Shelter from the Storm: The Story of New Zealand's Backcountry Huts | Shaun Barnett; Rob Brown; Geoff Spearpoint

One of the singular features of the New Zealand outdoors is the remarkable network of backcountry huts, and those who venture into our wild places often develop a strong attachment to these humble structures.

Shelter from the Storm is a landmark publication, the first wide-ranging history of our hut network, which is unparalleled anywhere else in the world. The authors provide an overview of who built our huts, including farmers, miners, tramping and mountaineering clubs, the Tourism Department, the Department of Internal Affairs, National Park Boards, Lands and Survey, the New Zealand Forest Service and DOC, and then profile a wide range of individual huts.

When first published in 2012 this book went into two reprints, and helped change the conversation around backcountry huts. In the 14 years since first published there has been a sea-change in both official and publication recognition of the value of our hut network,  and there is now widespread volunteer involvement in the upkeep of these huts. This fully revised edition recognizes this, with updated information and photographs on many existing huts, and a new conclusion that provides an overview of the changes over the last decade.

This is an important book, meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated with an extensive range of historic and contemporary photographs. Its significance and far-reaching appeal will deeply resonate with many New Zealanders.

Shaun Barnett (1969–2024), tramped extensively throughout New Zealand over the past 35 years, and visited over 1000 backcountry huts. With a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology, and a Post-graduate Diploma in Parks, Recreation and Tourism, Shaun was a full-time writer and photographer for 30 years, and authored a number of best-selling books, including Classic Trampingin New Zealand, Natural New Zealand, North Island Weekend Tramps, Tramping in New Zealand, Day Walks in New Zealand, Tramping: A New Zealand History, and Leading the Way: 100 Years of the Tararua Tramping Club, the latter two co-authored with Chris Maclean.Rob Brown has been tramping and climbing throughoutNew Zealand for over 35 years. After gaining a TechnologyDegree from Massey University, he worked in the outdoorequipment and publishing industries, before becominga full-time landscape photographer and writer. He is the author of a number of acclaimed books, including Classic Tramping in New Zealand (co-authored with Shaun Barnett), which won a Montana Book Awards, Rakiura: The Wilderness of Stewart Island, and New Zealand: The Essential Landscape. In recent years he has been the  manager of the Backcountry Trust, which co-ordinates the renovation and rebuilding of huts throughout New Zealand.Geoff Spearpoint began tramping in the Tararua Ranges when he was 15 and has followed a passion for transalpine tramping and climbing ever since. Initially trained in microbiology, he later worked for Mount Aspiring National Park and spent many years in prepress in the print  industry. He wrote Waking to the Hills in 1986, and has edited a number of editions of Moirs Guide North (a tramping guide to the area between Mt Cook and the Hollyford), and with co-author Yvonne Cook, wrote The Canterbury Westland Alps, a climbing and transalpine guide. In 2019 his acclaimed collection of writing and photography, The Great Unknown: Mountain Journeys in the Southern Alps was published.