On Saturday 11 May, we are celebrating the park’s 25th anniversary with a wee party. Fancy a great night out with like minded souls who have a passion for Mākara Peak? Click here to find out more.
The official opening of Mākara Peak as a mountain bike park was celebrated 25 years to the day on the 11th of March 2024 at a wee gathering of past and present visionaries and sloggers who have been involved in the creation and evolution of the Mākara Peak Mountain Bike Park over the last two and a half decades. Lots of stories and Simon Kennett's photo album were shared, reminiscing of how far we have come. As well as birthday cake, the evening culminated in the planting of two Tōtara by Miro Kennett and Mark Kent to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the park. Planted just in time to provide some shade at the 50th anniversary!
Back when downhill bikes looked like this, the Mākara Peak Mountain Bike Park was born.
2024 marks the 25th anniversary of the Mākara Peak Mountain Bike Park. There was a small ceremony on the 11th March 1999 that marked the occasion when Wellington City Council and the Mākara Peak MTB Supporters Club officially designated the Mākara Peak reserve as a mountain bike park.
Tracks at the time consisted of Starfish, Ridgeline and Snake Charmer! Missing Link was in development and Koru was still a dream. Most of the terrain was covered in grass, scrub and pine trees, with only a few pockets of forest starting to regenerate. The park has come a long way since then!
There will be a series of events to mark the 25th year so keep an eye on the Mākara Peak Supporters Facebook page.
Mākara Peak now has a merchandise store (hosted by Digitees).
We are kicking things off with t-shirts featuring the five most popular trails in the park. Over time we will add more designs and other merch.
Thanks for supporting. All sale proceeds go back into trails and conservation at Mākara Peak.
Most people’s first experience of the Mākara Peak MTB park is the Koru trail - a meandering grade 2 trail that take riders and those on foot from the main park entrance through lush regenerating forest deep into the park.
Koru has served the community well for the past 20 years, with tens of thousands of riders, runners and walkers enjoying this iconic trail every year. However the trail was starting to show its age and had crept out of grade in places.
Thanks to funding and coordination from Wellington City Council, Koru has been given a significant makeover, bringing the trail up to scratch to meet national grade 2 trail specifications, with a new trail surface, widening, drainage improvements, renewal of structures and improvements to the rest areas along the length of the trail.
Thanks for your patience while this major project has been undertaken.
Reproduced article: Building offcuts repurposed for mountain bike park
The Living Pā is an innovative build project at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington that is aiming to meet the Living Building Challenge® certification. The summit of regenerative building, the programme includes stringent targets for the recycling, reusing, and tracking of waste.
Published 3 November 2023
As part of this process, the Living Pā has donated timber piles to the Mākara Peak Mountain Bike Park for use in their many development projects, including new bike stands and seats around the park, including on the recently upgraded main entry trail to the park - the Koru Trail.
The goal for the Living Pā is to significantly reduce or eliminate the production of waste in the first place, but when that isn’t possible, it needs to be managed to make sure it doesn’t end up in landfill. For timber, 90% of it must be upcycled or reused, and that’s where groups like the Mākara Peak Bike Park Supporters come in.
“The Living Pā’s building contractor, L T McGuinness, reached out to our volunteer group with an opportunity to repurpose the material and not send it to landfill. The Mākara Peak Supporters have been longstanding volunteers, some for 20 years, and they have a number of projects on the go over the next year,” says Mark Kent, Park Ranger at Wellington City Council.
The Mākara Peak Bike Park has the largest trail network in the lower North Island. Trails weave through 250 hectares of regenerating native bush, and conservation is an important aspect of the park. The Mākara Peak Supporters plant one tree for every metre of new track to offset the impact of bush clearance for track building. Tens of thousands of trees have been planted since the Park was opened in 1998.
Some of the large timber piles from the Living Pā will be used to create bike stands at the beginner’s track, as well as being used for seating in the park. Some of the longer piles will be used for retaining walls across the park, and the timber has also been used to create a vehicle grate over a culvert.
“The Mākara Peak Supporters group are looking at doing a new design for the skills area to give people the opportunity to ride over the logs,” Kent says. “It’s designed in a certain way to enhance skills.”
Kent says not needing to buy timber for these purposes means they can use that money to help with other things like surfacing tracks or supporting other conservation efforts in the park.
Rhonda Thomson, Living Pā Project Manager, says the design consultants, construction and project management team are having imaginative conversations about what they can do with construction materials—conversations well beyond what would typically happen for a building project.
These conversations are about more than meeting the requirements of the Living Build Challenge, they’re about advocating for advanced benchmark practices, change and supporting local initiatives.
“Waste is actually a precious thing,” Thomson says. “Landfill represents a lazy attitude to resources that come from the whenua. The kaitiaki role is about taking responsibility, and it’s this kind of viewpoint that the Pā encourages us to explore.”
The recycled timber represents around 35 tonnes of material that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Some of it has been reused on site, and some of it has been donated to groups like the Mākara Peak Mountain Bike Park for the community to use and enjoy.
Click here for our 2023 Annual Report
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