Tongariro National Park

27th May 2014

As I peeked out of the window to a blanket of thick frost, I was glad we made the upgrade to a heated cabin last night.  Despite the cold, it looked to be a perfect day to enjoy the Tongariro Alpine crossing.  

The day didn't disappoint, the views were spectacular and I could see why it is often referred to as "one of the world's best hikes".  Despite the landscape looking much more sinister in The Lord of the Rings Film, the landscape is pretty spectacular and took us past volcanoes, lava flows, steaming craters and emerald lakes.  

We found ourselves at the Mangatepopo Saddle earlier than expected and decided that we had 3 hours to spare to do the side trip up the very impressive Mt Ngaruhoe aka Mt Doom.   Standing at 2291m and rising as a perfect cone from the ground, it looked like a straighforward and upward slog to the summit crater.  We decided to do it fast and light, so took what we needed in our pocket, (a handful of werthers originals), then hid our bags then set off to summit Mt Doom and maybe a find magic gold ring.  We  made good progress following some marker posts and vague zigzags, then the terrain just got steeper and steeper, the zigzags Disappeared and we found ourselves standing on frozen but loose ash which was falling away from our feet quicker than we could get up it.  

Obviously it is a volcano, which periodically just belches out huge clouds of ash, but from a distance it just seems like a solid mountain.  It's more like a sandcastle, with steeper and steeper slopes nearing the top, with none of the usual features of ridges and spurs to ascend.  

A German guy who decided to follow us up shouted from below "are you trying to kill me?!"  at which point  we  thought it would be safer for us and the German to retreat back down the way we came.  After all, we still did have another 8 miles to go to make the crossing. 

We presumed we were just off-route, but later learned that the only way up is just to plough through the ashy-scree and hope you don't slide off.  Not great climbing at all, but the view, even from 500m below the summit was amazing.

Mt Ngaruhoe behind us

As we walked away from Mt Ngaruhoe defeated, we looked back at the near perfect cone mountain... one day (my precious) we will come back and climb you, probably with a local guide :)

The rest of trip was a superb wintery trek through "other worldly" terrain - like hiking on Mars or the Moon.  Then a cruise down through green slopes and streams and thick forest back to the car park.