The Mountain Safety Council and their online resources

The Mountain Safety Council (MSC) online

I was recently looking for some tramping information and see that the MSC website has had a major overhaul.

The re developed MSC website, June 2017

  What is the 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 now moved out of training provision.These type of courses are now undertaken by various clubs and private providers.

The MSC now concentrations on informing the public about outdoors matters. They 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.

Information provided by the Mountain Safety Council

The MSC provide both on-line and paper resources aimed at the new tramper/climber, international visitor and casual outdoor enthusiast. 

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 freely available in DOC visitor centres and the various i-Sites around the country. I have also seen them left in DOC huts and in accommodation providers in the main outdoor tourism hotspots.

Pages from the MSC Outdoor Activity Guide: Day Walking

If you are a newbie tramper, 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 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 for a short refresher before going on a tramping, hunting or fishing trip.