2015 03 10 Mt Ruapehu crater lake ascent

March 10, 2015 by rward041 2 Comments

The Tuesday Club event to Mt Ruapehu was treated to a  stunning day of weather and a successful ascent.

 

Two cars left Palmy at 5am; Greg with work colleague Max (German) and Neil; Rick with Lew and Mike Senior. We arrived at the Chateau Tongariro at 7.30am for an average buffet breakfast – no brown bread! Something different to start a TOPC event though. We drove to the Top of the Bruce carpark and started walking around 9.30am. There had been lots of discussion on chairlift versus walking up the first section. Trip leader didn’t allow or consider others taking the chairlift. An hour’s walk got us to the café and top of chairlift. From here the route was not that obvious but there was a tour group ahead of us to give us a bit of an idea. After all it is a route and not a track. (We later found our route was in fact near to but not on the worn path). Great views on the way up including Taranaki. Clouds rolling in further down but the day remained fine and clear.

The mountain was a mixture of scree and rock scraped by the moving ice during winters. There were just patches of ice in the gullies on the way up. It became a little steeper in the last section to the “top” – well not the way I had been before but to the rim of the Summit Plateau. We walked up and down along the ridge to Dome Shelter for a spectacular view of the Crater Lake. Lunch was beside the Dome Shelter out of the cool gentle breeze.

    

Greg and Max headed down the way we came up while the rest of us went down toward the crater lake for a closer look. Well worth the closer view and we returned by my more usual route to the south west of the Crater Lake. This was over different terrain of soft volcanic debris and then down the small glacier eventually rejoining the well-worn path up. This is much easier to follow down and we caught up with Greg and Max at the café around 3.30pm for a very good coffee. Two deserters took the chairlift down – it was a big day though – while the rest walked back down to the cars.

A lovely dinner at Le Café Telephonique in Taihape with a well-earned beer. Home around 7.30pm

A great new TOPC event and enjoyed by all – and worth repeating.

Report by Rick