Date: 6-8/02/09
Leader: Bevan Paull

Friday 6 February - Day 1 – Mt Ruapehu

On Ruapehu everything was magic.

My summary has three brief parts; going up, the summit and coming down. Undoubtedly I enjoyed coming down the most. As for everyone else, it would be safe to assume they were there to climb as high as we could. I have no doubt that everyone who reached the summit enjoyed soaking in their accomplishment.

Boy-o-boy I am happy that we got to use the chair lift before some bugger burnt it down. I’d like to dedicate this paragraph to the good old Whakapapa Ski Field. Thanks to their good sportsmanship for starting the chair lifts for us.

The most magnificent view at the summit emerged from the wispy clouds. In one moment we were backed up against the summit hut (Dome Shelter), the next everyone was scrambling to find their digital cameras as the clouds opened, revealing the magnificent opal blue of the crater-lake juxtaposed against ivory white snow fields. The view at the lake was quite stunning and became a true reward for the trek up which was hard “yakka”.

Coming down was a godsend! There was snow everywhere, the soft powdery variety that makes crunching noises under foot. Slipping and sliding and fooling around, everyone smiled and laughed as we slid down the slopes.

(The Ruapehu summit climbers were: Bevan, Doug, Jenny, Marlene, Nicola, Shane, Josh, Steve, John, Gill, Andrew, Tony H, Chuck and Conrad. Well done to Cheryl, Lynne, Kerry, Nadia, Sean and Liz for attempting the climb, but decided to turn back earlier).

Tony H.


Saturday, 7th February - Day 2 – Mt Ngauruhoe
After a long day yesterday climbing to Mt Ruapehu’s crater lake, today we had another, more challenging mountain to climb! The 2291m high cone-shaped Mt Ngauruhoe meaning “throwing heated stones” could be seen clearly as we left Whakapapa Village. On arrival at the start point, we headed up Mangatepopo Valley, part of the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Walking up the new DOC track (bypassing the Devils Staircase) to the junction at the base of the mountain, was a good warm-up and the rock and scree covered cone still remained in clear view. A much needed morning break here prepared us for the steep climb up.

By 11am we all set off to attempt the summit climb. Josh and Shane were first off, and decided they would head up what was the down route. The track soon turned into soft shingle and both decided to walk up the left hand side on the more solid rocks, with the rest of the group. We had to be careful climbing as some rocks were unstable, so important to get a good footing and handle on the rocks at all times. It was a steep climb, more so than anyone expected, certainly a good physical challenge. Looking down from time to time was quite rewarding as you could see how much higher you were getting. We reached more level ground very close to the top – a small patch of snow here, one of the few left on the mountain. Also some steaming fumaroles on the rim of the outer crater.

We finally made it to the summit in an average time of 1 hour 45 minutes. Josh managed to complete the climb in a little over 1 hour! We all had lunch here, and a few of us walked around the crater rim with Steve climbing further to the highest point. This meant only one in our group reached the official summit, albeit only metres in difference. From the summit, we could see all of Lake Taupo, Lake Rotoaira, Emerald Lakes, Blue Lake, and Upper & Lower Tama Lakes but didn’t manage to see Mt Egmont which was covered in cloud.

At about 2pm, after a long lunch break, we started to head back down. We had to take a different route, a much easier and quicker one down the soft scoria track. The more confident trampers skidded their way down (in as little as 20 minutes) whereas the less confident took a more careful approach which was good because they had more time to admire views and spend more time on the slope of the mountain, while the others waited at the bottom. Many photos were taken on the way down as well as some videos recorded by Shane and Josh skidding down! When we all reached the bottom, we met up with Jenny and Liz again and started on the Crossing track back to the start point, stopping off at the Soda Springs waterfall and the Mangatepopo Hut. At 5:30pm, we arrived back at the car park and were shuttled back to the Holiday Park. Ten of us enjoyed a nice meal in one of the Chateau Hotel restaurants that night for dinner!

Cheers to Bevan for leading this weekend trip, all of us thoroughly enjoyed it!

(The Ngauruhoe Summit Climbers were: Bevan, Doug, Marlene, Shane, Nicola, Josh, Tony H, Steve, John, Andrew, Gill, Trevor, Anj……….. and Winnie).

Shane L.