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

Too many people are staying in our alpine huts without paying, and it might end up costing the outdoor fraternity dearly.

That’s the message from New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) who have had to pay $5600 more than the hut fees received to empty the toilets of Centennial and Pioneer huts in Westland Tai Poutini National Park.

Emptying toilets at this altitude is an expensive undertaking, and the fact that these toilets were full when not enough money had been taken means a lot of people were using the huts without paying.

NZAC charges $40 a night for non members, and $20 a night for members, but honesty’s required because it’s not uncommon for climbers and trampers to have to change plans and stay in the huts unexpectedly. They should then pay on their return to civilisation, but it seems many are choosing not to.

“They are flying a helicopter to get up there, you can’t tell me they can’t afford it,” said NZAC’s general manager Karen Leacock about most of the people who use the huts.

“It’s shelter from the storm, and we don’t want to lock the door on people. It could be an emergency situation, and we understand plans can change while out in the bush.” Read more at Stuff. 

The remarkable efforts to return a tramper’s body

This is a very sad story about a 21-year-old tramper called Hamish Attenborough, who went missing when climbing the Devil’s Armchair in Fiordland.

The effort to return Hamish’s body to his family was quite remarkable, given the complexity of the operation and the number of people involved.

After the initial rescue efforts by the Milford Emergency Response Team, and aerial and ground-based searches by LandSAR, where vital clues were found on the unforgiving terrain, more specialists were needed.

Alpine Cliff Rescue teams were called in to scour the cliff faces below the route. And when a weak PLB signal was located in a barely accessible gorge, a canyoning team was required.

They found Hamish’s body stuck in a deep pool and needed the help of the Police National Dive Squad to free him and get his body airlifted out of the gorge. Read the full story at Otago Daily Times. 

Rescuers free tramper stuck under rock

From an amazing recovery to an amazing rescue. Three helicopters were required after a rock had rolled onto a tramper’s leg at Wye Creek near Kingston, south of Queenstown.

Police, Alpine Cliff Rescue, and Fire and Emergency were all involved in trying to rescue the stricken tramper, who was located on very steep terrain.

After two-and-a-half hours, they managed to free the tramper’s leg and fly them out to Dunedin Hospital.

Rescuers praised the tramping party for carrying and activating a PLB, which enabled them to help them quickly. Read more about this rescue at Stuff.

Popular track may close due to careless walkers

In Dunedin there’s a well-used track called Cleghorn Street Track. It’s a trail that runs over private land, where sheep and cattle often graze.

And it may soon close, as the landowner, Doug Hall, is sick of people leaving gates open and letting his livestock out.

Hall used to be a Dunedin City councillor and says people push the gates shut, but don’t latch them properly. Otago Daily Times subscribers, read the full story here. 

‘Right to wild camp’ debate heats up in England

In New Zealand we might take for granted our right to pitch a tent pretty much wherever we like in our national parks. But in England and Wales, such freedoms are not permitted.

The only place it was allowed was in Dartmoor National Park in the south-west corner of England. But that right was recently overturned by the high court after one landowner, Alexander Darwall, argued that the right never existed in the first place.

However, since that ruling, there have been demonstrations on Darwall’s land, cross-party condemnation of the decision in parliament, and a galvanised group of right-to-roam campaigners who see this as an opportunity to fight for greater access rights.

Now the national park authority itself wants to appeal against the ruling, arguing that it ignores the historic understanding of the law and that it relies on too narrow a definition of ‘open-air recreation’. Read more here.