Spoke

TALES FROM THE PAPAROA

Building the Pike 29 Memorial Track was a unique project. Deep in the mountains on the West Coast of the South Island, and with helicopter-only access, we spent almost three years dragging machinery through the mud and blasting through rock faces to create New Zealand’s 10th Great Walk and first Great Ride.

It was a mammoth task to build a track in this environment. The inaccessibility, coupled with the ferocious West Coast storms, created unique challenges that required new and unconventional approaches.

Snow, hail and sideways rain were the norm. During one storm, a slip came down on the construction site and crushed

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