Thursday, February 18, 2010

2006/12 - Ruapehu - round the mountain walk .

In December 2006 I decided to do the "Round the mountain " walk - 67 km around mount Ruapehu . 
It is rated as a 4-6 day walk but I was going to try for 3 days .
The walk from Whakapapa village to Waihohonu hut is rated at 5.5 hours  but is not all that interesting .


 In the distance you can see the lower Tama lake and Ngauruhoe as you head for the hut ...




 There is a side track to the historic "Old Waihohonu hut " along the way as well .





I carried on along the track to Rangipo hut rated at another 5 hours walk .


 
This is apparently the only desert area on the North Island .



 


Then you cross over the Tokino mountain road .


 


 When you walk through Whangaehu valley there are warning signs because it is a "Lahar hazard " area - one day they expect a mass of hot mud to come rushing down the valley .



 

That means hurry across this bridge !

 

 

and don't look down !

 
This area is very photogenic and I wouldn't mind spending more time here one day .



This looks like somebody pretty sad about losing someone ! I call it 'the pallbearer'



So at 4 pm I arrived at Rangipo hut .
 And settled in !
 

 At 8 pm the door opened and two people came in - it turned out they were doing the 24 hour challenge . They had started at 5 am and wanted to be back where they started by 5 am the next morning . Judging by the time they took they were only going at the rated times of a total of 30 hours around the mountain and I doubt they got back in time .
In the morning there was ice outside - it was a pretty cold night .

 But a good morning nevertheless .

 

So I started the 5 hour walk to Mangaeheuhu hut .



 Ruapehu was putting on a display for me !

 

Then the track went through some trees .....



 When I got to the hut it was only 9:30 am so I decided to keep moving .....

 

 

At this point my knee started hurting and I hadn't bumped it or anything . I had been overdoing it and not drinking enough water . I kept moving because there was another hut around the corner somewhere and then there was Ohakune mountain road which is a popular road to the Tukino ski field .



 It was now the second day and I had walked 50 km with a 25 kg pack full of emergency supplies and camera gear . My knee was hurting so bad I had to cut a branch into a crutch so I could walk properly . I had reached the road by this time and there were markers along the way - when I had gone another 5 km I got a lift into town . Next time I will go lighter - perhaps next December once the days have got longer again I will see if I can do it in 18 hours with a lighter pack . For now though there is still 20 km of track I haven't seen but I have some good memories !

 

 
 

















 

4 comments:

  1. Hi Desmond, did you ever get back to finish the course? I also tried to do it in 3 days Dec2016. The 3rd day has the 4 river crossings and open ridge. Due to the rain and high winds I ended up staying at the last hut and completing the last 2.5hrs the 4th day.

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    1. Yes, I managed to do it in 16 1/2 hours 6 years ago :) http://thephotovan.blogspot.co.nz/2011/01/20110103-success-around-ruapehu-in-day.html

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  2. That's pretty fast. My time was 11+11+6+2.5. I hope you have since sorted out the 25kg load, that seems awfully over packed :) I like how you are able to admit your short comings in each walk and how to improve things.

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    1. The 25kg pack was when I had a bunch of photography gear and was doing it in 3 days. It was a lot lighter when I went for the 1 day attempt. We only learn when we accept that we don't know it all - as soon as we think we know it all we stop learning :)

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