dam south to Jumbo–Holdsworth and north to Herepai Hut.
In essence it was two journeys for the 22-year-olds: navigating the physical landscape, and unpacking their socialisation within the male-driven norms of tramping culture.
To cement matters the pair made a short film about their trip, Traversing the Tararuas, in which they say, “We feel there is still a way to go until tramping culture is equally shaped by the particular strengths, needs and contributions of all genders.”
On the first day they both got their period. Early in the film they speak candidly about managing this, establishing from the get-go that the focus isn’t on ego or sucking it up but rather on vulnerability and connection.
The women met through Victoria University Tramping Club and clicked early on.
“It was our ability to be open about what we were going through,” says Isla. “That was important because we needed to be able to trust each other in more high-risk environments.”
Says Louise: “With Isla, I know we’re matched on what we think is a sensible idea. I can feel safe with her and her decisions.”
Twice on the trip the women decided to exit the range and wait for better weather. Such decisions weren’t made lightly, but they were made in agreement. “It was tough because we’re both quite ambitious,” says Isla. “But we did not feel safe in the weather.”
Despite their abilities, they were aware that if something went wrong they would likely be held to different standards than men.
The social aspect of the university club was a driver to join. “It can be hard to find people to go tramping with, and the fear of tramping alone is really valid,” says Isla. “Our club is massive. It’s the biggest on campus.” Louise mentions the option of borrowing gear through a club as a further incentive for joining.
She believes the digital era has opened up tramping to new audiences. “It has made route and safety information more accessible, especially for young people, who tend to be more tech-savvy.”
They came to the university club with plenty of experience. Both had tramped as teenagers: Louise comes from an outdoors family and Isla got into tramping through Venturers (Scouts).
Balancing tech on this particular trip was a challenge. Usually the women switch off their phones, but because they were making a film they were constantly thinking about how to frame, interpret and market their experiences.
Isla says the flipside has been having a tangible way of sharing the journey. “We’ve had some really good conversations because we’ve been able to show people the film.”
In it the women embrace playfulness – something they say felt like a radical act. Luxuries include animal toothbrushes and bubble mixture, and they wear matching outfits thanks to sponsorship. None of this takes away from their capabilities. Rather, they hope it encourages other women to embrace their ‘authentic selves’.
Despite swearing they would never tramp again after the heinous weather, Isla and Louise see plenty of tramping in their futures.
“There’ll be some ambitious tramping,” says Isla, “plus just fun tramps with friends on weekends, because we love it.”
For Leo Easton, a 17-day traverse of Kahurangi National Park with mates Luka Johnson and Louie Burger was mentally freeing. By Marios Gavalas
Exams were almost over and Leo Easton was trying to decide what to do next. In the end he and fellow Motueka High School friends Luka Johnson and Louie Burger planned a 17-day traverse of Kahurangi National Park.
“We finished our final exam, and next morning at 7.30am we were packed and on the track,” says Leo, the trio’s navigator.
Their route was from the southern-most point through the Matiri, Karamea and Leslie catchments and into the Cobb. The most challenging sections around the infamous Dragon’s Teeth into the Aorere (they took the low route) and a final push through the dense untracked forests of the Wakamarama Range to Farewell Spit tested their grit.
The three 16-year-old adventurers are exceptional not only in their confidence to plan and execute such a challenging mission but also because they are, well, young.
All three are adventure racers in the school team. They see tramping as a skill base for other outdoor pursuits, with fluid decision-making, organisation, reading weather and navigation all transferable skills.
Leo says non-human-created environments provide a connection to more natural rhythms, removed from the social pressures of being a teenager. “It is mentally freeing to get away from it all, get up with the sun and enjoy just being.”
The boys were helped with an FMC Youth Expedition Scholarship and were also supported by their parents.
Seventeen days is a long time to spend with each other and they didn’t see many other people.
“There was a lot of punching, but it was always friendly,” Leo says jokingly of the group dynamic.
A highlight was bumping into some fishermen who had choppered into Crow Hut, and who shared their steak and stories around the fire.
This inter-generational camaraderie is an aspect of tramping the boys see as continuing into the future. “We appreciate the passing on of knowledge from elders,” says Leo.
They all agree there will always be opportunities to find isolation and challenge in the backcountry, leaving the front country to tourists and those developing their experience. “More resources will probably be poured into the Great Walks, but there will always be wilderness,” says Leo.
He sees tramping clubs as filling an important niche for those looking to find companions, but feels it is the older generations who seek this out. In general, Leo says, the younger generation is less engaged in everything, including tramping. “They are after the dopamine rush on a computer.”
He sees the Motueka area as an exception – it has a vibrant Outdoor Education curriculum, dynamic teachers, supportive families and a varied playground on the doorstep.
However, mobile phone reception is encroaching into the backcountry, and Leo is dismayed to see people in huts using their phones, power banks and wi-fi to send ‘Snaps’ and watch Netflix. “The only reasons to bring a phone should be for navigation or safety,” he says.
Louie’s approach is a little different: on the trip, he carried a drone, power banks and a solar panel to make a film, Kahurangi: A south to north traverse, which won the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival grassroots award and was screened at this year’s festival.
Leo looks forward to future missions but sets the bar high. “Maybe seeing how many huts you could bag in a weekend, or our own version of the coast-to-coast. I was born in tramping boots, so it will always be part of my life.”
Kahurangi Expedition 2023 viewing details can be found here.
For David MacDonald and Oak Jones, a longer trip meant embracing Fiordland in all types of weather. By Leigh Hopkinson
The “sheer enormity” of Fiordland is one of David MacDonald’s lasting memories of a 12-day traverse from the George Sound Track south to the Gorge Burn.
“You look back at where you’ve come from and it’s this tiny distance. And this thing just keeps on going,” he says.
David, 25, and fellow Otago University Tramping Club member Oak Jones, 23, stitched together the route linked by 30km of tops travel. Mt Irene was roughly the halfway point.
The pair summited it the evening before a storm hit, reaching Robin Saddle Hut just 15 minutes before the deluge.
“It’s a very old-school wooden box with guide wires holding it down for good reason,” David says. “Getting blasted with wind and rain, I felt like I was in a little spaceship.”
The pair emerged four days later, New Year’s Day, to snow down to 1200m – and with it, the realisation that their proposed route wouldn’t go.
Says Oak: “Key to that decision-making was stopping and having some snacks, making suggestions and letting them sit. We’re quite good at communicating how we’re feeling.”
The traverse west was “heinous” but possible, so they continued.
Since 2021 the pair have been deliberately upskilling in order to tackle more ambitious routes. A successful application for an FMC Youth Expedition Scholarship was a logical next step.
“I come from an adventure racing background, David from rock climbing. When it’s route-finding or bush-bashing I usually lead, but when it’s ‘oh, we can’t slip here’ David is usually in front,” says Oak. “It works well for most terrain.”
Oak is from the United States but grew up in New Plymouth, where adventure racing at high school led to off-track travel.
David wasn’t an outdoors person at all during his Christchurch school days, but an impromptu mission to Arthur’s Pass that didn’t go to plan changed his mind. “I enjoyed finding the ability to get into and out of tricky locations and situations. Walking away from a big mountain or valley at the end of a trip and knowing I had learnt from it was incredibly rewarding.”
He is on the Otago University Tramping Club exec and has edited its journal, Antics, for three years (his degree is in graphic design). Both he and Oak say the tramping club is still going strong, though Oak says rock climbing may have poached a few potential trampers. “Climbing has really taken off in the past few years. The cynical part of me wants to say climbing is more type 1 fun, tramping more suffering.”
For his own part, thanks to the Fiordland traverse, he’s more sure of his “ability to be uncomfortable and wet for lots of days”.
Learning to pace himself over longer distances was also a takeaway.
In terms of future missions, Oak says he’s mostly inspired by being in places far from civilisation. “I’m not fussed about climbing Aspiring or Aoraki or all the big peaks – it’s the remote feeling I’m after.”
David is called to the Central Darrans because of the climbing and the decent rock.
The pair did not need to rope up on their north–south traverse. In fact, there wasn’t much glacier travel at all.
“There used to be a glacier near Robin Saddle Hut,” says Oak, who is a third-year ecology student. “The studies I do in the mountains, you notice the climate is changing. These snowfields that are so useful and beautiful are disappearing.”
He says it’s common to fly into Robin Saddle Hut in a helicopter and walk – or fly – out.
“This trip was a reminder (of) how cool it is to walk places. I think it’s really important to tramp in a way that’s thoughtful about the impact we’re having on the environment.”
For Sophie Lawson, travelling to the opposite end of the country and walking the Five Passes was a confidence booster. By Naomi Arnold
Although people of Sophie Lawson’s generation face a more uncertain environmental future than their parents and grandparents, she believes climate change will ultimately help them appreciate nature all the more.
“I think tramping in the future will probably become even more accessible. More people will see the value in enjoying nature and trying to experience these stunning landscapes as they become more threatened by climate change,” the 17-year-old Otamatea High School student says.
She also thinks we’ll turn more to the outdoors to escape the stress of busy lives, and definitely sees a need for more time and money to be invested in New Zealand’s tracks and facilities.
Sophie loves tramping for the chance to push herself physically as well as the sense of accomplishment she gains, and, of course, the views. She thinks it’s still a niche interest though, even with many teenagers out there doing it.
“I think the more young people who try tramping, the more will see the value in it. A big part of what limits young people’s access to it is the lack of knowledge and confidence,” she says. “It’s difficult to feel confident to go on these hikes alone, and not often do you meet others who are willing to partake in these adventures.” Sophie plans to join a tramping club at university to associate with like-minded people and explore her passion further.
One positive about tramping for young people, she thinks, is the hard and fast rule she learned during her Duke of Edinburgh Award programme when she was 14: ‘no technology on a trip’, including phones, unless taking photos. “I think that’s part of the beauty of tramping; just enjoying the present,” she says. “But obviously capturing the moment so there’s something to share with others and look back on is important, so I do take my phone on trips.”
Encouragement and practical support from older trampers – not just parents – is crucial. Last year Sophie was awarded an FMC Youth Expedition Scholarship to undertake the 55km Five Passes traverse in Mount Aspiring National Park. It’s a five- to six-day loop (in good weather) beginning and ending at Routeburn Shelter. The mostly unmarked route has no huts and crosses Sugarloaf Pass, Park Pass, Cow Saddle, Fiery Col and Fohn Saddle, then goes down the Beans Burn.
This path, which Sophie says most people would have considered “the wrong direction”, turned out to be a good choice.
“We were incredibly lucky with this decision; had we been travelling in the opposite direction we would’ve had to turn back due to the weather.”
She was encouraged to apply for the FMC scholarship by Robyn Bruce, her Duke of Edinburgh Award leader, who suggested she do so after Sophie finished her Gold award and wanted another challenge.
“I jumped at it without a second thought,” she says. “I wanted to build my knowledge and confidence in the outdoors so I will be able to take this experience and share it with others.”
She and her group – Noah Martin, Sophie van Harlingen, Chloe Comer, Robyn Bruce, Anna van Harlingen and Steven and Andrea Orchard – completed the trip this year during March–April.
Sophie vividly remembers spending half an hour trying to force her feet into frozen socks and boots one morning. She also recalls many moments of awe, which she hopes other young people will experience.
“The biggest highlight was definitely camping at Fohn Lakes where we got to see kea, play Five Crowns and explore the lakes,” she says. “The views throughout the whole trip were unmatched.”
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