Mount Taranaki Part 1: The Climb

I had to start with this picture, because it is too stunning not to go first. I didn't take it, so don't get excited about my suddenly stupendous photography skills. However, it was taken by a real photographer while I was on the mountain, so I'm pretty much in it. Most beautiful picture that's ever been taken of me, I think.

So, several weeks ago, I climbed Mount Taranaki with my friend Kirsten and her friend Lynette. I've wanted to climb to the summit for years, but haven't managed to make it happen, so when Kirsten and Lynette invited me to come along with the Social Club this summer, I jumped at the opportunity. The summit is 2,518m (8,261ft), which is quite high, especially considering that it's only a little way from the coast, and the base is about at sea level. I had heard that it was a challenging climb, but to be honest, I didn't really know what I was getting into. It turned out to be far more difficult, but also far more amazing, than I'd anticipated.

This was near the beginning of our climb. I love patterns of fog in valleys and between mountains.

(Side note: One of my children was recently asked what mist was, and he replied, "It's like flog, but it's floggier than flog." 4-year-olds are wonderful.)

This is looking up towards the summit from partway up. We looked at various views similar to this one for the eight hours that it took us to get to the top, and let me tell you that the summit was in no hurry to get any closer to us, and left all the work to our poor legs and arms. Yes, the climbing included arms. Details to follow.

Fairly early on, we had this amazing view, overtop of the clouds, of (left to right) Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu, which are at least 150km (93miles) away. I really feel like it's further than that, but perhaps that's because it takes about 5 hours to drive there on circuitous NZ roads. Anyway, I have hiked and snowboarded on those mountains, and they're stunning, and it was amazing to see them like that.

You can read a post I wrote in August 2014 about a Māori legend about these mountain by clicking here. I feel much more attached to this story now than I did then, because I've now visited every mountain and also read the story about a million times. It's wonderful to have stories about the places you identify with.

I thought these cliffs we passed were absolutely beautiful.

After a relatively easy start on some stairs and paths, we started up towards the Kokowai Lava flow. Turns out, there is no path up to it, and we climbed up through tall grasses, which fortunately had strong enough roots, stems, and leaves to hold us, because it was so steep that we were pulling ourselves up with our hands. It was also challenging because we couldn't see where we were stepping in the dense growth, but it was so exciting and adventurous to be off-track. That's Lynette, who is a mountain-climbing machine!

The real work began once we got to the actual Kokowai Lava flow. It was much less hiking and much more rock climbing than I was anticipating. I've never climbed something that steep without ropes and climbing gear, but we managed! 

There's Lynette again, leading the way, and Kirsten in the blue backpack, both looking carefully for hand and foot holds, which were in short supply in this smooth part of the climb. We're some pretty awesome adventurers, can you tell? We'd didn't let the sheer impossibility of the climb stop us! 

Further up, the smooth lava flow gave way to cracked and jagged volcanic rock, which presented a new host of challenges. Plenty to grab onto and step on, but a high likelihood that whatever you put your weight on will slide, shift, or even crumble away, leaving you loosing your balance on a steep incline. Just part of the adventure! 

I only had one major fall, but each rock I landed on made it's mark. I don't bruise easily, and so was astonished by my decorated arm. The bruises weren't very painful, though, so no complaints.

Getting nearer the top (thank heavens), erosion has done its work, and the rocks have crumbled into even smaller pieces. I don't know anything about volcanos, but the rocks also seemed a lot more porous at the top. Is that erosion as well? Anyway, continued struggles to climb up in increasing altitude and with increasingly exhausted muscles. We took lots of breaks, drank lots of water, kept up a lovely stream of chitchat, and reminded ourselves frequently how impressive we were to be accomplishing this, all of which meant that I was in a pretty darn good mood. I do love a good adventure!

Also, look at the awesome rainbow of colours in the rocks! They are vicious if you fall on them, as their porous nature means they're like incredibly coarse sandpaper. I tested them with my kneecap, just to be sure, and can confirm that they will slice right through skin. But their beauty is worth a scraped knee any day!

This is not the real summit, but I quite like the picture. We got almost to the top, and the Social Club leader-person, who had gone ahead but met us there, said he didn't know how to get to the summit on that side. I thought this meant we wouldn't be able to go all the way to the top, and so took this picture as a consolation prize. Turns out, however, that we could just go around to the other side and up to the summit, which we did. This can be your summit for the moment, though, as I've saved my actual summit pictures for my next post.