Nov 25-25: Mt. Ngauruhoe, Tongariro Natl. Park

In the middle of the north island is Tongariro national park, home to a very active thermal area. There are a range of mountains, volcanoes, a ski hill, and lake Taupo nearby, as well as one of the country's "great walks", and a very popular but demanding day hike, the Tongariro crossing. The whole area is a fascinating volcanic wasteland, no trees, very little vegetation, few birds or animals, and it's eerily quiet when there's no people around. No wonder this place was used as a filming location for Mordor.

We decided we would attempt a climb of Mount Ngauruhoe, which starred as "Mt Doom" in the Lord of the Rings. It is around 7500 ft above sea level, and is an active volcano- last eruption was 1975. It can be climbed by people without mountaineering skills because it is symmetrical and mostly 30 degrees all the way up, without cliffs and rock walls.
However it is not to be taken lightly, as there are still dangers; it's loose volcanic rock and climbers further up can loosen rocks and send them flying towards people below. The weather has to be closely watched as well. And of course if it erupts, well, we figured there's not much we can do about that, it would be a cool way to go out!

It takes a bit of fitness to complete a climb, you have to walk a good part of the Tongariro crossing just to get to the foot of the mountain. From the carpark to the summit is about 3800 ft in elevation (thats like 5 Calabogie Peaks!).
We are really not in the best shape being a couple old farts compared to all the young German tourists quickly climbing the mountain, then sliding down.
It was a long, slow, gut-wrenching climb for us- I think the hardest thing either of us have ever done. It feels like 45 degrees when you are up there. We started off saying we would just climb part way and see how we feel, but once we got halfway, why go back! We took our time and went carefully, and eventually made it to the summit. It is a great sense of accomplishment to be above the clouds on a mountain. We did a full circle around the crater which was complete with steaming vents.

All in, it took us 8 hours from leaving our van till we were back at the carpark. We slept well that night. The smartest thing I did that day was to put 2 beers in the fridge for when we got home.