The Mountain Safety Council and its resources

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council

You will find a lot of on-line information about visiting New Zealand but precious little of it is specifically about tramping/hiking/trekking here. One of your most important sources should be the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council's website.

The re developed MSC website, June 2017

The role of the Mountain Safety Council (MSC) 

The Mountain Safety Council or MSC is the organisation tasked with coordinating outdoor education in New Zealand. They used to run specific safety courses for example Introductory Bushcraft, Firearms Safety or Outdoor First Aid but have moved out of training now. 

The MSC provide a lot of informative on-line and paper pamphlets, articles, videos and webinars about safety in the outdoors. All are written with specific New Zealand conditions in mind.

The MSC resource page on their website

As you can see there is a wealth of useful information on their  website, including some in different languages. Most of the MSC guides are also freely available in DOC visitor centres.

Pages from the MSC Outdoor Activity Guide: Day Walking

If you are new to tramping/hiking, an international visitor or just need a refresher I recommend you study these guides as they will assist with planning successful trips to the New Zealand mountains and bush.

The 'Get Outdoors' video series

The MSC in partnership with the Department of Conservation (DOC) have made a series of short informative videos about different aspects of the New Zealand outdoors. 

They call these the 'Get Outdoors Series'. 

The MSC page on YouTube

The videos can be found on YouTube as well as on the main MSC website. You should check them out as a source of information when planning your Te Araroa trek.