Tongariro tramping is 60

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 638, 28 May 1996, Page 10

Tongariro tramping is 60

Tramping stories spanning sixty years will be bouncing around Ohakune this weekend when members of the Tongariro Tramping Club get together to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the formation of the club. It was originally known as the Ohakune Mountain Club with the first meeting held at the Ohakune Plunket rooms on 1 June 1936, chairedbyMrTA(Joey) Blyth. This name was short-lived, being re-named the Tongariro Tramping Club at their second meeting a week later. "The intention is that we should get together one evening in Ohakune or Raetihi, for dinner and a few toasts to ourselves, and run a day-trip in an area that has historical interest for the club," said president Brian McKeon.

The reunion starts with a get-together at the Hobbit on Saturday followed by dinner then talks by old identities, slides, passing around of photographs, reminiscing, boasting about old trips and planning of future trips. A number of trips with varying demands of physical fitness will be on offer on Sunday — a walk into Mangaiti Hut from the Ohakune Mountain Road and out to Horopito from Mangaiti Hut, by the old route. Other ideas are welcome. If there is sufficient interest the trampers may walk over the old route from Mangaiti Hut to the Mangaturuturu Valley, the Mangaturuturu Hut (formerly the Wanganui Tramping Club Hut), and out to the Mountain Road via the Round the Mountain Track and the Cascades.