Tongariro Northern Circuit off the table for most this season

Oturere Hut is more than 50 years old. Photo / RNZ

By Kate Green of RNZ

One of the country’s Great Walks will not be opening as usual this season, but walkers on the Tongariro Northern Circuit can look forward to a brand new hut in years to come.

Libby O’Brien, the Department of Conservation’s (DoC) operations manager for Tongariro, in the central North Island, said the department was working with local hapū Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro on a replacement for Oturere Hut.

At more than 50 years old, it had sprung a few leaks.

“It just doesn’t give a good visitor experience,” O’Brien said. “It doesn’t meet the standards that we want to deliver with the Great Walk. It’s time for it to be replaced with something a little bit more fit for purpose.”

That meant the Great Walk experience was off the table for now.

People would still be able to book the other huts on the circuit individually, with those bookings expected to open in July.

But the walk between the two huts on either side - Mangatepopo and Waihohonu - without stopping at Oturere was 20km, and would take between 8 and 10 hours.

That was twice the distance visitors would normally walk on those second and third days, and the route passed through steep, rough alpine terrain with fast-changing, extreme weather.

While the tracks were open, DoC did not recommend people hike between Mangatepopo and Waihohonu unless they were very fit and experienced backcountry trampers, carrying the right gear to be self-sufficient.

The new hut was in the final planning stages, with construction due to begin in the summer, when there would be longer daylight hours and less harsh alpine conditions for the construction team.

“We can sometimes expect snow right up until the end of every year,” O’Brien explained.

They would be flying building materials in by helicopter, but to keep costs low, the team would stay on-site in the old hut.

It would be “slightly different from the normal rectangle hut that people know and love,” O’Brien said, and would mean an improved experience for walkers for years to come.

-RNZ