Tongariro

Girdlestone Alp 2 – Meeting Friends

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Date: 26-28 July 2013.
Trip type: Alpine 2.
Location: Whakapapa Lodge.
Author: Mike Phethean.
Trampers: Mike Schier and Mike Phethean.

Planning mountaineering trips like this in advance you hope for at least one goodish day out of two so that you can get to the summit. This time was different – the forecast was brilliant 5 days before and fell to a little windy by Friday. The only problem with weather like this is the … Read more

Tongariro in the mist – peak bagging for 8 year olds – November 2011

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Date: 12-13 March 2011.
Trip type: Family / MF daytrip .
Location: Ruapehu Lodge.
Author: Mike Gilbert.
Trampers: Mike Gilbert, Toby (8), Beth Piggott, Taylor (4), Carly (1), Ally Clark, Simon Ward, Dominic (2.5), Hamish (6mth), Rene Van Lierop, Tom (10), Vincent (8), Daniel (6), (Mike, Toby, Simon, Rene, Tom, and Vincent headed up to Tongariro).

Everyone knows the Ruapehu Lodge is where you go for winter weekends; for snowboarding, alpine adventures and the like.  Summer?  What’s there in Summer?  Well, that was our mission: to find out. I well know that the lodge is very comfortable for regular punters and families alike. It needs to be because snowboarding at Mt … Read more

Ruapehu Round-the-Mountain

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Date: Easter (April 21-25) 2011.
Trip type: Easy-Medium Tramp.
Location: Mt Ruapehu.
Author: Amelia White.
Trampers: : Amelia White, Mark White, Mike Travers, Annie van Herck, Lieselot Whitbeck, Jonathan Karp, Tim McGurk, Vincent Grealish, Jo Boyle (part time at least).

Thursday Thursday 5.30pm found Amanda and I corralling punters into our respective vans at a very busy platform 9 on a warm and overcast evening. We were headed for the club lodge for the night; the other van was headed for somewhere north of Taupo. Unusually, we encountered no traffic issues; we were all the … Read more