Tramp Reflections 794 - Snowcraft, Ruapehu

20, 21 September 2008

The 10 of us left Friday night for Mangatepopo car park. We arrived at Mangatepopo Hut around 10.30pm and grabbed a bed each. Sheila opted for a mattress on the floor next to the fire (good idea). It was a pretty late night by the time we shut our eyes.

Sat morning started with a lovely sunrise and a crispy bite to the air. As the sun was rising our cameras were out and many great pics were taken of Mt Ngauruhoe with a pink tinge. We began tramping at about 7.20am with gorgeous blue skies. Mt Egmont could be seen in the distance. We tramped along the board walks and volcanic rocks past soda springs and the last official toilet stop till the next hut.

Onward and upward to the turn-off to the Tongariro track or Mt Ngauruhoe ascent. We donned our crampons and with a quick tutorial we all began our ascent. Val and Adriane decided to play around on the lower slopes and bum slid down to the pack drop-off point. Unfortunately Adriane had short shorts on and managed to leave half her skin on the slopes. At least she got a photo of the bloody smear!!! To her credit, she managed to soldier on despite it being rather painful.

The rest of us continued onward and upward and zig zagged our way up. Six of us summited and what a view! The weather was perfect and the crater was definitely worth the climb. We took some memorable snaps and had a quick snack. After some helpful tips from our fearless leader about descending, we slowly worked our way down. Once the steepest part was out the way, some of us decided a bum slide was in order. After removing our crampons, we slid down the rest of the mountain. What a hoot! We met up with John and Sheila who made it about half way before turning back. This was Sheila's first overnight/snow trip so hats off to her.

Lunch was on the rocks where we had donned our crampons earlier. The weather turned rather chilly and cloudy, so we didn't hang around too long. We headed down the Oturere gully towards the hut. We had great views of the Kaimanawa Ranges. We continued through plenty of bum slides and volcanic rocks. The GPS came out after quite a while, but not to worry, it was all under control. The sight of the hut was nearly as good as the mountains. Some of us were pretty tired as the tramp took 10hrs. The hut was very warm and tea and bed came in quick succession. Great day.

Sunday started with some excellent views of Mt Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. What a treat to wake up too. We headed back through the volcanic rock of the Oturere Valley and up to Emerald Lake. It was still frozen so we had to imagine. We continued to climb to a steep peak looking down to the Red crater. It was blowing a gale and made descending a bit spooky. We didn't quite get to the top of Tongariro because the wind was almost blowing us over and there was no need to take unnecessary risks, so we traversed along the side and around. The group then split and some continued to traverse to the lunch spot while the bum sliders let it rip down the slopes. The snow was melting too quickly, so it was not as fast as we would've liked.

We met up for lunch on some rocks out of the wind. It was so lovely there we could have stayed there all day. After some food and drink, we headed down the uneven volcanic rocks and ridges. It seemed to take forever. We finally got back to the Mangatepopo car park and removed our packs and boots. Ahhh!

This was my second winter snow craft tramp and I'll definitely be back for a third. I think I can speak for the others when I say we all had a great time and the views and company were outstanding. Can't wait till the next one.

Those who went were: Kevin B (our fearless leader), Janey, Malcolm, Sheila, Adrienne, Anna, Mike, John, Val and PJ.

PJ

Photographs by unknown.