A winter Tongariro crossing (sort of) – Written by Connor Pearson

People: Ariel, Ashwin, Ben, Bianca, Connor, James, Nick

Dates: 25/07/2025 – 27/07/2025

Aim: Walk the Tongariro Crossing in winter to get more basic experience in the Alpine, but over the course of the trip, our plans and route changed about 5 times, and the whole thing turned into a good alpine meander.

The trip started as any good AUTC event: waiting for access to the gear locker…so we were only 2 hours late kicking off for our drive down to National Park (now called Waimarino? Lol, found the name changes on the road signs halfway down very confusing!). Kebabs at the Taupiri service station were awesome.

Waking up at 5am and after the usual faff, we hit the track at 7am just as the sun was rising. We followed the usual trail up the valley floor and up the Devil’s staircase. We finally started to hit some decent snow and ice at the South Crater, so the crampons came one. 

Figure 1: All smiles at a sunrise start

Plan 1: Summit Ngauruhoe

Weather was good, and we spotted a decent route up Ngauruhoe that would avoid the worst of any loose-wet or wind slab avalanche risk. However, our attempt at Ngauruhoe lasted about 200m realising the whole group wouldn’t make it up. It was gonna be a big climb, and not everyone had the fitness for it, so we had to change plans.

Plan 2: Follow the crossing route up to Red Crater and down to the Emerald lakes.

The ready-to-access snacks came out. Turns out chest pockets are great for quick-draw sausages!

Halfway up the red crater ridge we got passed by two guys in cross-trainers, no crampons, no ice axe, and one pole between two. When we asked them if they were ok, the reply we got (in a very strong german accent) was “This is New Zealand yah”. What does that even mean? We’re okay cause NZ is easy? We don’t need to follow good practises cause we’re just visiting??? We’re all still trying to figure out what they were meaning. We passed another hiker (who said he was a rescue helicopter pilot on his day off) who said he love to see people like that. They kept him employed! 

Red crater was covered in sheet ice and the wind was gusting. Most of the tourists (out German friends included) were huddled at the top of the scree slope down to the lakes. It was covered in snow and ice, so luckily for us, none of them were crazy enough to attempt the decent in sneakers. 

Figure 2: Nick and Bianca vibing out at Red Crater

Figure 3: Nick and Ariel's cute snowman

Out party had to split here (Nick had to go back to meet up with another group going up Ruapehu tomorrow, and Ariel had to drop him back at the road entrance). The remainder (Ashwin, Ben, Bianca, James and Myself) pushed on down the slope to the Emerald lakes. 

The emerald lakes were completely frozen over (first time I’ve ever seen this!), so we had some fun playing a great game of curling along the surface. 

Figure 4: The gang on the shores of a frozen-over Emerald Lake!

Plan 3: Somehow return to the cars by an interesting route

The clouds came in as we crossed over central crater and as we walked down to Blue lake (unfortunately it only had a very thin layer of ice on it). We then traversed up the steep slope to North Crater. I’d never been here, so seeing the huge pit (200m across at least) down to the vents was very impressive. The clouds parted just enough for us to get a good view across the entire expanse. 

Figure 5: Cloud cover crossing Central Crater

Figure 6: View down into North Crater. The clouds only cleared for the 5-10 seconds it took to get this shot.

Our return route took us back to Hackmans ridge (the big ridge running down from the Tongariro summit all the way to Mangatepopo hut), which we used as a massive slide to bring us down the mountain (at least until the snow stopped). Somehow, an Ice axe got left behind after we started walking, so Ben and I had to trail run back up to find it!

Figure 7: Connor preaching from the top of the world during the sunset.

By this point, the sun was setting, so the headtorches came out and we pushed on down the hut. Unfortunately, we missed the turnoff point, so had to bush-bash our way off the ridge and back to the path. All up, by the time we got back to the cars, it had been 13 hours on our feet, and well past the time we expected to return! Understandably, no one felt like cooking, so we all digged into big portions at the National Park pub (Shout out to Schnapps!) 

Figure 8: The full meander

The only plan for Sunday was driving back to Auckland and so was super chill. We had to make the obligatory stop to the absolute GOAT Turkish Kebab and Pizza Express in Tokaroa. It’s a must-stop AUTC institution!

Figure 9: Well deserved feed and drinks.