The best part of the four days was the tramp to the Crater lake of Mt Ruapehu – and, we ALL got there!! We had decided to take the first good day down to do this – which was indeed our first day, and, it ended up being a very good choice.
We went up as far as the café on the ski lifts then broke into two groups – the fast lot took off to do as much as they could ably, led by Chris Markham. The rest of us followed them up – they crossed snow and we lost sight of them – and the track. It is actually quite a confusing place with, for example, lots of cairns - going all over the place, and no track markers for some reason . We were much further to the left than we should have been – in fact the normal track, such as it is, leads up from the café on the right at about a 45 degree angle. Other people were in fact taking the route we did – a few fit looking ones and some misguided others who followed us up thinking we had a guide!!! White out conditions for a while didn’t help…………………….over loose scree and rock scrambles… However nearing the summit we realised we needed to go right and could see the track to the Dome. We reached it thankfully with a few grazes and bumps – but with great courage and intrepid fortitude really!!
Lovely views along this narrow ridge over the plateau to the cathedral rocks. And, on the other side were the other party waving to us. Roger said later he was glad we didn’t turn back because of the poor visibility as the summit was above all of that. We all commented that there was no way on earth we would have gone back the same way – enough excitement for one day!
We had lunch next to the Dome Shelter looking down onto the steaming Crater Lake – an amazing view, took lots of photos then headed back along the ridge to the real track, which was really easy in comparison to the way we had got up !
Hot drinks at the café and onto the lifts again – cold beers were nice in the Skotel that night …
On the other days we all did a variety of things – walking from the Desert road the 20km to Whakapapa on one day, when the weather was deteriorating. We saw the very impressive new hut at Waihohonu and the old hut which I had never visited before but which is quite fascinating. A good job we went to the Dome when we did we thought!
Next day some came down the Bruce via Whakapapaiti hut intending to return to base along the track, but heavy rain forced them to return and come back down the road. The rest of us had visited the Silica rapids, the local café and DoC centre – a much better alternative we thought.. Most people got to the silica rapids at some stage and the Taranaki falls – both good options when the weather was wet.
Of course on the way home the weather was perfect! However we had all got to the Dome shelter and had a lot of fun. It was a great break – a big thank you to Roger for organising it all.
Roger's report follows :
Conquering the Mountain on Waitangi Day.
The all male crew set off on Waitangi Day to conquer the mountain. Chris Markham led the way with Pat, Peter, Mark A, Brian and Roger. With much enthusiasm we were the first on the chair lift at 9.00am. One or two grey haired gents got half-price tickets! Not too much wind but quite a lot of cloud and mist.
Chris did not even need a map, he simply set off over the boulders and across the snow patchs with impressive assurance. We soon left everyone else behind including Pat who established a new route "up-wind ) from the group. Contact was re-estabklished just before we emerged into the sun at the edge of the plateau.We walked along the crater rim for an early lunch at the Dome Shelter.
Then across the snow to look at the crater lake which promptly disappeared into the mist. We headed north and much to our relief sighted the other group emerging onto the ridge. Many elaborate hand and arm signals established that all was well with the mixed party. Chris led us across the plateau, north past the Cathedral Rocks and up along the ridge to Mt Te Heuheu ( 2732m ).We glimpsed occasional views east and west through the mist.Then down a step ridge, past a T-bar ski lift and back to the chair lift for a well earned coffee.
Thank you Chris for leading us. And congratulations to the "mixed" party for pioneering a new "steep" route up the mountain.