ABOUT REMOTE HUTS
Origins Of The Website
The Remote Huts website was created in 2003 to profile and raise awareness about an unique and iconic network of remote high-country huts and bivouacs in central Westland, many of which were becoming dilapidated and were under threat of removal by the Department of Conservation (DOC).
Permolat
Permolat was set up as an online group in conjunction with with the website and developed into an effective volunteer collective that was able to begin carrying out maintenance on these structures and their access tracks. The group also became a strong advocate that was able to lobby for the retention of these iconic structures. The remote hut circuits demand a higher level of skill and experience than your average great walk or tourist track, but provide a wonderful alternative to the DOC managed ones that are often crowded or increasingly booked out. The online medium has proved to be a highly effective means of connecting a diverse and widely dispersed group of remote high-country enthusiasts. The original online platform folded in 2021 with activity shifting to Permolat Facebook and the Slack platform for those who preferring to organise and share information in a closed group. Go to our contact page if are interested in joining the latter.
Permolat Trust
The Permolat Trust was formed and became a registered charity in 2014 in order to manage the increased complexity of funding required for the larger maintenance projects. A management agreement drawn up with DOC around the same time has allowed us to move away from individual hut maintenance contracts to a more general area-wide arrangement in central Westland.
Donations
If you use these remote facilities, or just like what we are doing and want to make a contribution, you can donate to Permolat Trust, Kiwibank, 38-9016-0266330-00. Our Charities Registration No. is CC50626 and donations are tax deductible. If you want a receipt just email us.
Area of Operation
The Remote Huts website currently profiles 69 huts and bivs on the western side of the Southern Alps, from Karamea down to the Haast valley in South Westland. We recently added another couple from the Matakitaki catchment in Nelson Lakes NP. Most of the structures were built by the New Zealand Forest Service from the 1950's through to the 1970's, principally for animal control, but also with recreation in mind.
Our Aim
The aim of Remote Huts and Permolat is to raise and maintain awareness of remote back-country facilities, and to encourage their continued use and preservation for future generations. The website provides the up-to-date route information and updates on hut and track conditions that will help facilitate this. We'd like to see a shift in consciousness from entitlement (expecting some magical government agency to fix things) to ownership, whereby the high-country users themselves become the key stakeholders. This will involve user groups stepping up and taking on hut and track maintenance in the areas where DOC is no longer able, and working in partnership with the Department in areas where it is. In some places this is already happening to a large degree. For many years we've been in the unique and privileged position of having it laid on for us, first by the New Zealand Forest Service (NZFS), and later to a lesser degree by DOC. The expectation that developed that some department will always be around to keep these networks oiled and running hasn't been grounded in reality for some time.
The Remote Huts website was created in 2003 to profile and raise awareness about an unique and iconic network of remote high-country huts and bivouacs in central Westland, many of which were becoming dilapidated and were under threat of removal by the Department of Conservation (DOC).
Permolat
Permolat was set up as an online group in conjunction with with the website and developed into an effective volunteer collective that was able to begin carrying out maintenance on these structures and their access tracks. The group also became a strong advocate that was able to lobby for the retention of these iconic structures. The remote hut circuits demand a higher level of skill and experience than your average great walk or tourist track, but provide a wonderful alternative to the DOC managed ones that are often crowded or increasingly booked out. The online medium has proved to be a highly effective means of connecting a diverse and widely dispersed group of remote high-country enthusiasts. The original online platform folded in 2021 with activity shifting to Permolat Facebook and the Slack platform for those who preferring to organise and share information in a closed group. Go to our contact page if are interested in joining the latter.
Permolat Trust
The Permolat Trust was formed and became a registered charity in 2014 in order to manage the increased complexity of funding required for the larger maintenance projects. A management agreement drawn up with DOC around the same time has allowed us to move away from individual hut maintenance contracts to a more general area-wide arrangement in central Westland.
Donations
If you use these remote facilities, or just like what we are doing and want to make a contribution, you can donate to Permolat Trust, Kiwibank, 38-9016-0266330-00. Our Charities Registration No. is CC50626 and donations are tax deductible. If you want a receipt just email us.
Area of Operation
The Remote Huts website currently profiles 69 huts and bivs on the western side of the Southern Alps, from Karamea down to the Haast valley in South Westland. We recently added another couple from the Matakitaki catchment in Nelson Lakes NP. Most of the structures were built by the New Zealand Forest Service from the 1950's through to the 1970's, principally for animal control, but also with recreation in mind.
Our Aim
The aim of Remote Huts and Permolat is to raise and maintain awareness of remote back-country facilities, and to encourage their continued use and preservation for future generations. The website provides the up-to-date route information and updates on hut and track conditions that will help facilitate this. We'd like to see a shift in consciousness from entitlement (expecting some magical government agency to fix things) to ownership, whereby the high-country users themselves become the key stakeholders. This will involve user groups stepping up and taking on hut and track maintenance in the areas where DOC is no longer able, and working in partnership with the Department in areas where it is. In some places this is already happening to a large degree. For many years we've been in the unique and privileged position of having it laid on for us, first by the New Zealand Forest Service (NZFS), and later to a lesser degree by DOC. The expectation that developed that some department will always be around to keep these networks oiled and running hasn't been grounded in reality for some time.
A Brief History
Around 150 huts and a connecting network of tracks and bridges were built by the NZFS, or Lands and Survey on the western side of the Southern Alps from the late 1950's to the early 1980's. Their primary function was to provide shelter for government cullers employed to curb an exploding introduced red deer population that was seriously damaging high-country ecosystems. There was also a recreational ethos underlying hut construction from the mid-1960's, as evidenced by hut construction continuing for quite some time after the foot cullers were phased out. These along with huts built by alpine and tramping clubs provided New Zealand's outdoor community with a dream network of remote accommodation and trails.
In the 1986 a newly created Department of Conservation took over management of high-country resources, but under much more stringent funding regimes. Their attempts early on to impose user-pays models of management resulted in many of the more remote, less-used huts and tracks receiving little or no maintenance, and falling into disuse and disrepair. The Department still continues to prioritise its spending on the more popular, high-use huts and walks, that have catered mostly for overseas visitors. The less frequently used Huts and tracks started becoming run down or dilapidated. Footbridges that were washed away or damaged were not repaired or replaced. The overgrown tracks deterred all but the hardiest trampers, and a lack of good quality information on routes and hut conditions compounded the situation. Decreasing levels of use justified continued low or zero maintenance, creating a spiral of disuse, which eventually led removal of structures, often merely for accounting or liability avoidance (a.k.a. safety) reasons. DOC continues to be chronically underfunded and has been subjected over the years to regular, internal restructures that have severely damaged staff morale and only increased the number of overpaid bureaucrats in bullshit jobs.
There was a bit of a delayed response from hut users to this gradual running down of back-country facilities. We'd had it so good for so long that a sense of entitlement and expectation had developed. Surely someone would eventually turn up and fix things if we just kept complaining. The golden age was over unfortunately and it wasn't coming back and a few pragmatic and caring individuals recognised this and started working on the trails themselves, and keeping the odd hut provisioned and in good order. These unofficial adoptions had a positive impact on levels of use and may have influenced DOC to continue some form of ongoing maintenance, but they were ad-hoc and didn't extend to the majority of the at-risk structures. What was needed was a more coordinated response from community groups and individuals.
The DOC 2003/ 4 High-Country Review
The big problem for DOC was, and still is, their accounting system. All huts regardless of their condition are listed as fixed assets and have a depreciation cost. In 2003 DOC did a big stock-take of the 150 huts and bivs in Westland's Tai Poutini Conservancy and decided to continue fully maintaining 80 of these structures. Another 60 would be "minimally maintained," something that had effectively been happening for a couple of decades already. The remainder were considered too dilapidated, unsafe, or infrequently used, and were designated for removal. Some vigorous lobbying from high-country groups resulted in a bit of shuffling around and a few huts being brought back from remove status. The rest were left to be systematically removed.
Minimal Maintenance
DOC defined minimal maintenance as minor repairs to keep a structure sanitary and watertight, however once a hut passed this point, it would be removed. Ironically, the removal costs, if spent instead on maintenance, would have given most huts an extra 15-30 year lease of life. It was pretty obvious that the minimal maintenance regime would inevitably lead to the loss by attrition of all the structures in this category.
This was a wake up call for high-country users and coincided quite nicely with the inception of Permolat and Remote Huts.
The corresponding public outcry in response to hut removal caused DOC to pause and backtrack a little. Permolat's instant popularity and rapid transition into a working collective led to a corresponding a softening in DOC's stance towards community maintenance of huts and tracks. The first maintain-by-community contract for a hut was signed in 2006. Around this time Permolat was given the official go-ahead to re-open and maintain any pre-existing tracks that weren't being maintained by DOC, and in 2013 DOC CEO Lou Sanson announced there would be no more hut removals. Around this time we were given the go ahead to work on any pre-existing tracks that weren't being officially maintained by DOC.
Around 150 huts and a connecting network of tracks and bridges were built by the NZFS, or Lands and Survey on the western side of the Southern Alps from the late 1950's to the early 1980's. Their primary function was to provide shelter for government cullers employed to curb an exploding introduced red deer population that was seriously damaging high-country ecosystems. There was also a recreational ethos underlying hut construction from the mid-1960's, as evidenced by hut construction continuing for quite some time after the foot cullers were phased out. These along with huts built by alpine and tramping clubs provided New Zealand's outdoor community with a dream network of remote accommodation and trails.
In the 1986 a newly created Department of Conservation took over management of high-country resources, but under much more stringent funding regimes. Their attempts early on to impose user-pays models of management resulted in many of the more remote, less-used huts and tracks receiving little or no maintenance, and falling into disuse and disrepair. The Department still continues to prioritise its spending on the more popular, high-use huts and walks, that have catered mostly for overseas visitors. The less frequently used Huts and tracks started becoming run down or dilapidated. Footbridges that were washed away or damaged were not repaired or replaced. The overgrown tracks deterred all but the hardiest trampers, and a lack of good quality information on routes and hut conditions compounded the situation. Decreasing levels of use justified continued low or zero maintenance, creating a spiral of disuse, which eventually led removal of structures, often merely for accounting or liability avoidance (a.k.a. safety) reasons. DOC continues to be chronically underfunded and has been subjected over the years to regular, internal restructures that have severely damaged staff morale and only increased the number of overpaid bureaucrats in bullshit jobs.
There was a bit of a delayed response from hut users to this gradual running down of back-country facilities. We'd had it so good for so long that a sense of entitlement and expectation had developed. Surely someone would eventually turn up and fix things if we just kept complaining. The golden age was over unfortunately and it wasn't coming back and a few pragmatic and caring individuals recognised this and started working on the trails themselves, and keeping the odd hut provisioned and in good order. These unofficial adoptions had a positive impact on levels of use and may have influenced DOC to continue some form of ongoing maintenance, but they were ad-hoc and didn't extend to the majority of the at-risk structures. What was needed was a more coordinated response from community groups and individuals.
The DOC 2003/ 4 High-Country Review
The big problem for DOC was, and still is, their accounting system. All huts regardless of their condition are listed as fixed assets and have a depreciation cost. In 2003 DOC did a big stock-take of the 150 huts and bivs in Westland's Tai Poutini Conservancy and decided to continue fully maintaining 80 of these structures. Another 60 would be "minimally maintained," something that had effectively been happening for a couple of decades already. The remainder were considered too dilapidated, unsafe, or infrequently used, and were designated for removal. Some vigorous lobbying from high-country groups resulted in a bit of shuffling around and a few huts being brought back from remove status. The rest were left to be systematically removed.
Minimal Maintenance
DOC defined minimal maintenance as minor repairs to keep a structure sanitary and watertight, however once a hut passed this point, it would be removed. Ironically, the removal costs, if spent instead on maintenance, would have given most huts an extra 15-30 year lease of life. It was pretty obvious that the minimal maintenance regime would inevitably lead to the loss by attrition of all the structures in this category.
This was a wake up call for high-country users and coincided quite nicely with the inception of Permolat and Remote Huts.
The corresponding public outcry in response to hut removal caused DOC to pause and backtrack a little. Permolat's instant popularity and rapid transition into a working collective led to a corresponding a softening in DOC's stance towards community maintenance of huts and tracks. The first maintain-by-community contract for a hut was signed in 2006. Around this time Permolat was given the official go-ahead to re-open and maintain any pre-existing tracks that weren't being maintained by DOC, and in 2013 DOC CEO Lou Sanson announced there would be no more hut removals. Around this time we were given the go ahead to work on any pre-existing tracks that weren't being officially maintained by DOC.
Crystal Biv rebuild 2019
Permolat's Community Hut and Track Projects
Permolat's first group outing in 2005 was the reopening of the route up the mid Kokatahi valley from Boo Boo Hut. In 2006 the first maintain-by-community contract was signed for Scottys Biv in the Taipo valley, which had been designated for removal. Since then the group and other volunteers have done maintenance on 35 huts and bivouacs (see the Huts page) located between the Karamea and Haast rivers. We've also managed to open up most of the old NZFS routes to these structures that DOC hadn't been maintaining, along with a number of key front country and tops access tracks. As a result, the remote back country hut and track networks on the West Coast are in better shape now than they have been for the last 50 years.
Permolat's first group outing in 2005 was the reopening of the route up the mid Kokatahi valley from Boo Boo Hut. In 2006 the first maintain-by-community contract was signed for Scottys Biv in the Taipo valley, which had been designated for removal. Since then the group and other volunteers have done maintenance on 35 huts and bivouacs (see the Huts page) located between the Karamea and Haast rivers. We've also managed to open up most of the old NZFS routes to these structures that DOC hadn't been maintaining, along with a number of key front country and tops access tracks. As a result, the remote back country hut and track networks on the West Coast are in better shape now than they have been for the last 50 years.
Projects Completed 2021
Early 2021 saw trackwork carried out on the Wilson Knob and Griffin valley routes (Andrew Barker), and the Crane Creek/ Rochfort Basin route in the Ahaura catchment (Mauricio Lloreda). Both projects were funded with some old ORC monies that BCT granted us in 2019. In February Permolat funded the installation of a wood burner in the BCT driven Mullins Hut rebuild. The flue was donated by Dwan and Andrews Plumbers in Hokitika. In March Geoff Spearpoint and a crew went into the Waitaha and did some BCT funded maintenance on County Hut. Jane Morris took a team back in there to recut the access track in May. This portion was Permolat funded. Over the year I’ve been doing a bit of work keeping the Mid Kokatahi and Lower Hokitika routes open with help from various others. In July Jane used the remainder of the OCT money to take a crew in and recut the tops tracks on either side of Douglas Saddle in the Mikonui. We used the opportunity to put a new fire surround and do some internal ply repairs at Explorer Hut. Jack Grinstead has continued finishing off work on the Painkiller which is a mountain biking/ walking track near Reefton and held a working bee there in early July. Liz Wightwick took a CTC group in to cut the Boo Boo track in the Kokatahi at the end of the month. In September another Jane project, this time a recut of the track between Kiwi Flat Hut and Moonbeam Hut in the Waitaha. The bottom end of the Scamper Torrent track was cleaned up as well. Liz and her CTC friends did some work on the Yeats Ridge track in the Toaroha in October. The Twins 3-wire in the Kokatahi was damaged by successive floods and removed by DOC in July rendering the mid-valley section on the TR unuseable. In October I took a team in and re-established an old NZFS route up the TL of the valley which will allow continued valley access between Boo Boo Hut and the Crawford and upper Kokatahi rivers.
Canterbury Projects
Volunteer work has been really gearing up on the Eastern side of the Alps, particularly in the last couple of years with Backcountry Trust funding, and DOC Canterbury becoming more amenable to community input. Some of it is Permolat driven, the rest by other groups or individuals. The projects include Minchin, Murphys, Veil, Candlesticks, MacKenzie, Glenrae, Turnbull Ant Stream, Mingha, Puketeraki, Lake Man, Worsley, Lucretia, West Mathias, Canyon Creek and Nina Bivs, and Kowai, Bull Creek, Lochinvar, Cattle Creek, McCoy and Glenrae Huts. The Biv jobs have been major makeovers in most cases. In April 2021 Peter Alspach took a crew in to the Nina and gave Lucretia Biv replaced the fireplace, chimney and roof and relined the interior. A woodshed was also built and the toilet resited. Some of of this work can be viewed on Canterbury Remote Basic Hut Restorations, the latest being a Richard Janssen team effort in October to reopen the route to Stony Stream Biv in the Waiau catchment. This is still a work in progress.
Non-Permolat Projects
High-country volunteer activity has achieved significant momentum around the entire country over the past few years, something we hoped would happen when we started Permolat way back. The Back Country Trust has had a boost of Covid-related Kaimahi for Nature funding from the government resulting in a number of projects we would never have envisaged under the normal set-up. We had a total rebuild of Mullins Hut in the Toaroha valley and plans are afoot for several others in central Westland. Some of our remote tracks also got input including Headlong Spur in the Waitaha which was recut by Hiking NZ employees. DOC has been freed up to a degree by all of this this and has been able to catch up on some outstanding maintenance on Huts like Scamper Torrent in the Waitaha valley and Top Tuke. in the Mikonui catchment. In February 2021 the construction of a brand new 8-bunk hut was completed on the Mataketake Range near Haast. This was funded by a bequeath from the Andy Dennis Estate, was led by Rob Brown, and involved 13 builders from the community and two from DOC Hokitika. The Back Country Trust will own and co-maintain the Hut with DOC and access is via a new track was cut by volunteers, DOC staff, and Kaimahi for Nature workers.
Volunteer Trackwork
Unofficial trackwork had been occurring in certain areas prior to Permolat's inception, and from 2005 onward we began opening up some of the unmaintained and overgrown routes. An informal agreement with the Westland Conservator around 2006 allowed Permolat to work on tracks on public conservation land. The proviso was that we used historic markers (permolat in this case) and not their orange triangles. Permolat was the name given to the venetian blind strips that were used by the NZFS to mark tracks. This trackwork is continuing and the Tracks page on this site lists their condition, maintenance status, and who is responsible for their upkeep. It is becoming increasingly common now to see loppers sticking out of trampers' packs and folk are starting to catch on that it's OK to cut an overgrown track. We see this as a healthy paradigm shift back to a community empowerment model.
Planned Projects
Justin LeSueur has approached Permolat and plans to use some BCT funding we were granted, to go in with a group in October and do some work on the Brian O'Lynn track which provides access to Lake Morgan Hut. Mauricio Lloreda is keen to clean up the Logjam Creek tops route in the Waikiti. This will happen weather permitting in early November. DOC have decided to do a rebuild of Scottys Biv in the Taipo this spring and BCT have set aside $10,000 for Permolat Trust to co-work on this project and recut the access track at the end of the Tara Tama Range. Dunns Hut in the Taipo, Yeats Ridge Hut in the Toaroha, Cone Creek Hut in the Haupiri, and Johnson Hut in the Mokihinui will also get BCT assisted rebuilds sometime in the near future. Rocky Creek Biv in the Taipo will get some BCT assisted maintenance. Andrew Barker is interested in recutting the route into Kakapo Hut in the Karamea. This will hopefully piggyback on some BCT-funded hut maintenance there in the coming summer. Louisa Hines and Hayden Miller did some great work recently opening up the route from the Little Wanganui to Lawrence Saddle and are keen to help on Andrew's project. Ted Brennan and Annie Hughes of Bold Head are planning some maintenance on Price Basin Hut and Ted and the Ross Community Group want to do up an old miner’s hut on Mt. Greenland. This will appear on the Remote Huts website at some point and provide another easy frontal country experience for trampers.
Funding
For the first 10 years of its existence, Permolat's funding for various projects came solely from donations by the many generous individuals who supported our cause. Earth Sea Sky gave us our first big donation of $4000, and in 2013 we received a $10,000 seeding grant from DOC. In 2014 we saw the establishment of the Community Conservation Partnership Fund from which DOC would distribute $26 million over a four year period to support volunteers doing conservation and recreation work in the high country. Around 300-400k per anum went to the Outdoor Recreation Consortium, which later became the Back Country Trust, which is an alliance of Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC), the NZ Deerstalkers Association, and TRAILS (a mountain biking organisation). The Trust divvys the money between the three organisations. More funding has been made available post-covid under the Kaimahi For Nature banner to help keep Workers in the tourism sector in employment. This has helped boost significantly the number of high-country maintenance projects that took place in the summer/ autumn of 20/ 21. All of the above represents a devolution of DOC's functions to the community sector, and from Permolat's perspective it's one of the best things that could have happened as it gives a significant degree of ownership back to user groups. You can keep astride of the Trust's work and some of the public feedback around it on the Huts And Tracks Facebook Page.
Ruahine Group and Permolat Southland
In 2012 a Ruahine Users Group was added to the Permolat online platform. There had been big cutbacks in DOC's high-country maintenance programme in the Ruahine Forest park, with up to 50% of the huts being dropped from their schedule. In August 2021 a new Ruahine Group platform was established with Julia Mackie of the Napier Tramping Club as Group Administrator.
In 2017 Alastair Macdonald set up a Permolat Southland group with an associated Facebook page. The Group has charity status and there is plenty to do down that way for aspiring volunteers. Trackwork is needed on the Hump Range to South Coast route, the Lake Hauroko to Lake Poteriteri track, the track into Tautuku Hut in the Catlins, and the Boyd Stream to Dunton Swamp track. There are a few huts that need a bit of a makeover; Ashton Hut, Mansion Hut, Irthing Hut, Tautuku Hut, and the Garston Ski Hut.
How You Can Help
Permolat wants to promote a culture of community ownership and responsibility for remote high-country facilities. This includes track and hut checks and maintenance, but also keeping tabs on things for us so we can update the website in real-time. If you are visiting one of the huts or using the tracks or routes covered by the Website, please make a note of hut and track conditions, any changes, and use the contact link to provide updates. The high-country is constantly on the move and we want to keep the information we provide current. This is very important for the low-use facilities. If you are unsure of the maintenance status of a hut or track, check the relevant web-page. DOC still need to be informed about repairs needed to their fully maintained huts and tracks.
Carry some lightweight loppers and a small fold-up pruning saw when using tracks that aren't officially maintained. An amazing amount can be done with these simple tools to keep the trails open. A roll of cruise tape is handy for keeping key entry and exit points marked, and for marking routes around windthrow. Build rock cairns at these places if existing markers have been obscured or washed out.
DOC Involvement And Recent Changes
DOC staff on the Coast have always been supportive of Permolat and regularly assist us and other community groups with projects. They have often provided materials, hut paint under the Dulux scheme, and backloads of materials to hut sites when doing their own work in the area. We co-work on some of their projects and volunteers can sometimes accompany DOC maintenance staff on official maintenance projects. Permolat Trust has a general Management Agreement with the Department that allows us to undertake larger projects. DOC's previous Director General Lou Sanson, grew up in Hokitika and used the local networks extensively and was been incredibly supportive of our activities up until his retirement this year. Previously recalcitrant and often obstructive conservancies or individuals in the DOC hierachy have started behaving more nicely to community groups, and indication of a bit of trickle down from above.
Early 2021 saw trackwork carried out on the Wilson Knob and Griffin valley routes (Andrew Barker), and the Crane Creek/ Rochfort Basin route in the Ahaura catchment (Mauricio Lloreda). Both projects were funded with some old ORC monies that BCT granted us in 2019. In February Permolat funded the installation of a wood burner in the BCT driven Mullins Hut rebuild. The flue was donated by Dwan and Andrews Plumbers in Hokitika. In March Geoff Spearpoint and a crew went into the Waitaha and did some BCT funded maintenance on County Hut. Jane Morris took a team back in there to recut the access track in May. This portion was Permolat funded. Over the year I’ve been doing a bit of work keeping the Mid Kokatahi and Lower Hokitika routes open with help from various others. In July Jane used the remainder of the OCT money to take a crew in and recut the tops tracks on either side of Douglas Saddle in the Mikonui. We used the opportunity to put a new fire surround and do some internal ply repairs at Explorer Hut. Jack Grinstead has continued finishing off work on the Painkiller which is a mountain biking/ walking track near Reefton and held a working bee there in early July. Liz Wightwick took a CTC group in to cut the Boo Boo track in the Kokatahi at the end of the month. In September another Jane project, this time a recut of the track between Kiwi Flat Hut and Moonbeam Hut in the Waitaha. The bottom end of the Scamper Torrent track was cleaned up as well. Liz and her CTC friends did some work on the Yeats Ridge track in the Toaroha in October. The Twins 3-wire in the Kokatahi was damaged by successive floods and removed by DOC in July rendering the mid-valley section on the TR unuseable. In October I took a team in and re-established an old NZFS route up the TL of the valley which will allow continued valley access between Boo Boo Hut and the Crawford and upper Kokatahi rivers.
Canterbury Projects
Volunteer work has been really gearing up on the Eastern side of the Alps, particularly in the last couple of years with Backcountry Trust funding, and DOC Canterbury becoming more amenable to community input. Some of it is Permolat driven, the rest by other groups or individuals. The projects include Minchin, Murphys, Veil, Candlesticks, MacKenzie, Glenrae, Turnbull Ant Stream, Mingha, Puketeraki, Lake Man, Worsley, Lucretia, West Mathias, Canyon Creek and Nina Bivs, and Kowai, Bull Creek, Lochinvar, Cattle Creek, McCoy and Glenrae Huts. The Biv jobs have been major makeovers in most cases. In April 2021 Peter Alspach took a crew in to the Nina and gave Lucretia Biv replaced the fireplace, chimney and roof and relined the interior. A woodshed was also built and the toilet resited. Some of of this work can be viewed on Canterbury Remote Basic Hut Restorations, the latest being a Richard Janssen team effort in October to reopen the route to Stony Stream Biv in the Waiau catchment. This is still a work in progress.
Non-Permolat Projects
High-country volunteer activity has achieved significant momentum around the entire country over the past few years, something we hoped would happen when we started Permolat way back. The Back Country Trust has had a boost of Covid-related Kaimahi for Nature funding from the government resulting in a number of projects we would never have envisaged under the normal set-up. We had a total rebuild of Mullins Hut in the Toaroha valley and plans are afoot for several others in central Westland. Some of our remote tracks also got input including Headlong Spur in the Waitaha which was recut by Hiking NZ employees. DOC has been freed up to a degree by all of this this and has been able to catch up on some outstanding maintenance on Huts like Scamper Torrent in the Waitaha valley and Top Tuke. in the Mikonui catchment. In February 2021 the construction of a brand new 8-bunk hut was completed on the Mataketake Range near Haast. This was funded by a bequeath from the Andy Dennis Estate, was led by Rob Brown, and involved 13 builders from the community and two from DOC Hokitika. The Back Country Trust will own and co-maintain the Hut with DOC and access is via a new track was cut by volunteers, DOC staff, and Kaimahi for Nature workers.
Volunteer Trackwork
Unofficial trackwork had been occurring in certain areas prior to Permolat's inception, and from 2005 onward we began opening up some of the unmaintained and overgrown routes. An informal agreement with the Westland Conservator around 2006 allowed Permolat to work on tracks on public conservation land. The proviso was that we used historic markers (permolat in this case) and not their orange triangles. Permolat was the name given to the venetian blind strips that were used by the NZFS to mark tracks. This trackwork is continuing and the Tracks page on this site lists their condition, maintenance status, and who is responsible for their upkeep. It is becoming increasingly common now to see loppers sticking out of trampers' packs and folk are starting to catch on that it's OK to cut an overgrown track. We see this as a healthy paradigm shift back to a community empowerment model.
Planned Projects
Justin LeSueur has approached Permolat and plans to use some BCT funding we were granted, to go in with a group in October and do some work on the Brian O'Lynn track which provides access to Lake Morgan Hut. Mauricio Lloreda is keen to clean up the Logjam Creek tops route in the Waikiti. This will happen weather permitting in early November. DOC have decided to do a rebuild of Scottys Biv in the Taipo this spring and BCT have set aside $10,000 for Permolat Trust to co-work on this project and recut the access track at the end of the Tara Tama Range. Dunns Hut in the Taipo, Yeats Ridge Hut in the Toaroha, Cone Creek Hut in the Haupiri, and Johnson Hut in the Mokihinui will also get BCT assisted rebuilds sometime in the near future. Rocky Creek Biv in the Taipo will get some BCT assisted maintenance. Andrew Barker is interested in recutting the route into Kakapo Hut in the Karamea. This will hopefully piggyback on some BCT-funded hut maintenance there in the coming summer. Louisa Hines and Hayden Miller did some great work recently opening up the route from the Little Wanganui to Lawrence Saddle and are keen to help on Andrew's project. Ted Brennan and Annie Hughes of Bold Head are planning some maintenance on Price Basin Hut and Ted and the Ross Community Group want to do up an old miner’s hut on Mt. Greenland. This will appear on the Remote Huts website at some point and provide another easy frontal country experience for trampers.
Funding
For the first 10 years of its existence, Permolat's funding for various projects came solely from donations by the many generous individuals who supported our cause. Earth Sea Sky gave us our first big donation of $4000, and in 2013 we received a $10,000 seeding grant from DOC. In 2014 we saw the establishment of the Community Conservation Partnership Fund from which DOC would distribute $26 million over a four year period to support volunteers doing conservation and recreation work in the high country. Around 300-400k per anum went to the Outdoor Recreation Consortium, which later became the Back Country Trust, which is an alliance of Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC), the NZ Deerstalkers Association, and TRAILS (a mountain biking organisation). The Trust divvys the money between the three organisations. More funding has been made available post-covid under the Kaimahi For Nature banner to help keep Workers in the tourism sector in employment. This has helped boost significantly the number of high-country maintenance projects that took place in the summer/ autumn of 20/ 21. All of the above represents a devolution of DOC's functions to the community sector, and from Permolat's perspective it's one of the best things that could have happened as it gives a significant degree of ownership back to user groups. You can keep astride of the Trust's work and some of the public feedback around it on the Huts And Tracks Facebook Page.
Ruahine Group and Permolat Southland
In 2012 a Ruahine Users Group was added to the Permolat online platform. There had been big cutbacks in DOC's high-country maintenance programme in the Ruahine Forest park, with up to 50% of the huts being dropped from their schedule. In August 2021 a new Ruahine Group platform was established with Julia Mackie of the Napier Tramping Club as Group Administrator.
In 2017 Alastair Macdonald set up a Permolat Southland group with an associated Facebook page. The Group has charity status and there is plenty to do down that way for aspiring volunteers. Trackwork is needed on the Hump Range to South Coast route, the Lake Hauroko to Lake Poteriteri track, the track into Tautuku Hut in the Catlins, and the Boyd Stream to Dunton Swamp track. There are a few huts that need a bit of a makeover; Ashton Hut, Mansion Hut, Irthing Hut, Tautuku Hut, and the Garston Ski Hut.
How You Can Help
Permolat wants to promote a culture of community ownership and responsibility for remote high-country facilities. This includes track and hut checks and maintenance, but also keeping tabs on things for us so we can update the website in real-time. If you are visiting one of the huts or using the tracks or routes covered by the Website, please make a note of hut and track conditions, any changes, and use the contact link to provide updates. The high-country is constantly on the move and we want to keep the information we provide current. This is very important for the low-use facilities. If you are unsure of the maintenance status of a hut or track, check the relevant web-page. DOC still need to be informed about repairs needed to their fully maintained huts and tracks.
Carry some lightweight loppers and a small fold-up pruning saw when using tracks that aren't officially maintained. An amazing amount can be done with these simple tools to keep the trails open. A roll of cruise tape is handy for keeping key entry and exit points marked, and for marking routes around windthrow. Build rock cairns at these places if existing markers have been obscured or washed out.
DOC Involvement And Recent Changes
DOC staff on the Coast have always been supportive of Permolat and regularly assist us and other community groups with projects. They have often provided materials, hut paint under the Dulux scheme, and backloads of materials to hut sites when doing their own work in the area. We co-work on some of their projects and volunteers can sometimes accompany DOC maintenance staff on official maintenance projects. Permolat Trust has a general Management Agreement with the Department that allows us to undertake larger projects. DOC's previous Director General Lou Sanson, grew up in Hokitika and used the local networks extensively and was been incredibly supportive of our activities up until his retirement this year. Previously recalcitrant and often obstructive conservancies or individuals in the DOC hierachy have started behaving more nicely to community groups, and indication of a bit of trickle down from above.
Remaining Barriers
There are still a few tensions at the volunteer/ DOC interface, the most common and irritating being a pervasive culture of safteyism within the department that translates to extreme risk aversion and a need to micromanage perfectly competent volunteers. The health, safety, and compliance industry has become bloated and pathological and is stifling productivity, creativity, and innovation, ostensibly to improve safety, but in reality to avoid liability. There are some mind boggling examples, such as our two metre long, two-person bivouacs needing to have a fire exit sign on their one and only door. DOC have spent thousands of dollars flying workers in to install guard rails on the top bunks of their huts, but have no money for their basic weatherproofing or the maintenance of other vital structures like swingbridges. The volunteers involved in the back-country movement have a collective wealth of skill and experience in managing risk and can do this sensibly. Instead we are required to fill in ridiculously complex health and safety plans for fairly simple low-risk activities. DOC's risk matrices are predicated on something called "base rate neglect." This is where you prioritise what is casually possible, rather than statistically probable. Something that has a very low probability of happening but potential high lethality is considered high risk. One dead possum in a water tank in Nelson Lakes leads to boil water signs in every hut in the country, flown in of course. These are disempowement models and are as equally frustrating for DOC field workers as they are for volunteers. Managed risk, as all high-country users know, is an integral part of the challenge and mystique of any remote experience. Many of the regulations developed for urban building sites aren't relevant or necessary for the basic huts we have any interest in.
A Two-Tier Back-Country System?
A two-tier system of high-country facilities has been developing over the past couple of decades. One is busy and crowded, expensive, super-safe and sanitised. Every stream is bridged and bluff fenced, elaborate and unnecessary structures abound surrounded by clusters of humourless warning signs. The second tier exists off the radar and comprises the not too insignificant remnants of the old NZFS networks. This is a zone of simple shelters and rough unformed tracks and is the preferred abode of the remote hutter. A parallel universe in which there is great beauty and the opportunity still to experience true wilderness solitude. Places where self-responsibility, self-sufficiency, risk and challenge, are essential ingredients of the journey.
There are still a few tensions at the volunteer/ DOC interface, the most common and irritating being a pervasive culture of safteyism within the department that translates to extreme risk aversion and a need to micromanage perfectly competent volunteers. The health, safety, and compliance industry has become bloated and pathological and is stifling productivity, creativity, and innovation, ostensibly to improve safety, but in reality to avoid liability. There are some mind boggling examples, such as our two metre long, two-person bivouacs needing to have a fire exit sign on their one and only door. DOC have spent thousands of dollars flying workers in to install guard rails on the top bunks of their huts, but have no money for their basic weatherproofing or the maintenance of other vital structures like swingbridges. The volunteers involved in the back-country movement have a collective wealth of skill and experience in managing risk and can do this sensibly. Instead we are required to fill in ridiculously complex health and safety plans for fairly simple low-risk activities. DOC's risk matrices are predicated on something called "base rate neglect." This is where you prioritise what is casually possible, rather than statistically probable. Something that has a very low probability of happening but potential high lethality is considered high risk. One dead possum in a water tank in Nelson Lakes leads to boil water signs in every hut in the country, flown in of course. These are disempowement models and are as equally frustrating for DOC field workers as they are for volunteers. Managed risk, as all high-country users know, is an integral part of the challenge and mystique of any remote experience. Many of the regulations developed for urban building sites aren't relevant or necessary for the basic huts we have any interest in.
A Two-Tier Back-Country System?
A two-tier system of high-country facilities has been developing over the past couple of decades. One is busy and crowded, expensive, super-safe and sanitised. Every stream is bridged and bluff fenced, elaborate and unnecessary structures abound surrounded by clusters of humourless warning signs. The second tier exists off the radar and comprises the not too insignificant remnants of the old NZFS networks. This is a zone of simple shelters and rough unformed tracks and is the preferred abode of the remote hutter. A parallel universe in which there is great beauty and the opportunity still to experience true wilderness solitude. Places where self-responsibility, self-sufficiency, risk and challenge, are essential ingredients of the journey.
A Short Summary
Our need for connection with nature is primordial, enigmatic and powerful. It propels us out of air-conditioned offices and cosy cafes into remote valleys in which crude shelters beckon, with a curl of smoke rising from their chimneys, and views that take the breath away. The pull of these places is not likely to lessen, particularly as pressure increases on the more publicised, higher use facilities. Departmental management of the tourism/ recreation interface (often serving political and corporate agendas), has been poor and piecemeal and led to overcrowding and rationing on the more popular walking circuits and National Parks. The wilderness is commodified in outdoor magazines, and packaged and flogged off to consumers. The revitalisation of the old remote hut and track system is in many ways an understandable development. And it's pretty clear now too, that the future of low-use facilities will rest in, and be better served, by the user groups, rather than governmental agencies. This is great as it ensures they'll be looked after a lot better. You may well ask how it is a disparate and quite small group of high country users can be that effective and achieve so much in a relatively short time (volunteers are reputedly four times more cost effective with this type of mahi). Aside from passion and a love of the outdoors it comes down to innovation and insight that hasn't yet been snuffed out by bureaucracy and dogma.
Our need for connection with nature is primordial, enigmatic and powerful. It propels us out of air-conditioned offices and cosy cafes into remote valleys in which crude shelters beckon, with a curl of smoke rising from their chimneys, and views that take the breath away. The pull of these places is not likely to lessen, particularly as pressure increases on the more publicised, higher use facilities. Departmental management of the tourism/ recreation interface (often serving political and corporate agendas), has been poor and piecemeal and led to overcrowding and rationing on the more popular walking circuits and National Parks. The wilderness is commodified in outdoor magazines, and packaged and flogged off to consumers. The revitalisation of the old remote hut and track system is in many ways an understandable development. And it's pretty clear now too, that the future of low-use facilities will rest in, and be better served, by the user groups, rather than governmental agencies. This is great as it ensures they'll be looked after a lot better. You may well ask how it is a disparate and quite small group of high country users can be that effective and achieve so much in a relatively short time (volunteers are reputedly four times more cost effective with this type of mahi). Aside from passion and a love of the outdoors it comes down to innovation and insight that hasn't yet been snuffed out by bureaucracy and dogma.
The Ubiquitous Disclaimer
EXPERIENCE, PHYSICAL FITNESS, AND ADEQUATE GEAR AND PROVISIONS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR VENTURING INTO THE REMOTE HUT ZONE!!! Experience here relates to the New Zealand high-country, not Alaska, or the Swiss Alps. Even experienced foreign outdoor types are going to be lacking some unique skill sets essential for an enjoyable and safe experience over here. Bush and river travel, unformed or overgrown tracks, untracked alpine routes, and weather!! Many of the huts and bivs on this site are in remote rugged, settings and some can only be accessed by high-altitude routes. Having the right gear and equipment is essential as high-country weather is extreme and can at any time of year change from sun to blizzard in in a matter of hours. A 10km wide strip on the West Coast's frontal ranges gets around 10 metres of rain per anum and most of the huts on this site are situated in this band. The Cropp River in the Whitcombe valley holds NZ's record rainfall measurement, 1049mm rain over a 48 hour period in 1995. Rivers and side-creeks rise rapidly during heavy rain and become impossible to cross. Most of the latter are unbridged. Following untracked rivers or creeks needs to be done with prior knowledge of their navigability due to the numerous waterfalls and gorges that typify watercourses here. Alpine crossings above 1500m are likely to be snow covered from winter through to early summer. The snow tends to burn off below 1800m in most places by late summer and the tops may remain bare into early winter. Heavy snowfalls are more common in winter, but can occur at any time of the year, and you need need to be prepared for this. A full alpine kit will be needed for some crossings during the colder months, ice axes, crampons, and ropes in some cases. The bushline and permanent snowline are much lower here than they are in Europe or parts of North America, If you are not experienced in all or any of the above, get yourself a guide who is, or talk to DOC about an easier walk.
Track And Travel Times On This Website
We frequently get feedback that the travel times posted on the website are unrealistically fast. Our times are based on what could reasonably be expected from someone who is fit, and experienced IN THIS TYPE OF COUNTRY. Fitness and strength alone are not sufficient and the times provided should are not comparable to those given for tourist grade tracks in National Parks, or other parts of the country which are calibrated to take into account the less experienced and fit. Track times can vary considerably with weather conditions, and may alter overnight due to slips, washouts and tree fall. Estimates for tops travel are for the snow-free months, late summer and autumn. Travel can be just as fast in winter if the snow is firm, or considerably slower if the snow is soft and deep, or icy.
Contact Us Or Join Permolat
Information, updates, comments and suggestions along with join requests can be emailed from our contact page. We also Permolat Facebook that allows you to connect with others who share an interest in preservation and maintenance activities.
Thanks
A warm thanks to all who have supported us over the years with their time, labour, photos, support, feedback, donations and encouragement. From the Permolat Trustees: Craig Benbow, Andrew Buglass, Joke de Rijke, Alan Jemison, Paul Reid, Geoff Spearpoint and Hugh van Noorden.
EXPERIENCE, PHYSICAL FITNESS, AND ADEQUATE GEAR AND PROVISIONS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR VENTURING INTO THE REMOTE HUT ZONE!!! Experience here relates to the New Zealand high-country, not Alaska, or the Swiss Alps. Even experienced foreign outdoor types are going to be lacking some unique skill sets essential for an enjoyable and safe experience over here. Bush and river travel, unformed or overgrown tracks, untracked alpine routes, and weather!! Many of the huts and bivs on this site are in remote rugged, settings and some can only be accessed by high-altitude routes. Having the right gear and equipment is essential as high-country weather is extreme and can at any time of year change from sun to blizzard in in a matter of hours. A 10km wide strip on the West Coast's frontal ranges gets around 10 metres of rain per anum and most of the huts on this site are situated in this band. The Cropp River in the Whitcombe valley holds NZ's record rainfall measurement, 1049mm rain over a 48 hour period in 1995. Rivers and side-creeks rise rapidly during heavy rain and become impossible to cross. Most of the latter are unbridged. Following untracked rivers or creeks needs to be done with prior knowledge of their navigability due to the numerous waterfalls and gorges that typify watercourses here. Alpine crossings above 1500m are likely to be snow covered from winter through to early summer. The snow tends to burn off below 1800m in most places by late summer and the tops may remain bare into early winter. Heavy snowfalls are more common in winter, but can occur at any time of the year, and you need need to be prepared for this. A full alpine kit will be needed for some crossings during the colder months, ice axes, crampons, and ropes in some cases. The bushline and permanent snowline are much lower here than they are in Europe or parts of North America, If you are not experienced in all or any of the above, get yourself a guide who is, or talk to DOC about an easier walk.
Track And Travel Times On This Website
We frequently get feedback that the travel times posted on the website are unrealistically fast. Our times are based on what could reasonably be expected from someone who is fit, and experienced IN THIS TYPE OF COUNTRY. Fitness and strength alone are not sufficient and the times provided should are not comparable to those given for tourist grade tracks in National Parks, or other parts of the country which are calibrated to take into account the less experienced and fit. Track times can vary considerably with weather conditions, and may alter overnight due to slips, washouts and tree fall. Estimates for tops travel are for the snow-free months, late summer and autumn. Travel can be just as fast in winter if the snow is firm, or considerably slower if the snow is soft and deep, or icy.
Contact Us Or Join Permolat
Information, updates, comments and suggestions along with join requests can be emailed from our contact page. We also Permolat Facebook that allows you to connect with others who share an interest in preservation and maintenance activities.
Thanks
A warm thanks to all who have supported us over the years with their time, labour, photos, support, feedback, donations and encouragement. From the Permolat Trustees: Craig Benbow, Andrew Buglass, Joke de Rijke, Alan Jemison, Paul Reid, Geoff Spearpoint and Hugh van Noorden.
