Mahu Whenua Traverse
This expedition will mark the grand opening of a new and unique alpine trail in the Queenstown Lakes District of New Zealand, the Mahu Whenua Traverse, in partnership with the Mountain Turk Club.
Six young New Zealanders have completed a gruelling 50km journey on skis through the Harris Mountains between Treble Cone and Coronet Peak on the Trust’s Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ Mahu Whenua Traverse, spending four nights in new purpose built ‘Turk’ huts along the way.
Inspiring Explorers Isaac Giesen, Emily Wilson, Ana Ross, Libby Clifton, and Wakatipu High School students Sam Davis and Zoe Crawford were accompanied by experienced mountain guides, Tim Robertson and Thomas Vialletet from Peak Experience, Mountain Turk Club Founder Erik Bradshaw, and alumnus Marcus Waters.
“It was amazing to see our Inspiring Explorers step out of their comfort zones, overcome challenges and work as a team – all things the early Antarctic explorers had to do,” says Nigel Watson.
The alpine route boasted terrain with lots of vertical, that tested the Inspiring Explorers™.
“The group had resilience and grit, truly embodying the spirit of exploration,” says Nigel Watson.
This expedition was a fantastic celebration of the region’s pristine backcountry, Kiwi inventiveness, and the spirit of exploration.
Queenstown accommodation for expedition team generously provided by Queenstown Park Boutique Hotel.
Logistical support generously provided by the Remarkables and Coronet Peak ski fields.
Expedition Update & Team Building – October 2021
Due to snow conditions, the traverse was postponed from its original date in August until September and unfortunately, the COVID-19 outbreak delayed the expedition further. It has been decided that the snow conditions would make it unsafe to undertake the full traverse this year.
Instead, the Inspiring Explorers met in Queenstown for three days of team building and skills training in preparation for the 2022 Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ Mahu Whenua Traverse.
After having the opportunity to connect and learn about the Trust’s work conserving the early explorer bases in Antarctica and inspiring the next generation of explorers, the team joined expedition guides Steve Schreiber and Thomas Vialletet for mountain safety refresher training in transceiver use. The guides also assessed the team’s backcountry skiing skills.
On day two the team headed out for a day of ski-touring in Soho Basin along with an avalanche exercise scenario. On the final day, the team tramped into one of the Mountain Turk Club’s alpine huts known as ‘Turks’.
The team are already enthusiastically looking towards next year’s expedition and enjoyed meeting each other and improving their skills.
About Mahu Whenua Traverse
The Mahu Whenua Traverse travels through the iconic Harris Mountains linking ridge tops, valleys and bowls to create an amazing winter ski and summer hiking route between Treble Cone and Coronet Peak ski fields. It has 3781m of elevation gain, and 4029m of elevation loss throughout the journey.
It’s the first ski traverse of its type in New Zealand and will be an amazing community asset.
The traverse is also the first to use inventive ‘Turk’ alpine huts for accommodation.
A Turk (tank hut) is a lightweight, helicopter flyable mountain hut based on a large plastic water tank. Creative interior design combined with the circular shape results in a highly efficient and relaxing space that is safe in even the most extreme of storms. The name derives from the saying “Not a hut and not a yurt, not a tank so must be a Turk”.
Read more on the Mahu Whenua Traverse website here.
History of the Turks
Turk huts are made from large plastic water tanks and they are ideally suited to remote locations with extreme weather conditions.
Mountain Turk Club founder Erik Bradshaw had the vision to utilise Turks as affordable backcountry huts for a five-day journey though otherwise hard to explore terrain. Turks are 26,000 litre plastic water tanks that Erik has retro-fitted with bunks and benches to create snug shelter for the ski tourer and backcountry traveller.
Five Turks are strategically positioned along the Mahu Whenua Traverse.
Early Turk hut design was pioneered by Al Fastier, the Trust’s Programme Manager Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project, in collaboration with Erik Bradshaw and Trust Structural Engineer Win Clark. The Trust uses two Turk huts in Antarctica, at the field camp established to support the restoration of Borchgrevink’s Huts at Cape Adare. These Turks are the first to be utilised in New Zealand.
