Transport logistics with driving up Tukino Road put a damper on our original plan to walk to Rangipō Hut and climb the east ridge of Ringatoto (a peak on Mt Ruapehu). But a lack of snow at Nelson Lakes National Park came to our rescue… Anne and Megan’s group diverted to Mt Ruapehu, so we hitched a ride in the club van with them.
Friday
They kindly dropped us off on the road to Turoa skifield, at the Round the Mountain track, at about 9pm on Friday and we walked from there to Blyth Hut. The track was icy, so we had to take care with our steps. It was a beautiful starry night.
Saturday
On Saturday morning we were up at 5 am and out the door doing our transceiver checks by 6 am.
It was still dark, so our head torches were out for the first hour or so as we wandered up the poled route above Blyth Hut. We were treated to fabulous views of Taranaki in the morning light.
The poled route peters out, but it was straightforward enough to find a way up to Skyline Ridge, avoiding the bluffs and gullies on the way. The snow was crisp and sometimes icy, so we put crampons on as soon as the terrain started to steepen.
We crossed paths with the first skiers testing the ski field boundaries just after 9 am at about the 2000 m elevation mark. From there we gained the Skyline Ridge and plodded up the increasingly steep ridge, with many breather and snack stops. For most of the way we were just in the shade – just keeping ahead of the sun peeking over the ridge above.
Josh took the lead once we gained the summit ridge and plugged steps to the top. We had a fantastic view across Crater Lake and Summit Plateau, on which we could see several other groups on their own adventures. We could also see a bit of cloud gathering, which increased notably while we sat and had our lunch just below the summit. The time was about 11.30am, so it had taken us over 5 hrs to climb the 1500 m from Blyth Hut.
Our plan had been to continue from here along the ridge to Ringatoto (a peak on Mt Ruapehu), but there was loose wet avalanche activity on the glacier slopes below us that we’d have to cross to gain Ringatoto Ridge, so we decided to leave that plan for another day. Instead, we explored down the ridge to Girdlestone, hoping to loop around its flanks to make a loop. However, the ridge had several steps which were not negotiable without a rope. As we started to investigate by-passing them from below, clag came in, so we decided the safest option was to re-join Tahurangi summit ridge and head back down the way we’d come up.
Once back on the Tahurangi descent, we were again subjected to the drum ‘n bass soundtrack coming from the Turoa cafe. Not everybody’s choice of soundtrack for the serenity of the mountain!
As we descended, I convinced Josh and Erik to humour my spot height bagging obsession and divert a little to the south to pick up the ridge with Point 1984. This was a fun detour and enjoyable ridge travel for the descent to Blyth Hut. It also gave us some good view points of the routes up Girdlestone. At about 3pm we heard an ‘on belay’ call coming from way above. Looking up, we could identified a climbing pair still a pitch below the summit.
Descending further down the 1984 ridge, we picked up a line of cairns. This neatly guided us into the poled route back to Blyth Hut, with little-to-no additional height gain needed as we crossed the creek valley at around the 1500 m mark.
We arrived back at Blyth Hut at 5pm. A family of three were there and already had the fire going. They had spent the afternoon sculpting Josh’s new friend. We took turns popping back out into the cold to witness the glowing orange sunset over Taranaki Maunga.
We had an early night and a long sleep, as we decided against walking the Round The Mountain track to meet the other group at Whakapapa the next day.
Sunday
Instead we had a lazy morning (Josh described it as an anti-alpine start) drinking coffee in our sleeping bags and heading back to the road to Turoa skifield at 9am. Again the track was icy and we each had a lesson in ice skating at various points!
The last adventure for the weekend was a mini explore to find Mangaiti Hut on the other side of road. We’d been tipped off that the other group was going to do the same before picking us up in the van, so we hid when we heard them coming and gave them a fright as they arrived at the hut. We sat in the sun at Mangaiti Hut and swapped stories about our respective days in the snow before all walking back to the van together.
Trip stats:
Friday:
Walk to Blyth Hut 1 hr 20 mins
Saturday:
Blyth Hut to Tahurangi summit 5 hrs 20 mins
Descent to Blyth Hut via Point 1984 5 hrs
14km in total