By Kathleen Griffin, 22 October 2022
Mt Taranaki October 2022
Like every good trip, we planned to get away at the crack of dawn. Also like every good tramping trip, we revised that decision the night before, & decided that 9:30 would probably be good enough. Despite Daniel owning a Subaru Forester, myself with an Impreza, & Chris driving a 7-seater Odyssey… We squished ourselves + four packs into Sophie’s 2 door Hyundai. We stopped at Bulls Maccas for a quick & nutritious meal, before arriving around 3pm.
After a decent amount of faffing, we were on our way. Our packs were heavy, laden with tents & alpine gear so we took our first break only 30 minutes in, at the Hillary memorial. While we sat there puffing & sweating, some familiar faces appeared, coming towards us. It was a group from AUTC who had just summited as a day trip. They said their quads were getting a solid workout, but the snow was good.
This track with wooden steps felt luxurious compared to the mud & roots we were used to scrambling up in the Tararuas. That luxury vanished once we got to the scree section. As we ascended, we encountered a lone hiker descending, and his only advice to us was to “appreciate that it’s slippery.” We found his remark rather odd since we were well aware of the scree’s slipperiness (we were sliding around on it as we spoke to him). Still, we thanked him for his sage counsel, and it became the catchphrase as we continued to Fathams Peak.
We decided we should set up our tents before it gets cold/dark & before we get cold/lazy. Chris & Sophie had managed to bring twice as many groundsheets & they needed, & I had accidentally carried an extra bag of pegs that were still in my bag after Bush Rave. We settled down to cook dinner while watching the sun slowly dip into the Tasman Sea. We all squeezed into one tent for a few uncomfortable rounds of Monopoly Deal before heading to bed.
Sunday morning, we were greeted by the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen. The southern face of Taranaki was bathed in a mesmerizing pink hue, & the sky exhibited a perfect gradient from rich orange to serene blue,with the silhouettes of Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe gracing one side, and the radiant coastline adorning the other.
Leaving our tents set up & other unnecessary heavy stuff inside, we embarked on our ascent. ISurprisingly, it was... easy? The snow was ideal for crampons & we made steady progress. With a few stops for photos & water, we found ourselves at the summit before we knew it. The 360 views at the top were breathetaking, we had unlimited visibility, pointing out landmarks as far as Auckland & we waving to our friends in the Tararuas.
The descent felt somewhat treacherous as we fought our natural instinct to resist walking down such a steep slope. Eventually, we were able to suppress the complaints from our small brains & our inner VUWTC spirit prevailed. About 2/3 of the way down Chris decided walking was for losers & the sun-softened snow persuaded him to slide instead. He experimented with a few humorous positions, leaving behind a massive, Chris-shaped skid mark down the side of the mountain. When we returned to the tents, a hut visitor remarked that they thought he had fallen. We reassured them that he was perfectly fine, just a little crazy. They laughed at their unnecessary worry & shared some beers with us to enjoy in the sun.
We summited and returned much quicker than anticipated, leaving us pondering how to spend the remaining afternoon. We collectively decided that we could not be arsed sleeping in tents for another night. We all did the thing where you have to unpack your entire pack, just to repack it again, spreading out all our belongings across Fathams Peak. Once we’d packed up our yard sale, we headed back down, slipping & sliding on the scree once again. Somehow going downhill is worse than going uphill, prompting us to remember our friend’s inspirational quote from yesterday – we were certainly “appreciating” it now. Many involuntary butt-slides later, we made it back to the stairs section. It was smooth sailing from here besides everyone’s knees feeling a bit creaky.
Back at the car, we devoured our extra food & got changed, reflecting on what a perfect trip it had been. It was a bluebird day with excellent snow quality, no wind, & great company, filled with the expected VUWTC antics. Nearly a year later, as I submit this trip report to Heels, I still remember it as possibly my favorite club trip of all time.
