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.

 Red Crater ridge trail. Mt doom and South Crater in the background 

 

Red crater ridge trail

On my way back the visibility was amazing!

Mt Ngauruhoe / Mt Doom viewed from the ridge

Doom this! Mountain conquest!

I had plenty of time to take lots of pictures, there was so much I hadn't seen (the first 3 times) through the clouds and fog.

Looking from South Crater down into the valley and the trail back to the car

 

Tons of these little white flowers, they made the ground look like it was covered in snow.

I moseyed my way back to the car park and took heaps of pictures until my camera battery died. Haha.

The 

I did it!

See that? That's the look of Redemption.
And of someone needing a haircut.

Take that Mt Doom! Ungh!

Mt. Doom

Tongariro Crossing: fail

I attempted to trek part of the Tongariro crossing today. Tongariro is an active volcano that sits on the south side of lake Taupo and made several appearances in The Lord of the Rings movies as the hobbits travel to Mordor.
Frodo had it soooooo easy. Sure, he was barefoot, and being sabatoged by Gollum, all the while carrying an evil ring that was driving him mad. Still, I think my hike today may have been harder.
But let me start from the beginning....
A friend I met my first week in Auckland, Tim the Brit, is here in Taupo for a few days.
Totally irrelevant side note: it seems I randomly see him all over the place - newmarket, the coromandel, and now here. Funny how that happens with backpackers.
Since today was my only day off this week we decided to try to do the Tongariro crossing, despite the fact that the day was windy and the weather not so great.

Tongariro has ben actively smoking so part of the trail is closed off and inaccessible, but it's still possible to hike more than halfway and see the emerald lakes. Sounded like a great day hike.
So, we were on the road at 5:20am. Boistering ourselves with positive phrases like, "at least it won't be sweltering hot". And "it will probably clear up near the summit!".

Volcanic lava flow and stream

We started the actual hike at 7am and it was quite pretty as we hiked along streams and waterfalls through a narrow valley.

The river bed and rocks were dark orange from the volcanic algae. There was a constant mist hanging over the hill tops.

Next leg of the hike, was a trip up the devils staircase, a pretty steep climb where I wheezed my way 450 meters up and over really cool lava fields.

About this time, we started to see several people coming back down the trail. These people had decided to turn around and not complete the trek. As we reached the top of Devils staircase, I could see why so many people were coming back down. The weather had definitely taken a turn for the worst!
As we reached the beginning of South Crater we came across gusting winds and mist that had other hikers hunkering behind boulders for shelter.
We decided to keep going and got sandblasted in the crater.

South Crater - take a gander at the panoramic view- what a clear day! Haha

Next part of the journey, Red Crater Ridge. A 200 meter climb on a ridge with a deadly fall on either side. At this point people were stuck. The wind had gone from pushy gusts to 45 mph gales. The terrain left very little wriggle room for a misstep. I continued another 150 ft or so....
Then the wind blew me and I lost my balance, as I reached out to grab onto a rock..... Nothing happened. I was so numb with cold that my arms and hands had become useless. When I tried to reach out with them I was rewarded with nothing but extreme pins and needles pain.
We were only 20 minutes from the summit... But I knew I had reached my physical limits. To do anything but turnaround would be foolhardy. I wished Tim luck, told him to carry on without me, (actually I shouted into his ear to be heard over the wind) and started making my descent.
Getting off the ridge was sketchy. It involved intermittently grabbing onto boulders and hunkering down, then making a mad dash for the next "shelter" whenever the wind "lulled".
On my way, I picked up a stray hiker who had turned around while the rest of her party continued. The situation was so dangerous, I didn't want her going down by herself.
The next 2 hours were probably the most miserable of my life. I was once again sandblasted through the crater, the mist turned into a downpour and soaked me completely.

South Crater aka Sand storm crater

 I've never been so cold in my life. My body went from hot pain, to numbness. Back again several times. I was in a bit of a rush, and downhill has never been my forte...
I ate mountain.
I tripped hard. My hands were tucked into my armpits for warmth and completely useless anyways. I barely got my arm out before I took a bite outta rock.
I heard my teeth hit the rock. It sounded like 2 coffee cups clinking together.
I was so numb. I felt nothing. I didn't know if I was hurt.  It took a lot of effort to get my arms to pick me up from the ground. Fearing the worst, I opened my mouth and waited for blood/teeth chunks. I drooled some blood, felt my intact teeth and was super grateful! Lucky me, my lips had cushioned the impact.

I finished the descent a little dirtier, bloodier and definitely less dignity. Heh heh.
When Tim returned he told me he thought he had made it to the summit, but he couldn't see anything. The wind was so bad he had to crawl across the ridge on his hands and knees so he wasn't blown over  the edge by the wind.  It might not be the hike we had in mind, but I was really grateful for the epic opportunity. Nothing like brutal misery to remind you of the simple physicality of your existence. I definitely felt hyper aware of my experience- no sleep walking through that unforgettable adventure!

I plan on returning, in better weather and owning the Tongariro crossing!