Tongariro Alpine Crossing + Mt Ngarahue (almost) summit
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 14.37 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,406 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 5,617 ft
- Max elevation
- 7,342 ft
- TrailRank
- 38
- Min elevation
- 2,572 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Moving time
- 4 hours 42 minutes
- Time
- 10 hours 46 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3969
- Uploaded
- December 16, 2017
- Recorded
- December 2017
near Whakapapa Village, Manawatu-Wanganui (New Zealand)
Viewed 362 times, downloaded 18 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
[All description given here is for summer conditions. In winter, it is completely different and of a very high level, check with the park staff]
Total walking time: around 9 hours.
Total time (including stops): 10.5 hours.
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing (TAC) is a quite accessible trail, highly maintained and adapted, as it is highly transitated, and super easy to follow, no way of getting lost. The physical requirements are not high (although you need to be reasonably fit), as long as the weather is good. Nevertheless, a height of about 1900m is reached so it is an alpine environment and proper equipment is required, specially as the weather can change really quickly.
The TAC has incredible views over volcanic environment, offering a very different scenery from most alpine tracks. From very characterist bush in low level, to yellow grass higher, and finally bare volcanic rocks all over, ranging colors from black to red and yellow.
The TAC is 19km long, start around 900m above sea level, maximum height around 1900m, and finishes at 700m. It should take between 6 and 8 hours. Booking a shuttle is required as start and finish points are different. [Check on their website for all the information]
The trail can get a bonus if you decide to climb up Mt Ngarahue (mostly known as MtDoom in The Lord of the Rings films). It is a beautiful, magnificent, perfectly conical volcano. There is not a marked path, but it is not difficult to climb up through already beaten tracks. It is recommended to try to reach for the rocky areas, as in the ash + small rocks the ground will general slip below your feet and make the climbing hard and more dangerous. Take into account that it is much more step than the TAC and good fit is needed.
Once in the top, it is not allowed to reach the summit for respect to Maori culture, as it is a kind of sacred place for them: for Maori people, scrubbing someone's head is very disrespectful. As they regard the three volcanos of this natural park as deities, walking "over mounts heads" is greatly offensive. For this reason, the park has forbidden to reach the summit. But you can do most of the mountain without vulnerating Maori's sensitivity. In any case, if a ranger or a Maori asks you, tell them that you are aware and you are not going to reach the summit in order to respect Maori sensitivity.
Therefore, you can get almost to the top. The views of the South Crater, Mt Tongariro and a lake behind the Tongariro are amazing! Estimate 2-2'5 hours to the (almost) top.
Then, to go down, you can go the same way than up (about 2 hours) or slide downhill using the ash and small rocks mixture. This way is quite fast (about 1h) and a lot of fun, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, it is not the best place to start doing it, as it is quite step and unstable.
In any case, during all the Mt Ngarahue part, beware of rolling rocks!!
Total walking time: around 9 hours.
Total time (including stops): 10.5 hours.
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing (TAC) is a quite accessible trail, highly maintained and adapted, as it is highly transitated, and super easy to follow, no way of getting lost. The physical requirements are not high (although you need to be reasonably fit), as long as the weather is good. Nevertheless, a height of about 1900m is reached so it is an alpine environment and proper equipment is required, specially as the weather can change really quickly.
The TAC has incredible views over volcanic environment, offering a very different scenery from most alpine tracks. From very characterist bush in low level, to yellow grass higher, and finally bare volcanic rocks all over, ranging colors from black to red and yellow.
The TAC is 19km long, start around 900m above sea level, maximum height around 1900m, and finishes at 700m. It should take between 6 and 8 hours. Booking a shuttle is required as start and finish points are different. [Check on their website for all the information]
The trail can get a bonus if you decide to climb up Mt Ngarahue (mostly known as MtDoom in The Lord of the Rings films). It is a beautiful, magnificent, perfectly conical volcano. There is not a marked path, but it is not difficult to climb up through already beaten tracks. It is recommended to try to reach for the rocky areas, as in the ash + small rocks the ground will general slip below your feet and make the climbing hard and more dangerous. Take into account that it is much more step than the TAC and good fit is needed.
Once in the top, it is not allowed to reach the summit for respect to Maori culture, as it is a kind of sacred place for them: for Maori people, scrubbing someone's head is very disrespectful. As they regard the three volcanos of this natural park as deities, walking "over mounts heads" is greatly offensive. For this reason, the park has forbidden to reach the summit. But you can do most of the mountain without vulnerating Maori's sensitivity. In any case, if a ranger or a Maori asks you, tell them that you are aware and you are not going to reach the summit in order to respect Maori sensitivity.
Therefore, you can get almost to the top. The views of the South Crater, Mt Tongariro and a lake behind the Tongariro are amazing! Estimate 2-2'5 hours to the (almost) top.
Then, to go down, you can go the same way than up (about 2 hours) or slide downhill using the ash and small rocks mixture. This way is quite fast (about 1h) and a lot of fun, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, it is not the best place to start doing it, as it is quite step and unstable.
In any case, during all the Mt Ngarahue part, beware of rolling rocks!!
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