hobomite: Tongariro Crossing: King of the Mountain

I had plans to redo the Tongariro Crossing hike.

I was like a kid on Christmas. I went to bed early the night before and woke up really early in the morning. 3am early, I planned on just checking the weather report and going back to sleep. But I was too excited. Sleepy time was over.

The weather report said there would be some clouds and wind in the morning but that it should all clear up in the afternoon. There was also a slight chance of rain....

I was going for it. Determination! Roar!

Traces of light at sunrise.
Oh, sun! You're such a tease.

0730 hours
Mission: mountain domination
Possible casualties: pride, and/or front teeth

I was (back) on the trail a little after 7am. At first the weather looked promising. I could see the sun peeking out from the fog and lighting up the base of Ruapehu. Once again I walked through the marshes and fields between the mountains.

The sunrise on the base of Mt Ruapehu in the far, far background

This time I came prepared, I had my rain jacket and down liner, my beanie, 2 shirts, my Capri sweats and my hiking pants (which will not button closed! The button and the snap are not even in the same area code. Turns out, working at a cafe and bar is not diet friendly). Ffffpppt. Anyways. I have no gloves so I brought along an extra pair of socks to use as my redneck version of mittens.

I answered "Quite possibly!" on all 3 points and continued on my way. I was already ahead of the game with all my gear, well, compared to my last attempt at least...

The day was already warm and I laughed to myself that I had probably brought all this gear and wouldn't even need it.

At the start of the Devil's Staircase, the clouds were beginning to roll in. Not to worry. It was still early in the morning. With plenty of time for the sun to come out....

The weather was still heaps better then it had been on my last attempt....still... The higher I climbed up the trail the cloudier and windier it became.

The devils staircase through the old lava flow. This is not a black and white picture..

Informative sign about the pyroclastic flow of Mt Nguruahoe.
I like the part that says, in the event of an explosion, leave all valleys and climb to a ridge.
Then do your best to avoid the volcano for the near future. You know, in the slim chance that you survived...Please curb your enthusiasm for climbing active volcanoes for a few weeks.

By the time I had reached the beginning of the South Crater, the temperature had dropped and the wind was a'blowin. I stopped and changed into all my warm clothes and continued through the crater to the beginning of red crater ridge. (The clouds were so thick and visibility so limited, that I only had to walk about 30 ft from the trail for complete privacy.)

Once again, people were heading back down the trail in droves.

I was determined to remain optimistic.

I got to the start of red crater ridge and the wind was gale force, once again. I stood there, with my weight into the wind and stumbling around as it pushed me back and forth while I tried to stand in one place.

The beginning or Red Crater Ridge

I knew what this meant. I didn't even attempt to walk along the ridge. I stood there for a few minutes, silently seething, and taking stock of my options.

A hiker being helivacked from Red Crater

I thought back to the weather report. It was only 10am. Chances were it might rain, it sure seemed more than likely. I thought of reliving a 2 hr hike down a mountain in freezing rain. The idea made me want to cry, even WITH all my cold weather gear on.

On the other hand, I didn't want to NOT complete the hike for a second time.

Zero visibility at the entrance to south crater.
Bad sign.
Bad sign! Go stand in the corner, sign!

The day was supposed to clear up around noon. I decided to try and wait out the weather. I hunkered down, using a boulder for a shelter, for almost 2 hours.
So I tried to entertain myself, in my usual nerdy ways. This photo is not sequential...too much blue sky. But you get the jist.

Let the professional handle this.....oh crap

The time flew by faster than I expected. There were many brief breaks from the clouds and wind. Which allowed me to see blue sky, and parts of the mountains and craters.

The views/visibility of South Crater on my first attempt

First time I saw this on the side of the trail. It was the 4th time I had walked by it.

The South Crater as I return from my second trip

As I cowered behind my rock, I could watch each white cloud wall as it came rushing across the crater, and see them spiral and twist in crazy eddies as they went up and over the ridge.

Hikers on the beginning of the ridge trail, just as the weather starts to turn for the better.

Some brief sunshine as a new cloud rolls in across the crater. It took abut 15 seconds to get from one side of the crater to where I was on the other side. You can see other hikers hunkering behind rocks.

By noon, I was ready to attempt the ridge. I had to take a few breaks behind some rock shelters but the weather was continuously improving.

On my way up the ridge

I was so elated when I passed my previous turn around point!

Part of the Red Crater Ridge trail

The view when it wasn't thwarted by clouds

I reached the Red Crater plateau and did a little happy dance, in my head, not with my body, I was a little too tired for that.

The Red Crater was amazing! So colorful and you could see the actual vent of the volcano!

Red Crater

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I was so excited to see the vent and took a bunch of pics. It wasn't until I looked at them at home that I saw...the...ummm...anatomical resemblance....haha

I still had enough time to then continue up to the Tongariro summit. But the clouds were still crazy there and I figured I wouldn't see much for my efforts.

So instead I walked over the ridge to view the emerald lakes.

Emerald Lakes

Emerald Lakes, you can see the steam venting behind it

Once I was over the ridge, the wind died down to almost nothing and I had a snack and rested and simply took in the views until it was time to head back.