Tongariro crossing - the write-up

Last week I posted my photos from the Tongariro Crossing. I promised to follow up with some more details about the trip.


We ended up with a group of 8 of us going - only one Kiwi and the rest of us Brits living over here. The Crossing is in the same National Park as Mount Ruapehu, where I went snowboarding a couple of times in the Winter. We decided to stay in Ohakune, the same little ski resort town that is full of holiday places. Out of season it was a lot easier and cheaper to find a place. We ended up with a really nice Bach that was a converted railway building. Plenty of space and nicely furnished.

Our Bach

We travelled up after work on the Friday and arrived pretty early in the evening. As we needed to be up by 5:45 the next morning no one wanted to do much other than get their bags ready for the next day and then head to bed.


It was pretty painful waking up before dawn the next morning. The final preparations were broken up by someone burning toast and smoking the whole place out. We dragged ourselves outside to wait in the chilly dark for the shuttle bus that was taking us to the start of the walk.


There were two time options for the shuttle and we had chosen the earlier one. The Crossing can get pretty packed on a clear day and so the aim of the early bus was to beat most of the crowds. A second advantage was it gave us the option of adding in some extra bits to the route and still having time to make it to the shuttle back.


The first hour of the walk was flat as we approached the first mountain. Just as the sun rose above the ridge line we hit the 'devil's staircase'. A tough 200 metre climb up wood stairs. At the top of this we reached the side track to Mount Ngauruhoe. This was the first add on section and Jonathan and I had decided we were going to climb it.


Mount Ngauruhoe starts to look pretty daunting as you get closer. It might be familiar to some people as (heavily CGI'd) it featured in the Lord of the Rings movies as Mount Doom. We couldn't pass up the chance to say we'd conquered Mount Doom!

Mount Ngauruhoe

The ascent was pretty tiring, a mix of loose scree and sharp rocks and pretty steep. When we eventually made it to the summit we were pretty relieved although we then had to battle with the wind that kept threatening to blow us into the crater at the top. Luckily the views proved worth the effort. The day had kept clear and we had a panoramic views over the National Park and surrounding mountains. We also got to enjoy the hot geyser steaming away at the top. The journey back down was completely different to the slog up. After initially slipping and falling we mastered the 'space walking' technique of bouncing and almost running through the scree. Having taken over 90 minutes to climb up, we found ourselves back at the base in around 20 minutes.


Back on the main track we found it busier than first thing in the morning, but not too crowded. We walked across the expansive flat Southern Crater and then had a short climb up a ridge line. There was a bit of cloud building up behind us but it never caught up with us as we walked on to the next section of the Crossing.

View back across the Southern Crater from the ridge line

At this point the Emerald Lakes came into view. These three lakes are probably the most recognisable feature of the walk. Build ups of minerals in the water have given the three lakes a striking colour. 

One of the Emerald Lakes

A short walk on from these three lakes brought us to the larger blue lake. Skirting round this we left behind the volcanic scenery and entered into alpine surroundings for the next stage of the walk. Having started in tundra and with a forest section still ahead of us, it felt a little like four different zones in an alternative crystal maze (showing my age a bit there).


We were now firmly on the descent towards the end of the walk, although there was a short up still to come with some stairs as we skirted in and out of a gully. Although we had beautiful views out across lakes to the north of the park, including the giant Lake Taupo, we all agreed afterwards that we'd seen so much spectacular scenery by this point that we felt a little underwhelmed.


The last hour and a half was a straightforward walk along the path, eventually reaching the forest line. As we started to skirt alongside a stream Jonathan, who had walked the Crossing before, announced we were close to the car park and the end of the route. We had thought we might catch up with the others, who hadn't climbed Ngauruhoe, but by the time we arrived at the end they had been waiting for quite a while for the first shuttle bus home to turn up.


The main track was 19.4 km and once we'd added in the ascent of Mt Ngauruhoe/Doom it was a pretty good workout. I can't rate the walk highly enough and if you ever have the opportunity to get out here then make sure you include this in your itinerary. This website is a good source of information about the Crossing.


We got back to our Bach about 4:30. Once we'd all showered and changed we realised we didn't feel too tired and were starving. We headed to a restaurant and had a tasty meal before heading back to the Bach for a few drinks and a surprisingly late evening. The next day a hearty cooked breakfast was followed by convoying back to Wellington. I even felt good enough to go for a quick jog in the evening after we got back.