Media Release – for Immediate Release
December 10, 2009

Peak Bagging a Great Way to see the Outdoors this Summer

The New Zealand walking and tramping website peakbagging.co.nz wants to encourage New Zealanders to head for the hills this summer. Inspired by the Scottish pastime of ‘Munro Bagging’, Wellington man Jon Povey started the website www.peakbagging.co.nz as a way of drawing attention to some of New Zealand’s lesser known hills and mountains.

Peak bagging is the pastime of walking or tramping to the summits of a collection of hills and mountains. In Scotland, over 4000 people have walked up all 284 ‘Munros’, and it was during a trip to Scotland that Jon became addicted to ‘peak bagging’. Jon describes himself as “a bit of couch potato – I’ve never really been particularly sporty or into fitness really – but much to my surprise, I became addicted to peak bagging. My wife Julia has a passion for volcanoes so we started walking up those. I discovered there is nothing like standing on the summit of mountain, no matter how large or small, and we wanted to encourage others to give it a try.”

Jon started researching the list in 2004, and originally had plans to write a guide book on the subject. However, Jon underwent treatment for Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2006, and that “reminded me that life is short, so in the end we decided a website was a much more interactive and enduring way to share our list with others”.

Jon has designed the list to include many smaller peaks close to New Zealand’s major cities. He says “one thing that people quickly realise is that our list is for everyone – many people have actually bagged a few of the really small summits, like Rangitoto or Mt Maunganui, before they even find our site. The list is always changing too, and we always welcome advice and suggestions from other trampers”.

Auckland man Craig Thomson and his 10 year old twin daughters have quickly become fans of peak bagging. “We got into peak bagging as a means of getting fit that wasn’t 'boring'” says Craig. “The family has really enjoyed the challenge, and the kids have become extremely fit. “ Twins Claire and Ash recently won Gold and Silver Medals in an off road run through the Waitakere Ranges. The twins’ father, Craig Thomson, says peak bagging gave his daughters the “confidence to enter a hilly 13km off road course at such a young age – most of their peers stuck to the 5km option”. Not only did Claire win the 5-11 girls age group, but she also beat all of the 5-11 boys age group, and all of the 12-18 girls age group. Ash came home just a metre behind the winning 5-11 age group male.

The PeakBagging.co.nz website maintains New Zealand’s first ever ‘Peak Bagging List’ for walkers and trampers, and has almost 200 members. It is completely free and contains extensive information and other features to help walkers plan their trips. It is also includes a ‘Leaderboard’, where members can compare their tally of peaks with others.

ENDS

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