About Remote Huts
(Top Olderog Biv in the Arahura catchment: Photo Andrew Buglass 2004)
Origins Of The Website
This site was created in 2003 to profile a number of remote
high-country huts and bivouacs in central Westland that were unmaintained, poorly maintained,
or under threat of removal. An online group
called Permolat was created at the same time to
mobilise remote hut users around actively maintaining and preserving these structures.
Hundreds of huts and a connecting network of tracks and bridges were
built by the New Zealand Forest Service (NZFZS) primarily
for animal control purposes from the 1950's to the mid 1970's.
They provided rudimentary shelter for government cullers
employed to curb an exploding introduced red deer population that was seriously damaging
high-country ecosystems. The advent of commercial helicopter hunting in the early
70's rendered the intensive foot operations obsolete, and the cullers were withdrawn.
The facilities remained however, leaving a
dream-system of remote accommodation for hunters, trampers and climbers.
In the mid 80's a newly created
Department of Conservation (DOC) took over management of
high-country resources from the NZFS under much more stringent funding regimes.
In the ensuing years most of the more remote, less used huts and tracks, stopped
receiving maintenance
and fell into a spiral of disuse and disrepair.
Economic Rationalism
In DOC's early years New Right "user
pays" models were the vogue in Government departments as a means of funding and managing
resources. This model breaks down seriously in areas of low population,
or for low-use facilities. Large numbers of huts were left unmaintained and became run down,
tracks overgrew, and footbridges
were washed away or damaged and not repaired or replaced.
Deteriorating access and lack of information on routes and hut conditions deterred all but
the hardiest from using these facilities. The downward spiral of lower use justified
continued low or zero maintenance according to the beancounters.
DOC's 2003/ 4 Review of High-Country Facilities
In September 2003 DOC undertook a
review of high-country facilities as a means of rationalising use of its limited funding.
A significant number of huts in central Westland
were designated for "minimal maintenance," something that had long been happening by default.
Some structures considered too run down, unsafe, or unused, were to be removed.
The Review included space for public consultation and this did have some positive consequences
for remote hut users and outdoor groups who lobbied strongly for the retention of the facilities.
A number of huts, bivs, and bridges intially proposed for minimal maintenance were granted
full maintenance
status, and a few strategic but overgrown routes were reinstated
for maintenance.
There were losses and trade-offs of as well, some of which can be viewed in the
Archive Of Huts Removed Or Lost.
Minimal Maintenance
Around 60 huts and bivs in the Tai Poutini Conservancy (from Buller
down to the Haast) ended up in the minimal maintenance category.
This is defined as,
"two-yearly inspections
with minor maintenance that
can be done with basic tools to keep the structures
sanitary and watertight." This could include painting, repairs
to windows, and sealing.
If a hut is deemed to be no longer
weatherproof, safe or sanitary, DOC will remove it by helicopter (the cost,
of this ironically would not be much different from that involved in getting the hut
up to scratch). Removal will also take place if major
damage were to
occur, such as a tree falling on a hut. It seems highly probable under this regime that
many minimal maintenance huts and bivs are doomed to vanish by slow attrition over time.
Remote Hut Users
A small and passionate group of high-country recreationalists continued
to use and derive considerable pleasure from remote huts during the years of neglect.
No wonder as many of them
are situated in stunning, rugged wilderness locations. The valleys, trails and huts
are an integral part of the high-country psyche, our collective identity,
our history, and the stories we tell about ourselves.
If DOC wasn't able or willing to look after them adequately, the obvious next step
was for the hut users to take on or share some of
the maintenance role. This was beginning to happen in an uncoordinated, ad hoc fashion
prior to the DOC Review.
Area Covered By The Site
The Remote Huts website focuses on 50 huts and bivs, mostly in central Westland. There
is some potential to expand the site, or for folk to start something similar in their own area.
Murphy's Law
Unexpectedly, around the time that this site was being created,
DOC received some major one-off funding from the Labour Government. In the
Hokitika area this was used for a maintenance initiative well beyond the
"minimal" level on a significant number of the structures that had jus been consigned to
this category. Over
the summer of 2003/ 4 most of the huts on this site (even three designated for removal)
received some kind of maintenance. Painting, sealing, general floor and frame repairs,
and re-piling was carried out.
For many huts this was the first maintenance undertaken in 30
years and has the potential to extend their life another 15-30 years.
DOC used contractors and volunteers to
do the maintenance and the quality of the work done varies considerably.
In some cases huts were painted without adequate preparation, or areas of
rust or dry rot were simply covered with paint. These particular huts are unlikely to
get the boost DOC was hoping for.
The Aim Of This Website
Remote huts will are unlikely ever to have a high priority
in the greater scheme of things and as such remain vulnerable to further periods of
neglect and/ or removal. This Site's aim is to raise and maintain awareness
of this wonderful resource, and encourage continued use of it by providing up-to-date
information on hut and track conditions. We also want to get people get actively involved in
carrying out informal trackwork, hut maintenance, and hut and track adoption.
It has already had rapid and measurable positive effects. For example,
Scottys Biv in the Taipo valley was getting visited
every 3-5 years and had been designated for removal. The Biv was taken on as a
maintain-by-community project Permolat and received 10 visits in a
single year after being profiled on the Site.
This demonstrates how easily the spiral of
declining use can be reversed. Concerns have been raised that too many people
may end up going to these places as a result of the publicity. This is unlikely however, because
of the remote locations of most huts, and the challenging nature of the terrain.
Permolat
Permolat is an online group set up in conjunction with the website.
It currently has around
100 members, keeps remote hut enthusiasts connected, and is a great
medium for coordinating maintenance and preservation projects. In
2005 the group entered into a "maintain by community" contract with DOC for
Scottys Biv.
Two further proposals were submitted for
Lower Olderog Biv and
Campbell Biv
in the Arahaura catchment, both designated for removal.
In 2008 Permolat signed its second "maintain by community" contract for
Mid Styx Hut and in February 2009 volunteers
re-piled and re-floored the Hut. DOC flew our
materials in free of charge. Permolat is also supporting a community project
by the Kokatahi Tramping Club to shift the old Lower Arahura Hut onto Mt. Brown above Lake
Kaniere
(www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-Kaniere-New-Zealand/Mt-Brown-hut/349616583077
and www.flickr.com/photos/mtbrownhut/).
We have provided some funding and volunteer labour for the constuction and trackwork required.
A Mt. Brown Hut
page will be added to the website once it is ready for public use.
Informal trackwork by Permolat members and other individuals has become commonplace on trails
no longer maintained by DOC in many of the local valleys and frontal country. A Permolat
working bee in 2007 opened up the upper Waitaha valley. Trackwork has also been done in
the Arahura, Kokatahi, Toaroha, Taipo and Mikonui valleys.
How You Can Help
If you visit a "minimal maintenance" or "maintain-by-community" hut please, if possible,
carry out any repairs needed with the tools and materials on site. Alternately, notify us
of what is needed. Any updates on route and track conditions are useful.
In the case of "minimal maintenance" huts please inform DOC also of any repairs needed, as
they still have a maintenance
role. You can also help by keeping any
trails DOC has ceased maintaining trimmed and
marked. It is a familiar sight now to see trampers in central Westland
carrying loppers and a small pruning saw on their journeys. DOC is currently OK with
this as long as it is a pre-existing track, that hand tools only are used, and
that their plastic orange triangles aren't used as markers. Permolat
(venetian blind material) is the material historically used by NZFS on non-maintained
tracks.
Donations to our Group are also very welcome as are any good pictures you may have of huts
on the site.
DOC Input
DOC have been pretty supportive of our efforts so far and have co-worked with us and other user
groups on a number of projects in the Hokitika. They appear more open to community input than some
conservancies in other areas, and have acknowledged a need for better communication with
community groups.
DOC
have offered to provide
some materials if an individual wants to carry out
simple repairs like sealing leaks or replacing louvres, etc. For more complex
tasks (painting, replacement of framing timbers or piles etc.)
they may co-work with individuals as volunteers,
provided they are capable and can meet DOC/ local body building
code standards and DOC/ Health and Safety requirements. In
specific instances they will consider ferrying materials
to a hut site, which they did with our Mid Styx project. Interested individuals may also
accompany
DOC staff who undertake repairs. Volunteers went
along on the 2003/ 4 maintenance programme and
feedback from them was positive.
Reconsiderations Of Hut Removals
A strong negative public response to a number of proposed hut
removals have captured the attention of the media in recent times.
The planned removal of a hut in
Kahurangi National park was halted as a result of public pressure.
There has been a surge in coordinated community responses, lobbying, and
proposals to share or take over maintenance of facilities.
Levels of use of remote huts has risen significantly with increased publicity,
better quality information on
track conditions, and improved access due to informal
trackwork. Westland conservancy has avoided controversy so far, largely due to
its positive responses to proposals made by an individuals or groups.
They are currently considering retaining Serpentine Hut
in the Hokitika, originally designated for removal, after an approach from local kayakers
who want it retained. Two swingbridges in the Kokatahi valley
and one in the Arahura may be be reinstated to maintain, or minimally maintain
status as a result of community feedback.
Fully Maintained Huts
There are a number of "fully maintain" huts on the site, which weren't in this category when it
the site was created. They ended up being designated as such or redesignated in the Review process.
It is worth keeeping them on the site as they are in remote areas, relatively
low-use, and remain vulnerable over the longer term.
Remote Hut Adoption
A number of minimal maintenance huts on this site have been informally
adopted by individuals or groups over the years, kept in immaculate order
and well provisioned with gear, sometimes even food (See Griffin Creek Hut,
Browning Biv, Koropuku Hut and
Newton Hut).
This has made a positive difference to their condition and level of use.
If a single individual or group were to take on responsibility for
each of the minimal maintenance huts on
this site, their survival prospects would be greatly enhanced.
No Free Lunch
It is unrealistic to expect that taxpayers' money
fully fund a resource that
get used by less than 4% of the population, but a remote hut is more than just a rough physical
shelter. It is a gymnasium, movie theatre, church, mental health centre, hunting lodge,
hermitage, public batch, retreat, spa (if ther's a hot pool nearby), laboratory and more.
It is highly likely that remote hut users live
longer (if they don't peel off a razorback ridge), have less mental
and physical health issues, are more productive members of society, and spend less time in jail
than non-remote hut users. The funding of remote facilities however, embodies an aesthetic
that is unpalatable to most bureaucratic bean-counters. Permolat fully supports those
who consult,
lobby, write submissions, and follow processes and protocols, but in the time it takes to do this
a hut
may fall over and vanish under the regenerating bush. Another sub-species, even less useful,
is the one that moans in hutbooks about
DOC doing a crap job, then leaves without attending to the relatively simple repairs they are
concerned about. Interestingly, they are often
the same ones who don't replace the firewood they use, and leave a stack of dirty billies and
personal rubbish behind.
I suspect they are the descendants of those who
moaned about the same things in the NZFS
hutbooks 30 years back. Finally and fortunately there is a third group,
less patient, and with a practical streak, who feel compellled to fix that which is
broken, because they can.
May the force be with you all.
The Future
It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that demand for the remote hut experience
will increase over time. Feeding this is a growing outdoor, health and
environmental consciousness, and increasing pressure and overcrowding
on the more popular circuits and National Parks.
The names of foreign travellers are
starting to appear more regularly in the remote hutbooks. This is
gratifying and at the same time mildly unsettling. Many don't appear to have the
the experience, or the gear to tackle the remote New Zealand high-country.
A few are dangerously underprovisioned and reach their destinations more by luck than anything.
Like a fellow we met who'd completed a high-level traverse in spring snow
in sandshoes with no ice axe. He'd slid off the range that we'd cut
steps down on his backside in an uncontrolled free-fall. An increasing number
of alpine searches
and body recoveries
in recent years have been for foreigners. This leads us to the ubiquitous disclaimer that
follows.
Warning!
YOU NEED TO BE PHYSICALLY FIT AND EXPERIENCED IN THIS TYPE OF COUNTRY, AND
ADEQUATELY PROVISIONED, TO VENTURE INTO THE REMOTE HUT ZONE.
If you are not, then find someone who is experienced and willing to guide you, or
try some easier preliminary activities.
Alpine skills and experience gained in other parts of the world are not necessarily transferable to the
high-country here.
Many of the huts and bivs on this site are in remote
rugged, mountainous settings, and the tracks to them
may be overgrown, or in
some cases, no longer followable. Some of the huts
in alpine or sub-alpine settings can only be approached
by high-altitude routes. Bush navigation
skills and good quality, appropriate gear is essential.
Rivers (often) and side creeks (usually) are unbridged and
rise rapidly during frequent heavy rain. River or creek
travel needs to be done with caution because of the numerous waterfalls
and gorges that characterise
watercourses in this type of terrain. Heavy snowfalls, more common in winter,
can occur at any
time of the year, and sudden extreme weather changes are normal.
Track And Travel Times
The travel times given on this site are provisional and relate specifically
to fit persons who are experienced in this type of terrain.
They can't accurately be compared with the track times provided on the more popular
and publicised maintained tracks in National Parks, or Great Walks.
Estimates provided for tops travel are for
summer and autumn when the non-permanent snow has usually (but not always) melted.
Travel can be just as fast in
winter, or take considerably longer, depending on snow conditions. Some of the routes
described are in alpine areas and ice axes,
crampons and occasionally ropes, may be needed.
We hope you will be rejuvenated,
and restored to optimum
physical and mental
well-being by the remote hut experience, but please pay heed to the information above.
Don't go into this area if it is clearly
beyond your capability.
Information On This Site
It is our intention to keep the information provided on this site as up-to-date as
possible. Please inform us of any changes you come across in conditions or routes, or mistakes,
and the relevant section will be updated. Things change quickly
in the hills and we rely on high-country users to keep us up to speed, particularly from lower-use areas.
Contact
Information, comments and suggestions can be emailed to Andrew Buglass at
andrew@uchc.org.nz.
Joining Permolat
The above contact is also for those interested in joining Permolat and getting involved at a more
more hands-on level in remote hut and track preservation and maintenance activities.
Once you've contacted us and requested to join, an electronic invitation and log-in will be sent out.
The group operates as an open online forum for sharing information and organising projects.
Hut Photos On This Site
All thumbnail photos on the Hut Pages can be double clicked to provide a full-sized
images.
Thanks
A warm thanks to everyone who
has helped so far with their time, labour, photos, support, donations and encouragement.
Andrew Buglass 2010