Tongariro Alpine Crossing
This past weekend I traveled five and a half hours with 30 other international students from Massey University to the Togariro National park. The Togariro national park is just outside of the Great Lake Taupo where I spent my sky diving adventures.
Our intended plans were to travel up to Tongariro National park to do a 20 Kilometer hike across the Togariro Alpine Crossing, one of New Zealand’s nine Great Walks. While hiking the crossing we were also going to add an extra six kilometers to our hike and hike Mount Nagaruhoe or commonly known as Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings.
However our intended plans did not work out as we had hoped. We set out form our hostel Extreme Backpackers to the park entrance at 6:30 AM, to get an early start on the track as it was going to take between 7-9 hours to finish. When we arrived the sun was still rising and it was foggy out and a bit misty but a good temperature. As we began our hike we were all having fun laughing and telling riddles as we walked uphill for the next several hours. However a couple hours into our hike it began to rain, we all put on our rain gear and kept walking. Over the next hour our group began to split up as everyone hiked at different paces.
My friends; Anna (US exchange student), Tina (US exchange student), Val (US exchange student), Colleen (US exchange student), Paul (Irish exchange student), Joe (Kiwi student) and I were upfront as we were hiking at a brisk pace. Over time the rain picked up and we became drenched but we kept walking, as we were at that point 7 miles in to the track. However when we reached the start of Mount Nagaruhoe the wind had picked up and the fog had gotten thicker and visibility became very poor. At that point many Kiwis on the trail were turning back and expressing the safety concerns of hiking Mount Nagaruhoe. So Anna and I decided not to Summit Mount Nagaruhoe. However Paul and Joe refused to not summit and left anyways.
Anna and I kept on the track to the end as we were past the halfway mark and the bus was supposed to be picking us up at the other end and we were unaware of what the rest of the group was doing. However we made it about another 2 miles before the wind and rain picked up even more. At this point we were on the ridge of the Togariro crossing. We were crouching behind large boulders as the wind had become to strong for us to stay standing with out being blown off the side of the top ridge. At this point we had reached the red crater- not that we could see it through the dense fog. We were both drenched and our muscles had become so tight from all the rain and wind that it was becoming hard to walk. My feet and hands had gone numb. I could no longer get footing as the rain made the boulders so slippery and I could not feel the bottoms of my feet. We at the point had two options; turn around and make the 7-mile hike out or continue forward for the next 5 miles and finish the crossing. However to go forward we had two more big inclines to our knowledge. The one immediately in front of us we needed to hold on to a large chain and pull ourselves up and over the large boulders, though with out gloves our hands had gone to numb to hold on to the chain. We therefore made the decision to turn back around and head back to the beginning. On our way back we ran into much of our group who had also decided to turn back.
I jogged most the entirety of the way backs out as I was so frozen. When I reached the entrance parking lot our bus driver was waiting with our warm bus as he had heard that conditions had quickly turned and he came back for us.
The majority of us made it back to the bus, however 6 members of our group (a kiwi, an Irish exchange student and 4 exchange students from Singapore) had not returned. They had to our knowledge continued to the summit of Mount Nagaruhoe.
After four hours we were able to gain contact with the missing members and our driver picked them up at the other end of the crossing as they had made it to the end. They came back to the hostel drenched with torn pants and shoes and back packs. The footing was so poor due to the terrible storm conditions that they had to slide down the backside of Mount Nagaruhoe since it was too unsafe to walk down.
However everyone made it back safe and sound. This one of a kind track with what is supposed to be the most awe-inspiring views of New Zealand did not turn out as any of us had hoped. However it was a once in a lifetime memorable trip. Someday I may try and make it back to re-try my hand at this great walk of New Zealand.
