Polar explorer and conservationist
Arnold Heine outdoorsman b July 4, 1926 d October 7, 2019
Arnold Heine lived and breathed outdoor recreation in all its forms. Words like tramper, mountaineer, polar explorer, conservationist and wilderness campaigner do not sum up how wideranging his influence was.
A stalwart of the Hutt Valley Tramping Club, Heine was never happier than when he was in the mountains or exploring an Antarctic glacier.
Photographer and polar explorer Colin Monteath said of Heine’s death: ‘‘A gentle man slipped away . . . a man of great experience in the polar regions and in our mountainous high country . . . a man of wisdom and passion. A giant iceberg has rolled over.’’
Born in Nelson, he first rose to prominence as a tramper in the early 1950s when he began exploring unmapped areas like the Wilberg Range and Poerua Valley on the West Coast.
It was also in the 1950s that he discovered his other great passion, polar exploration.
He made his first trip south in 1956 with the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research.
His long list of achievements included being a field assistant on the 1957-58 Tucker Glacier Expedition and on the 1958-59 Wood Bay Expedition.
He learned the skill of ‘‘snow pit stratigraphy’’ and was involved in setting up the McMurdo Ice Shelf Project.
After wintering over at Scott Base in 1959, he joined an international team as assistant to French glaciologists Claude Lorius and Al Paige on a 2500-kilometre polar traverse.
Awarded the Polar Medal in 1969, he was the secretary of the NZ Advisory Committee of the Trans-Antarctic Association for almost 50 years.
In 2018, he rounded off his Antarctic career by funding the Arnold Heine Antarctic Research Award at Victoria University.
A skilled mountaineer and tramper who enjoyed leading multi-day trips, Heine loved the outdoors and was always looking for ways to encourage others to hit the hills.
After a short period as secretary of Federated Mountain Clubs, he later became president and served 24 years on the executive.
With lots of help from his wife Jan, he edited the FMC Bulletin for 14 years and was patron until his death.
His early interest in exploring unmapped parts of New Zealand instilled a strong belief in the need to promote wilderness areas.
When the FMC began advocating for legal recognition of wilderness areas in the 1980s, he contributed to the campaign, which resulted in the landmark publication of Wilderness Recreation in
New Zealand, by Les Molloy. It became the blueprint from which many of our existing wilderness areas were established.
Heine was influential in the Mountain Safety Council, editing bushcraft, mountain safety and first aid manuals, and was also active in the Ruapehu Ski Patrol.
In the 1980s he visited North America and introduced what he learned about ski field safety there into New Zealand.
Friend and historian Shaun Barnett said what really stood out about Heine was his willingness to pass on knowledge.
He mentored generations of trampers and climbers, including Barnett and Geoff Spearpoint.
‘‘Arnold was such an important link between the older generation and the newer ones, always encouraging younger people, providing them with advice, and his experience and knowledge always offered wise counsel.
‘‘I don’t know how many times he would remind us that a supposedly ‘fresh’ idea had been tried before!’’
His Eastbourne home was a monument to his outdoor career, with a huge library of relevant books and records from all the organisations he was involved with.
He and Jan were a close-knit team, and in his 80s, she went with him to Maungahuka, regarded by many trampers as the hardest spot to reach in the Tararua range.
The pair enjoyed botany and had a particular interest in the Kahurangi National Park.
Together with botanist Tony Druce, they spent 250 days on a botanical survey of the park, where at one point they thought they had discovered a ka¯ ka¯ po¯ population.
Barnett recalls Heine as someone who ‘‘lived and breathed outdoor recreation’’, but understood that to enjoy the wild we must protect it.
As a conservationist he was involved in tree planting, pest control, ka¯ ka¯ po¯ and takahe¯ conservation, and weeding.
With Jan and Stan Hunt, he helped set up MIRO, a highly successful local conservation group in Eastbourne.
Friend and fellow tramper Les Molloy remembers Heine as a man with a ‘‘twinkle in his eye’’ who was always willing to pass on his knowledge. ‘‘Mentor would certainly be a good word to describe Arnold. He had a lot of wisdom.’’
Heine was a life member of the Hutt Valley Tramping Club. He received the Queen’s Service Medal in 1987 for services to the community; was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 2004 for services to the outdoors; and a life member of the NZ Antarctic Society in 2006.
He is survived by Jan, and by nephew Martin. –