Wednesday, January 23 - Climbing Mount Doom

     Of course you never sleep well when your alarm is set early for an exciting adventure, and Diana and I both slept fitfully during the night, and were already awake when my watch alarm went off at 4:30 am. We had our cereal and OJ and got ready for the hike, packing our small backpacks with food, water, and extra clothing.  Then we drove to a nearby resort to catch the shuttle bus to the beginning of the trail.

Dawn breaking over Mount Ngauruhoe

    We were on the first shuttle bus of the day.  Most of the other hikers were decked out with proper trekking gear, some eve with poles.  As usual, we had a more eclectic appearance.  Most people were there to make the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.  Actually, since part of the mountain erupted in 2012, throwing some massive chunks of rocks up to 3 km from the side crater, part of the trail is now closed, and the 'Crossing' is in reality an 'Out and Back'.  Fortunately, the most impressive portion of the mountain trail is still open.

     We planned to hike the entire trail, and wanted to add the hike up Mount Ngauruhoe as part of our trek. Since we had arrived at 6:30 am and had until 4:30 pm before the last shuttle bus would leave, we thought we could probably make it.  But we also decided to make sure and bag the mountain peak first, which starts half way through the crossing, since it would be earlier in the day, and consequently cooler and less peopled.

The trail covers about 5 miles and about  1800 feet of elevation before
the cutoff to the mountain

     We were told that we'd find a cutoff to the mountain at a sign two hours into our hike, and that from there we'd be on our own, since the route was unmarked, covered with scree, and would be one step backwards for every two forward.  We got to a sign, saw a faint trail through the gravelly rock, and headed up.

The beginning of the climb looked reasonable.  We still had 2100 feet to climb.

We soon reached the scree, or tephra, which was like climbing a gravel pile.
We'd scramble like mad for a few seconds to stay ahead of the small
landslide each step would make, then recover for up to a minute to
regain our strength for the next effort.  

It's a nearly 45 degree slope all the way to the top.  

The view from near the top of the climb

    We had been the first people up the mountain that day, and after struggling for an hour or so realized we were being passed by climbers on a different route a hundred meters to the east of us.  It covered somewhat firmer rock, allowing for a more straight upward climbing technique.  As Dan put it, we had managed to pick the down escalator for the climb up.  Unfortunately, there were loose cinders parallel to our route which formed an obstacle to reaching the easier path.  So until we neared the rim of the crater and firmer ground, we were stuck on the gravelly slope.

The last few steps to the crater's rim

Even the ancient ones made it to the top.  It took around four hours of grueling
effort from the trail cutoff to the top, and was undoubtedly the most difficult thing we've ever done ...
... at least since we turned 60. 

The girls pose for their 'scary' shot.  That's Mount Ruapehu in the background

The mountain doesn't have a molten pool of lava in its crater in which to deposit
sinister golden rings, but it is impressively deep, has small flumes of sulfurous steam,
and a remnant snow field on one side. 

          We walked around the rim of the crater, which afforded some great views of the surrounding volcanic area.  After spending about a half hour up there, we headed down the mountain, taking approximately the same route as our ascent.  This time, since we were on the down escalator going down, it was a whole lot easier, even fun.  Taking long bounding steps, we sort of surfed down the mountainside.  Except for collecting small rocks in our shoes and occasionally stumbling and landing on our butts, it was a fairly efficient way to descend.  We made to the base in about an hour, feeling sorry for all the souls still on their way up.

     We didn't have time to complete the crossing, but did walk another half hour along the trail to get a view over one of the ridges.

Time for one last pose in front of 'Mount Doom' before hiking back to the trail head

     We still had a two hour hike down the 1800 feet to the trail head, and believe me, my knees and hips felt every step of it.  But, we made it 15 minutes before the last shuttle left, which is a good thing, because it would have been another 12 km of walking if we had missed it.  We got back to camp, it was the kids turn to make dinner, thankfully, because I was too tired to do much of anything.  Then we crawled into our bed in the van, exhausted.  But extremely happy too. It had been a great New Zealand adventure!