Check out our annual report for 2021-22 here.
Welcome to spring!
Already it feels decidedly warmer and there's the smell of new growth in the air.
We've had many plantings in the park over the last couple of weeks, and all have gone smoothly. We're very fortunate to have had no illness or show-stopping storms.
Penny, Andrew and I did get a tad wet on Aratihi, but nothing quite like the previous visit with Claire. Most importantly, we finished off that area and made such an encouraging start on that end of Missing Link, that we got an extra two dozen seedlings (thanks to Forest & Bird) to infill the northeast half of Missing Link (done this evening, thanks to help from Caroline).
Last Thursday Sarah and I finished off the Trickle Falls planting, moving further up the valley than ever before, with shade-tolerant miro, pukatea, porokaiwhiri and kohekohe.
Earlier that day, an enthusiastic group from WSP helped plant along upper Pohatu, Peak Flow and lower North Face. Planting over such a large area was a bit of a logistical challenge, but the group were certainly up for it.
On Saturday our standard work party did another hike-n-plant session, this time on Sally Alley, Three Brothers, Smokin and Rimu. Three families turned up and we had just enough people to deal with five trays (containing a wide variety of seedlings, each needing its own special niche).
Then on Monday, Peter brought a keen bunch of his workmates to the park to plant in the lower Koru area. That was to help get pukatea, nikau, and matai re-established there.
Just three planting parties left this season, and they are all going to be excellent!
- 10am Sat the 3rd Sept - meet at the end of South Karori Rd, then walk into Bail Out to finish off the big planting mission at the new enclosures. This one involves a pretty decent walk in, and about a hundred seedlings in rocky ground, so we're hoping for a really good turnout.
- 10am Sat the 10th Sept - meet at the top of Makara Hill Rd for planting up the new section of the T4 climb (which has yet to be opened to the public). This is a corner of the park you've probably never seen. It's well worth checking out.
- 10am Sunday the 18th Sept - that's right, Sunday. That's so Ranger Mark can make it along and join in on our end-of-season feast. He's been sooooo helpful ferrying tools and seedlings around the park for us this winter. We aim to do some releasing at the Kohanga (planting 30 seedlings in any gaps we find along the way) and celebrate with some really nice kai at the end.
Hope to see some of you soon. If not, thanks again for helping restore Makara Peak to her former glory this winter.
Simon Kennett
Planting Lead
The 2022 AGM is on at 6pm, Tuesday 13 September at the Karori Rec Centre.
Do you love Mākara Peak? Keen to help us make this special place even better? Come along to our AGM for a chat, or better yet join a committee!
Any and all help is welcome, but if you’ve got skills in comms/socials, events, fundraising we’d be even more stoked.
We’re keen for some diversity on our committees, which tend to skew middle aged male, so if that’s not you, even better!
Kicking off with Pizza and refreshments, a bit of chat, brief formalities and then the floor is open for any questions or suggestions.
If you can’t make it but have a burning question or brilliant idea, send us a message.
All welcome!
Thanks to the 400+ people who completed our Park Survey! We’ll share insights over the coming weeks, but first we’re going to announce the 2022 Top 10 most popular tracks at Mākara Peak. As voted by you.
10: Leaping Lizard.
Starting along an old farm track with a mix of jumps and punishing pinch climbs, you’re rewarded with a brake burning, arm cramping plummet down to the bottom end of the park. Remote and rough, the track doesn’t usually get much maintenance - until this year when we worked with WCC to fix the drainage and ruts. Feedback says it’s running as good as ever.
What do you reckon? Love it or hate it? Do you ride it often?
Leaping Lizard on Trailforks.
9: SWIGG
The Swirly Whirly Green Goat track (great name!) is a classic intermediate singletrack that winds it’s way back down to the main entrance, through some nice regenerating native bush.
What makes it popular? It’s a trail of two halves so you get a bit of variety: the top is older-school narrow singletrack, the lower (built in 2019) is still pretty narrow, but a bit more flowy. The trees are quite close to you, so it feels like you’re going faster than you probably are 😂.
It’s an ideal trail to help progress your skills, with the bermed switchbacks offering safe but challenging opportunities to practice your cornering skills. It can also be fun for more advanced riders who want to rail the berms and test their nerves dodging the slightly to close (in places) trees.
SWIGG on Trailforks
8: Trickle Falls
Number 8 in the 2022 Top 10 most popular tracks at Mākara Peak: Trickle Falls.
A narrow and steep technical singletrack with some awkward drops and optional jumps. Precise bike handling and willingness to hold speed over chunk can help make it flow. Infamous for the permanently damp rocky drop near the bottom next to a picturesque waterfall.
We recently moved the trail away from the stream to stop it being washed away in heavy rain, building a new rock feature in the process.
Leads to it’s bigger and uglier sibling, Yeah Gnar.
7: Peak Flow
Number seven on our top 10 most popular trails at Mākara Peak in 2022 - the trail that many of you love, and many of you love to hate (btw it’s open!😅): Peak Flow!
A track that for some reason polarises riders, it remains super popular with intermediate-grade riders due to its wide bench and good site lines. It gets hammered by the weather and you’ll regularly find Ranger Mark or TGL smashing rocks to keep things in check.
Did you know: the rough line where Peak Flow was built, was originally earmarked for a new climbing trail (that eventually became Upswing). WCC came up with some budget and @southstartrailsnz built the trail. The pesky climb was necessary due to a massive rock bluff that was impossible to go around.
Peak Flow has also claimed more than its fair share of victims, with the rescue chopper being called out quite a few times!
Whaddaya reckon? Great or grates?
6: Live Wires
Number 6 in our Top 10 most popular track at Mākara Peak in 2022 (as voted by you!)….
Live Wires! A hugely popular trail that started life as a farming access track, was then an OG climbing trail, and then morphed into the electrifying downhill we all know and love.
It’s got just enough features to keep you interested - the rocky chute into the left hand berm can catch you out even if you’ve ridden it 100s of times.
We’re currently rebuilding the easier dark blue/advanced section of trail which had turned into a single long water rut over time. Come along on Sunday afternoon and lend a hand!
Wellington almost ran out of pitch forks when the Park’s master plan recommended Live Wires be returned to a climbing trail. Happily we’ve managed to come up with an alternative option that won’t see that happen!
Planting season is in full swing! We had the final Kohanga planting and we also finished off the lower exclosure and area between the exclosures!
The weather played ball and the WORD turnout in the afternoon was impressive (and also productive). Those WORD kids have a lot of energy!
Planting schedule
Come along and help us restore Makara Peak into a thriving native forest. It’s a great way to give back to the park.
Check out the dates below. We’ve already had a couple of successful sessions with work done in the Kohanga.
You just need to bring a sturdy pair of gloves. We provide the tools and snacks.
25 June - Meet Simon and Evan at the Allington Road entrance at 10am for planting on Miro and Smokin.
2 July - meet Andrew and Simon at the entrance to Bail Out at 10am (end of South Karori Road) for planting in the Bail Out exclosure.
9 July - meet at 10am at the entrance to Bail Out at the end of South Karori Road. We’ll be planting the Bail Out exclosure.
16 July - time for Leaping Lizard to get some planting action! Meet at the top of Leaping Lizard at 10am.
23 July - join Simon and help plant some more natives. Meet at 10am at the bottom of Aratihi.
Robins were seen in the park again recently. Conservationists are often amazed that rare birds are successfully breeding in a mountain bike park. They might know we're only a kilometre from Zealandia, but not be aware we run a network of 400 traps at Makara Peak (and hundreds more in the surrounding hills) - that's what really makes the difference.
Check out this high-res aerial photo from 1980, back in the day when the government, in their infinite wisdom, still subsidised farmers to clear the land of native vegetation. It was quite a ways from the summit to the nearest tree!
Restoring the forest is an epic mission, but every year we plant another couple of thousand trees, mostly rare species, is another step closer to achieving that multi-generation goal.
Every now and then some kind soul pops over to our website and makes a donation. These are hugely appreciated, as we do have a lot of expenses in our mission to develop a world class mountain bike park in a restored native forest.
Lately we've been using your donations to fund extra weed control, extra trail maintenance, extra traps, and extra seedlings.
Most of our seedlings come from Council's awesome Berhampore nursery and a good number from the great Forest & Bird nursery.
But there are always a few tricky species that we need to purchase from commercial nurseries. Rimu, hinau and kamahi are three of the species we wouldn't be planting this year without your support - thanks!
The Sunday volunteer trail crew have been flat out this year creating handmade, bespoke berms at the bottom of Starfish and at the end of Lazy Fern. They also got into building new exits to Trickle Falls and Vertigo to take the track away from the stream which was destroying the trail each time it flooded.
From the comments we’ve received many have already had the pleasure of experiencing the increase of speed on Starfish and Lazy Fern and new more technical exit to Trickles.
It's great to see new faces turning up each week alongside the regulars. We dig pretty much every Sunday - you can find details on our Facebook page. No experience necessary - just turn up for as long as you can and we can show you the ropes.
Also thanks to Gipps St Butchery and Parrotdog for fueling us.
Smokin has been getting some long overdue attention thanks to Ranger Mark Kent and the team from TGL Contracting Limited.
If you’re starting out mountain biking, Smokin is a great option for helping progress onto intermediate trails. It’s a gentle gradient with no scary drop offs on the side of the trail to distract you!
This work is particularly focussed on improving the switchbacks and the flow by rebuilding berms to allow riders to safely carry more speed as they improve their skills.
Thanks to Wellington City Council for funding this work as part of their commitment to Mākara Peak.
Check out Smokin on Trailforks at https://www.trailforks.com/trails/smokin-20917
Help us do more great things at Mākara Peak by signing up to the Trails Wellington app or donate at https://givealittle.co.nz/org/makarapeak
The track is still raw in places, so take care. Maybe even stay off it, if too wet, especially if the forecast is a bit dodgy.
“The middle bit” of Pōhatu is now open for riding! The official opening is on Sunday, but it’s too good not to share with you all now.
Get to know the track before going all Rampage on it. Pre-ride, re-ride then free-ride 👍.
This track pushes the boundaries of where and how you build a grade 4 track. Unsurprisingly it’s rocky. It’s also as steep, fast, and has some amazing rock work holding it all together. We know it will quickly become another “must ride” at Mākara Peak.
Shout out to Trails Wellington for picking up the tab on this one, and to Tom, Scottie and Bryn for their help. Become a member of TW and help fund more trails like this.
Thanks to Thomas, Ricky, Poval, Tryfan, Elliot, Liam and the rest of the TGL Contracting Limited team who have done the hard mahi, in some unforgiving conditions.
From the Supporters, this project has been led by Andrew Cooper, with help from Kerei Thompson and the rest of the MPS Trail Crew. These guys have been on site each week, taking time out from their day jobs, working with TGL to help make the best track possible 👏 👏 .
As usual WCC Ranger Mark Kent has been instrumental.
(PS “the top bit” of Pōhatu is still under construction. Watch this space).
Our 2020-21 Annual Report has been published. Check it out here. So many highlights from another busy year in the park!
Our COVID-delayed AGM is being held at the Karori Recreation Centre (upstairs) at 7:30pm on Tuesday 2 November.
It's a great chance to come along and chat with the people doing the hard yards to make Mākara Peak a great place to ride, run and walk. You can ask us any burning questions you have, make suggestions, or say thanks for all the hard work!
The annual accounts will be presented and the three elected positions will be confirmed. We welcome all expressions of interest in the three elected positions (Chair, Secretary and Treasurer) as well as anyone interested in helping out on the management committee or on the tracks or conservation sub committees.
Simon O’Brien (Chair) and Stewart Glynn (Treasurer) have offered to stand again. Andrew Cooper (Secretary) is standing down to focus more on the Tracks Sub Committee, so we will be needing someone to step in and help with that.
We’re keen for the management committee and sub committees to be more representative of the wide range of people who enjoy using the park, so would be particularly keen to hear from any females or younger park users interested in helping out. The time commitment is as much or as little as you can spare - we meet once a month for two hours in Karori. If you have any questions about what’s involved get in contact.
We’ll provide some nibbles and refreshments.
We'll be following COVID-19 protocols, with a contact register and hand sanitiser, and will keep numbers under 100. And if you're feeling sick, please stay at home. If you're not able to attend, but would like to put your name forward for the committee please email us here and let us know.
Simon O’Brien
Chair, Mākara Peak Supporters, on behalf of the Management Committee.
P.S. Don't forget your mask
Whā Out is our modern take on the old-skool technical trails found throughout the Park.
While there are plenty of bedrock features, it will roughen up over the coming seasons and get more technical as the trail surface wears and the dirt disappears.
Half way down the trail there is a gap jump followed by a table top. As with all new tracks we recommend you pre-ride and re-ride to get a feel for the speed needed to clear the jumps. If it’s blowing a gale, you might want to save it for another day.
Whā Out was designed by Southstar Trails and built by TGL Contracting Limited with funding from Wellington City Council and Trails Wellington.
Eventually it will continue all the way down to the water tank at the bottom of Varley's.
Check out Ben from Trail Atlas who rode Whā Out just after it opened.
After a huge amount of work North Face has been returned to a flowy intermediate grade trail that’s perfect for riders looking to move on from Peak Flow (which is also open). Berms have been rebuilt, it’s got a much more sustainable surface, drainage works much better and you barely notice that annoying climb in the middle.
This work was possible thanks to work by volunteers from the Mākara Peak Supporters, generous funding from Trails Wellington and the Drury Family, and the artistry of TGL Contracting Limited.
We will be closing it after lots of rain, so if the fence is shut please stay of it. That way it’ll stay nicer for longer.
If you’d like more epic trails like this join Trails Wellington!
Not much remains from Mākara Peak's 125 year farming era. We stumble across the odd decrepit fence line and rusty horse shoe, now and then. And there are a few old farm tracks that are still in use like Leaping Lizard. Thin soils and a dearth of mature native forest are the biggest legacies. So it was a surprise to come across an old dam near the bottom of Nikau valley today.
The TGL team are cracking into building Whā Out, our new grade 4 trail that runs from the top of Trickle Falls down to the top of Vertigo. This track will add a lot of new options in the north end of the park - you can lap it with T4, head straight on down Vertigo, or continue down Varleys.
The first 20 metres or so has been blazed by Ricky and the smaller machine, and some tasty looking rock has already been uncovered.
Whā Out is going to be a more technical grade 4 than Pōhatu and Starfish - hopefully we find lots of natural bedrock that we can make into features. It’ll be a narrower bench to retain the technical feel, but with a 1.5m wide corridor so that the trail can be 'attacked' by better riders with no trees preventing proper riding, and so that sight lines are reassuring for lesser riders.
While it will be technical, we want it to have good trail flow, that is, not having to brake or pedal hard or for extended periods, and where the terrain naturally speeds you up after a section of heavier braking. If we find the right type of rock, TGL might even sneak in some optional G5 lines if terrain and natural features allow it.
We’re super stoked about this track. Massive thanks to WCC who are funding this project. Check out https://www.trailforks.com/trails/wh--out/ for an indication of where the line will go.
We’ve received a lot of interest and questions about the work being done on North Face, so I thought it would be good to provide an update on progress and some more background to the project.
North Face - the Peak’s original flow trail
An enormous amount of volunteer labour went into carving North Face out of some typically unforgiving Mākara Peak terrain (it was originally built in 17 continuous weeks and 34 work parties!) . It was all done by hand, long before we had access to contractors with micro-diggers that can fit through the narrowest of gaps. When it was opened, it was very much the Peak Flow of it’s time. It was designed as the easiest, flowiest trail from the summit back down towards the main carpark and the volunteers did an amazing job. It was solidly intermediate grade and provided a much less technical option than Ridgeline.
However as is often the case with Mākara tracks, over the years the trail surface has got progressively narrower, rockier and more rutted due to the ravages of Wellington wind, rain and 1000s of bike tyres. With this in mind, WCC and the Supporters decided to sign post it as an advanced grade track a few years back due to the lack of money to maintain it to intermediate grade.
But here in lies the problem. When compared with the new grade 4 trails like Starfish and Pōhatu which the Supporters have built over the last few years, North Face is a bit boring. It doesn’t have great flow (that is, you have to do quite a lot of heavy braking and then pedal hard up the hills), it’s not overly steep or technical, it doesn’t have the features or options that modern tracks have, the surface is very rocky particularly on the climbing sections, and the drainage doesn’t work well in places.
Finally, Peak Flow (which is open by the way) gets hammered. Like it or not, it’s one of the most popular trails in Wellington, with the majority of park users choosing to ride it each time they visit the park. The question was, could we refurbish North Face and provide those riders with a way of progressing their riding and provide some variety while taking some of the load off Peak Flow?
This is where Trails Wellington comes in
With the generous injection of funding from the Drury Family, the Supporters and Trails Wellington came up with a plan to give North Face a thorough once over. We developed an extremely detailed brief with TGL on what would be needed to turn North Face into a modern, fun, intermediate grade trail that’s a great option for riders who love Peak Flow but want to try something different before progressing onto the likes of Starfish and Pōhatu.
Once the project is complete, North Face will still be steeper, narrower and more challenging than Peak Flow. The current rocky surface will be much improved, the drainage and water management will work better, there will be bigger berms to help riders carry momentum, some new features added like table tops and optional side hits. Plus we’re bypassing some of the switchbacks that didn’t ride so well.
But what about the more advanced riders?
The next two new track builds in the park will be rocky, technical grade 4 trails.
The Supporters next volunteer hand build will be a genuine grade 4 to replace North Face. The details are still being planned out, but essentially it will be in the same general area as North Face, bypass the climbing bits and switchbacks, and re-join near the bottom allowing you to go straight into Pōhatu. So it’ll be much steeper, and we can design and build it as a proper grade 4. When combined with Pōhatu and lower Starfish, it will create a truly epic grade 4 descent to the main carpark.
The other trail that’s going to be built is Whā Out - a brand new grade 4 trail that replaces T3 downhill. It runs from the top of Trickles Falls, above T4 climb, down to the top of Vertigo. This is being funded by WCC, and construction started this week (!).
Finally, a word on dumbing down tracks
One of the common complaints or comments we hear is regarding the dumbing down or changing someones favourite track at Mākara Peak. In fact we’re thinking about getting a t-shirt made with the list of tracks we’ve been accused of dumbing down over the last few years, or changing someones favourite track in a way that doesn’t meet their expectations.
Personally, I quite liked North Face as it was. But my opinion doesn’t really matter, our job as the Supporters is to make decisions about the tracks in the park in the best interests of all park users, not just what we want, what we like or to satisfy the vocal minority. The Park’s master plan outlines the planned trail development in the park, and the decision on what to build or refurbish is made in partnership with WCC and based on funding availability and the state of tracks in the park. We’d love to keep building more and more new tracks, but ultimately we have quite a few tracks in the park that need some serious maintenance to bring them back up to world class standard. Many were built quite some years ago, and are in dire need of a refresh.
So before you jump on your keyboard and criticize something you don’t like, keep in mind volunteers have probably taken time out from their family, riding or even annual leave to help make things happen in the park. Want to have input? Come along to a Sunday dig and have a chat and find out a bit more before blasting away on your keyboard.
See you out on the trails.
Simon O’Brien
Chair, Mākara Peak Supporters
Our volunteer dig days are back on each Sunday from 2:30-4:30pm throughout Autumn and Winter.
We’ll have the BBQ running with Gipps Street Butchery sausages plus craft beer and soft drink after each dig.
Over the next several weeks we’ll be making well overdue improvements to Lower Starfish before starting an exciting grade 4 new build next to North Face.
Meet at the transmitter at the start of lower Starfish or walk up Starfish from the main entrance until you come across the dig site.
There have been several sightings of Robins around Mākara Peak recently which is exciting! These birds are very susceptible to predation and are usually only found on islands and in predator free areas.
Robin populations recover once pests are controlled, and this is happening in the park thanks to the dozens of volunteers who check traps each month. Your mahi is a big part of what makes Mākara Peak such a special place to ride, run or walk. Thank you!
