Up early for the busy day. We had opted for the middle bus – 8:00. We were asked to fill in our details – campsite address, vehicle numbers, mobile phones etc. There was also a lecture on safety and on the arrangements for the return bus. They were definitely counting you on and off this mountain.
It was a short drive to the start, then we were off. There was the tendency to race the first part, to try to get away from the others, but there were always more ahead and loads behind. The route was well marked with board walks over sensitive areas. We set a reasonable pace to climb into the main part of the volcanic terrain. The vegetation got thinner and the ground dustier.
After the initial climb we reached a saddle where the bigger definitie looking volcano was an optional diversion. This was described in the DOC as 1:30 up and 30 down so we thought it well worth the excursion, as did many others. Once on the climb we began to suffer. It wasn’t the steepness or the length of the climb, but the nature. The so called path and the whole edifice was one pile of scree. There were times when upward progress was difficult as the ground was sliding as fast as you were trying to move. Afetr 45 minutes Sue had had enough, relaising that the summit ws just to tick a box. I was more stubborn and got probable 80% of the way but then, even at that late stage concluded that this just wasn’t worth it. The descent was one of those classic scfree runs you read about. The ones that you are asked to avoid in the popular areas. Each step was 10 feet and there was nothing firm enough to trip on. No boulders sticking through the scree. Descent was therefore quick, although once down I had to take shoes and socks off to try to get rid of the dust and gravel in my shoes.
We continued and later on took the excursion to the summit of Mt. Tongoriro. This was more satisfying with good views of the big volcane, better than views from the volcano.
There were stretches of the main path that were pure gravel, particularly a descent to 2 small lakes. There were a few running this; some starting tentatively and speeding up and some crawling slowly down. I reckon that within 10 years they will need to reroute the main path to avoid this gravel run.
The route containg a fairly long sction high in the mountain with a great feeling of being away from civilisation. The descent started very soon after the halfway point in distance. The manufactured path was easy angled but dropped from over 1900m to about 800m. It was never really steep and included many zig-zags. I guess this was better than shorter steeper descents for many of the punters. The last few k were back in the forest with welcome shade. We got down in plenty of time for the middle bus back to the campsite. We were a bit weary but well satisfied. For me it was a real highlight of the holiday.
Back at the campsite we saw that the next day had been cancelled with severe weather warnings. Such control!
We cooked again in the kitchen, chatting to a few fellow walkers weary from the crossing.
We were definitely lucky this time with the weather – a superb day in the mountains.
Life is treating us well.
Tags: New Zealand
