A Snowy Tongariro Crossing and Summit

Looking back at Red Crater. Click on the photo for a panorama that stretches around to North Crater.

For the first time in about 30 years I was lucky enough to be on Mt Tongariro when there was a reasonable amount of snow!

Heather had never done the Tongariro Crossing before and, after her crewing for me for the entire 24 hours at the Sri Chinmoy 24 hour race, how could I refuse? It took no effort at all to convince me, and we had an absolutely brilliant day.

An early start saw us on the start of the track by 7:30am. Up the Mangatepopo Valley we passed a number of people, but our early start meant that not many tourist walkers were on the track yet. At the end of the Valley we left the tourist track and I led the way up the old Devil's Staircase. Views back down the valley were spectacular, but there was very little snow in evidence. Ngaruhoe had some snow on its slopes, and there was patchy snow on the outer flanks of Tongariro, but we weren't at all sure that we would find anything significant once we reached the craters.

We reached the saddle and the entrance to South Crater, and there was snow! Initially a small patch to walk across and then as the crater opened up in front of us there was snow covering most of the crater walls. We stopped for a quick bite to eat and then ventured across to the "seasonal lake" which is ignored by most people. The lake was frozen and after a brief exploration we returned towards the tourist track.

Clouds streaming in through the saddle. It had been clear and sunny up until now, but ominous clouds were approaching from the west through the saddle between Ngaruhoe and Tongariro. We started up the crater wall but stopped to put on extra gear as the wind picked up, clouds came in, and the temperature dropped.

The summit ridge. At the top of the wall we found a partially sheltered spot and stopped for lunch #1. While we were there the cloud cleared, although the cold wind remained. After lunch we decided to head across the snow slope until we joined up with the track to the summit. A couple of "bumps" along the crater rim and then we were on the ridge to the summit. It was absolutely spectacular up here, with the ridge and slopes covered in snow.

We visited both summits, stopped for various photos, and then retraced our steps around the crater rim. At the snow slope we donned our waterproof over-trousers and glissaded down the slope. After a hesitant start Heather found that it was great fun, so we walked back up the slope for another go.

Emerald Lakes with ice.

After the glissading we walked back across to the Crossing Track and walked around the edge of Red Crater and ran down the steep sandy slope to the Emerald Lakes. Another short glissade, lunch #2, and then it was off across the snow again to rejoin the track. The snow here was soft enough that we often broke through the surface, although we didn't usually sink in very far.

As we had seen on the summit trek, Blue Lake was frozen. And just around the corner from Blue Lake started the descent to Ketetahi Hut and then to the car park. We ran most of the way down, stopping just for a few photos along the way. About 1km before the end of the track my legs had had enough running so we walked the rest of the way to the end.