Tramp Reflections 815 - Pirongia Summit

17 May 2009

We started out from Corcoran Road on the Tirohanga Track making our way up the steady climb to the Ruapane Peak. We were stopped for morning tea under the rocky ledge when we were met by a group of trampers from north of Auckland. We exchanged pleasantries and promised to send them a list of our up-coming tramps. We moved onwards to the peak where it was rather chilly so we didn't linger but got a bit of a view in between wind gusts.

The weather was looking like it was going to deteriorate so we headed on towards the summit. We followed the undulating ridges till we came to the Tirohanga Peak, a steep rock pinnacle and sidled around it. The further we went the worse the weather got and by the time we got to the summit of Pirongia it was wetter than wet, misty cold and we were all pretty miserable as we huddled together for a bite to eat for lunch. We didn't linger and just headed straight down as quickly as we could as there were definitely no views and no reasons to stop or meander. Back at the van we all changed out of our sodden gear and headed off to the comfort of our homes.

Written by Adrienne.

Photographs by Michiel van Dijk (Casio EX-V7).