Monday dawned bright and sunny, so we decided to tackle 'the big one' - the Summit climb of Mount Taranaki! We drove to North Egmont Lodge, wrote our names down in the DOC (Department of Conservation) Intentions Book, so they could look for us if we didn't make it back down by nightfall, and off we went!
It was supposed to take 4 hours to climb to the top and then 3 hours back down again, so we decided to see how far we could get, as it was already midday when we set off!
The first couple of hours were a steep, wide track to Taurangi Lodge. We were unable to see the summit while we were climbing as it was hidden by a wispy-looking bit of cloud, but this was made up for by the fact that we could see the Tongariro National Park, starring Mount Tongariro and Mount Ruhephu (Mount Doom in LOTR) all the way across in the centre of the North Island. When we were in NZ 7 years ago we drove right past Tongariro but never saw it due to all the cloud and rain but now it looked fantastic. Unfortunately, the photos below don't do it justice...
At the Lodge, we ate our picnic lunch and then set off for the snowy slopes above. The path ran up a snow-covered valley for the next 600m so this was a bit of a challenge without ice picks and crampons, but we trudged and slid our way to the top and looked forward to doing the return journey on our bottoms.
After this we climbed up into the cloud, the air getting thinner and thinner, and the ground becoming a scree slope of lava rocks. Time was getting on and we were starting to think about returning to the car, but Darren was determined to make it to the summit! However, we met a few people on the way down who confirmed that we would definitely not make the last half an hour's climb without proper mountaineering equipment (ice picks etc) as there was an unseasonable amount of snow and ice on the mountain top. This gave us the excuse we needed to turn back without reaching the summit and we started back down.
The return journey was uneventful except for a hilarious half an hour sliding back down the snow! We careered down on our bottoms (as predicted), except Nige who somehow managed to stay on his feet!, all laughing hysterically, completely out of control! Brilliant fun!
So the summit is yet to be conquered but we'll be back!!
Breakfast before the big climb 
