Coinciding with the first full moon of 2024, this was a weekend dedicated to moonlight Tongariro crossings. The plan was for groups of different grades to start the Crossing at various times throughout Saturday afternoon and evening (either walking or running), so they would each complete the track at night and enjoy the bright light of the full moon. However, the weather forecast was not looking good as a contingent of 29 trampers headed to the club’s lodge at Mount Ruapehu…
Group 1 – Med-Fit: Daniel (leader), Megan, Amy-lou, Justin, Ashleigh and Natasha.
Our intention was to do the Crossing on Saturday evening and to be back at the Lodge by shortly after midnight on Sunday. However, as the weather forecast wasn’t favourable, we spontaneously elected to bring it forward to the Friday night/Saturday morning, and to push through having worked a full day in Wellington.
Our group of 6 repacked and had some coffee after getting to the Lodge. Mon kindly dropped us off at Ketetahi car park. It felt quite bizarre as the club van vanished into the distance and, at 1.23am, we turned to commence our mission. The first few kilometres weren’t especially steep, and we were able to gently jog for stretches, before power walking to stretch our legs and get our calves warmed up. Before long, we cleared the treeline and could look out into the darkness, vaguely making out Lake Taupo and the lights of Taupo in the distance, with countless other lakes and hills that we couldn’t see.
The wind was picking up as we climbed, and the two slowest kilometres were from Emerald Lakes over and down into South Crater. The estimated 20km/h wind was easily exceeded by constant gusts of approximately 80km/h, and it took over an hour to cross. As we reached South Crater we could see the dawn light start to creep through the clouds. The track became less technical as we descended, and we were able to pick up speed.
It was quite bizarre to see people heading the other way, just about to commence their journey as we completed ours. A sprint finish for the last couple of kms saw us reach the Mangatepopo car park in just over 5hrs total, or 4hrs 20mins of moving time, having climbed almost 1,900 metres. We were filled with adrenaline as we finished, but the tiredness definitely hit by the time we were back at the lodge, and we were all quite pleased to be able to crawl into our comfy beds at the lodge to finally sleep.
Group 2 – Easy-Med: Jacqui (leader), Jane, Kat, Natasha
Our group decided we’d rather do the Crossing during the day and see the views. As it turned out, ours was the only group unable to complete the Crossing!
We expected bad weather to arrive during Saturday afternoon so our group set alarms for 6am for an earlier start on the track. We began the walk from the Mangatepopo car park at 7.40am in pleasantly cool, overcast conditions. The view toward the top of Devil’s Staircase showed clear to the top of the staircase, and cloud beyond.
But before we reached the start of the big climb, wisps of mist were already shrouding the staircase. The mist grew thicker, with a cold breeze and light drizzle as we climbed. We added layers as we ascended into colder conditions.
Towards the top of the climb it was downright unpleasant with pelting rain. Nevertheless, we saw a surprising number of walkers who were unsuitably dressed in cotton and with inadequate or no wet weather gear. And those who persevered upward in shorts had very angry-looking red legs.
At the rim of South Crater we sheltered behind a large rock for some respite from the wind. Peering into the gloom, we watched walkers disappearing from view as they started across the South Crater flat.
A two-way flow operated across the flat, with many walkers presumably heading back to the Devil’s Staircase (rather than having started from the Ketetahi side). But we pushed on until we met rising ground on the far side. At this point we stopped to ask two of the returnees what conditions were like further on. They told us they’d climbed up toward Red Crater for 20 minutes before giving up on the crossing. As unpleasant as it was where we then stood, it was much worse higher up and with much stronger wind. To continue would be to risk getting into a dangerous situation, and even if we got safely down to the Emerald Lakes, we wouldn’t see much with such poor visibility.
We set off back across toward the staircase. Mostly the wind blew strongly, but from time to time the wind dropped completely. Natasha and Kat began the descent immediately while Jacqui and I paused to text others at the lodge to arrange a Mangatepopo car park pickup. This was the only place we found mobile coverage.
It rained steadily during the walk back down the valley to the car park. But the rain only heightened the beautiful array of colours in the landscape: pinks, coral, red, orange, olive green, and pale lemon from mosses, lichen, and rocks to flowers, foliage, and ferns.
On the drive back to the lodge we planned a visit to the Tokaanu hot pools after lunch, and a relaxing evening. Shorter, local walks at Whakapapa Village were on the cards for Sunday morning (Tawhai Falls walk, Mounds Walk, Whakapapanui Walk).
While it was disappointing that our group was the only one unable to complete the crossing – better safe than sorry. We still had a good, social weekend away, and the Tongariro Crossing will be there for next time.
Group 3 – Easy-Med and Med: Vero and Lucy (leaders) + 15 trampers
An Easy-Med and Med grade group had each planned a relaxing day and dinner before heading off to walk the Crossing from Mangatepopo car park in the early evening on Saturday, with a scheduled pick up from Ketetahi car park in the wee hours on Sunday morning. Inclement conditions (read: thick cloud, heavy rain, strong wind) scuttled those well-laid plans, and another round of heavy rain forecast for Sunday meant the only feasible option was a quicker walk, getting out of our warm beds at around the time we would otherwise have been getting back into them.
The two groups combined and, after some hastily inhaled breakfast, set off from the Lodge at 4am on Sunday morning. We started walking just before 4.45am with no rain or wind, glorious clear skies and stars aplenty. By the end of the moonlit walk to Soda Springs and climb up to South Crater, the sun was already illuminating Tongariro’s summit. Admiring Taranaki in the distance, we regrouped before ascending the Red Crater ridge – the only part of our walk where the wind was strong enough to require some caution.
There were very few other trampers around, and when we found two people to take a group photo, they told us they were only doing an up-and-back from Mangatepopo car park, as the tourist shuttles for the day had been cancelled due to the approaching rain. That news – and gravity – pushed us onwards, with the next stop for ‘lunch’ at 8am after admiring the Emerald and Blue Lakes and before descending towards Ketetahi Falls.
All downhill from there, we arrived back at the van and car (which had miraculously relocated themselves while we’d been walking) just over 6 hours since we’d set off.
We were back just in time: the forecast rain began as we drove back to the Lodge and picked up steadily from there, quickly becoming fairly torrential. Stuff News later reported the rescue of a couple who’d set off to do the Crossing a few hours after us. They had spent 12 hours lost in rain and thick fog – fortunately without a worse outcome and a good reminder of the importance of being prepared, turning back if you have to, and carrying a PLB.
Trying to predict what will happen and when from different weather forecasts is sometimes akin in accuracy to reading tea leaves or palms. On this occasion, however, we timed it perfectly to catch the only good weather window to complete the Crossing over the Saturday/Sunday – and with fantastic conditions to boot. The very early start and quicker than intended walk (especially for those who’d signed up for an EM pace but nonetheless managed to shave more than an hour off their expected walk time!) absolutely paid off. Individual contributions are too many to name, but the great teamwork from all 17 trampers was key to the walk’s success.
