Location: Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park
Project completed 2021
Contracted by Department of Conservation

These projects were completed in conjunction with one another. This allowed us to steamline flying operations for us and materials to be flown in and out. Timing on these projects was over and extended period, working to weather conditions and also as funding allowed for the projects.

The Hooker Hut component involved reinstating the historic hut. The hut has a long past, dating back to 1910. Construction of a new subfloor for the existing wall frames to sit on. The existing wall frames were flown in flat packed and then erected and braced ready for the roof structure to be flown in and landed on top.

We installed a new water tank and stand, provided a new woodshed with cleaning supplies cupboard and a new toilet for the hut

We fitted out the hut with the original bunks and kitchen bench aswell as installed new fire place. The whole hut also got an new coat of paint to freshen it up.

Stocking Stream toilets required us to excavate and at times blast rock to create a flat site long enough to install the roller system and to pour the foundations to hold the concrete tilt panel and steel structure.

Once again all materials had to flown in and each tilt panel was flown in separately and bolted in place as the helicopter steady the panel. Before installing on site the team put the whole structure together off site, we drilled all the holes and installed all bolts and other hardware ensure there would be no complication when it came to installation on site with the heli, as any hold ups in there could be costly.

Once toilet installed the roller system for the effluent and fitted the tanks with their flying cradles The final touches required a small new section of track which we later gravelled from the helicopter and a bit of landscaping. Once opened we removed the 2 old toilets and the fibreglass tanks.

The Stocking Stream toilets won an award with ACE New Zealand.

Beetham Hut was completed for the NZ Alpine Club up the Tasman valley in the Aoraki/Mt Cook National park.

This structure was built offsite in our yard in Oamaru over approximately 7 years, just doing bits at a time when the Alpine Club got some funding. Installation came in 2021. We completed this over 4 separate days, often days and sometimes weeks apart to suit the weather.

First we installed the sub structure, drilling Reid bar into the rock and setting in place. Once the full structure was installed, we got everything prepared for the hut to be flown in and waited for the weather to play its part. We watched the weather religiously and once the day looked to be approaching with the perfect conditions, the heli company was contacted.

On the day, the hut set off early in the morning with the helicopter and was set in to position overlooking the Tasman Glacier and onto Aoraki, Mount Cook. Once in place we then had limited time to install all the bunks, bench, door and window.

With it being a 15-20 min flight back to the Utes parked at the bottom of the glacier, planning was essential. We had to have all the required tools and materials, as well as back ups and spare parts to fix anything that may break down or not quite work right. All went smoothly and we were done in the day.