After three years and plenty of mahi, Paul and Shelley Hersey’s much-anticipated guidebook The High Pathways: Mountain scrambles and snow climbs of Te Waipounamu has been published.

The book features a hit list of over 100 mountaineering routes aimed at beginners. Leigh Hopkinson interviewed Paul and Shelley for this month's Track Chat and discovers which mountain scramble is their favourite.

Missed yesterday’s feature? Zigzag through the bush on this attractive Tararua loop.

Te Araroa Trail is approximately 3,000km. But as the crow flies how far is it from Cape Reigna to Bluff?

Scroll to the bottom of this email for the answer…

After the club’s annual Christmas trip, four young members tramped north up the Hopkins Valley, over Tragedy Col and into the headwaters of the Dobson Valley. From there they climbed up onto Barron Saddle and hunkered down inside Three Johns Hut during a violent storm. Tragically, the hut’s restraining wires broke and the building was blown off a bluff. One of the deceased, Fenella Druce, is remembered in the building of Fenella Hut in Kahurangi National Park.

With crunchy summer vegetables and thin noodles, this dish is great for warmer days and is also delicious served cold.

At home, make the dressing by whisking together the wasabi, honey, sesame oil, soy sauce and lemon juice. Taste, adding more wasabi for heat, honey, lemon juice etc until it’s balanced to your liking. Transfer to a secure container.

At camp, bring a pot of water to boil.

Tip in the noodles and cook as per the packet instructions. Chop vegetables into matchsticks or desired shape and add to the pot when there is no more than two minutes remaining on the timer. Drain the water out when the noodles are done, then mix through the pre-prepared dressing. Divide between four bowls and garnish with the spring onion and seeds.

On Monday we asked Wilderness Daily readers if your base weight was ultralight, lightweight or heavy.

The results are in: 62% of you are lightweight trampers, 32% are lugging heavy packs and 6% of you go ultralight.

Here is a selection of comments from readers:

[Heavy] “Old school take the kitchen sink approach ”

[Lightweight] “I used to be in the ‘heavy’ category but as your number goes up, weight shedding is prioritised.”

[Lightweight] “9 isn't heavy, and frankly it's both elitist and unsafe to keep pushing "ultralight" as a goal in the New Zealand environment. This isn't California, 10 pound base weights require gear that doesn't hold up to New Zealanders conditions. ”

[Ultralight] “I do day trips only. Summer time base weight 3kg, winter about 4.5 to 5.5”

Answer B - 1400km

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