Egmont National Park

This past weekend Ross and I summited Mount Taranaki (also called Mount Egmont) with the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club.  It was my second trip to the park, with my first trip occurring in November, but a first for Ross.  Egmont National Park is about a 5-hour drive from Wellington, provided that you don't hit much traffic.  

Morning view of Mt. Taranaki

We camped Friday night at the end of the East Egmont road and were treated to a cloudless night sky dominated by the Milky Way.  Saturday morning we watched the sun rise from behind the volcanoes of Tongariro National Park (Mt. Ruapehu, Mt. Ngauruhoe, and Mt. Tongariro), approximately 150 km to the east.

Sunrise behind (left to right) Mt. Tongariro, Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom), and Mt. Ruapehu 

Our route for the day had us go up the East Ridge of Mt. Taranaki.  We followed a trail as far as the ski field and then headed up.  And up, and up (about 4,000' elevation gain).  There is not a lot of scree along the eastern ridge but we did end of scrambling/climbing for a good section as it got very steep.  For those of you that are climbers, Ross described it as a high Class 4/low Class 5 climb/scramble.  Ross loved it though there were a few places where I was rather uncomfortable.  Because of the steepness of the last scramble to the top, I did not get any pictures as both of my hands were occupied.  Around the time that we started scrambling upwards, the clouds started to move in, so visibility was greatly reduced.  Having climbed and hiked in the Rocky Mountains, with their propensity toward rather intense thunderstorms, this made both Ross and I a little uncomfortable but thunderstorms are a very rare occurrence in New Zealand so the group continued upwards.

Mt. Taranaki

Surveying the ground that we'd covered so far.

Ross on the climb up the Eastern Ridge

Clouds closing in below us.
Mt. Ruapehu is visible on the left.

Fanthams Peak (1966 m) on the south flank of Mt. Taranaki

 We ended up, initially, on Shark's Tooth (2510 m) in the sun above the clouds.  The East Ridge is not the path that most people take to the summit, so we had Shark's Tooth to ourselves, though we could easily see and hear the masses of hikers on the summit across the crater.  After a rest break and lunch, we scrambled down from the Shark's Tooth to the crater floor and then up to the official summit of Taranaki (2518 m).  It was a gorgeous day so there were a number of other people around but we were treated to great views through the clouds.

Looking down from Shark's Tooth into the crater

View to the north from Shark's Tooth

Mt. Taranaki crater

Ross at the Mt. Taranaki summit

Shark's Tooth from Mt. Taranaki summit

Cairn and clouds

We descended via the North Ridge which has a marked trail and is the route that most people take to the top. As such the trail was practically a highway with tons of people descending as we did.  The clouds that we had left earlier came up to meet us almost as soon as we left the crater, so there was very low visibility for the majority of our descent.  There is also a long section of scoria that had everyone falling and slipping down the mountain.  As I was sliding down it, I thanked my lucky stars that we had ascended via the East Ridge, despite complaining about it earlier (hiking up loose scoria is particularly hellish).  Once we hit it, we took the Round the Mountain track back over to the East Egmont carpark to retrieve the van.  A couple members of the group had been moving a bit slower toward the end of the hike, so we ended up driving over to the North Egmont Visitor's Center to pick them up.

Round the Mountain track

Ross on the Round the Mountain track

Ross on the Round the Mountain track

Dry stream bed along the Round the Mountain track

Evening view of Mt. Taranaki from the East Egmont carpark

All in all, it was a very nice weekend.  The scrambling pushed my boundaries but I am so glad that I did it.  It was also nice to actually see Mt. Taranaki; in November when I was in Egmont National Park we had intermittent clouds that turned into a torrential downpour.

Best view of Mt. Taranaki from November trip.