Student Bloggers

Myself and a group of 8 other members of the Victoria University Tramping Club decided to attempt the famous Round the Mountain Track located in Tongariro National Park. This 66.2 km loop takes you around the outside of Mount Ruapehu, a large active volcano that sits in the middle of the North Island. The area is known for its diverse volcanic landscapes. Unfortunately for us, we only made it about ⅛ of the way Round the Mountain. 

Day 1 

Our trip started on a Friday. After driving for 5 hours, our group made it to the visitor centre at Whakapapa Village. While waiting for the other van, we checked the weather forecast and learned that the weather would change drastically from the previous forecast. Not to be deterred we hiked 2 ½ hours to Whakapapaiti hut. We met up with the trampers from the University of Auckland, so we had a full hut. We discussed the route with them and came to the same conclusion: we would probably have to cut our routes short. The next days of the tramp would bring us above the snow line where we would have to deal with ice and snow. Without proper winter gear such as an ice axe and crampons, it would have been very dangerous to continue.

Day 2

We started the day early. It was quite cold outside, below 0 degrees Celsius, and the ground was covered in ice. I’ve never done serious tramping in sub-zero temperatures. I wasn’t ready for how much slower it is to tramp when everything is icy. What should have taken us two hours took us 4 hours and we had to be careful not to slip. I had one bad fall head over heels down a hill but landed on my backpack. Luckily, the only thing that hurt was my pride. The tramp itself was picturesque; the red lichen contrasted with the jagged volcanic rocks while Mount Ruapehu’s snow-covered peak loomed in the background. We took a short detour to a waterfall under Mount Ruapehu and then walked back to Whakapapaiti hut. 

Day 3

We made a group decision to make our way back to our cars at Whakapapa Village. We took an alternative route back that took us down a paved road. Unfortunately, it was raining, and one of our group members woke up sick with a fever. By the time we got to the road, we were shivering and cold. We completely misjudged how long the road was and so we were trapped walking in the cold for more than two hours. The only reason it didn’t take us longer, is that we got picked up along the way by a van carrying members of the Indonesian military returning from a military exercise.