Ringatoto, East Ridge 1+, Tongarirro NP

After a week of gale Easterlies, rain and being stuck inside, we were suitably impressed by the great weather turned on for our Saturday climbing trip to Ruapehu.

Chris and I drove up to the Tukino Mountain Road on the East side of Ruapehu after work on Friday. In the dark and gusty winds, we walked an hour and a bit into Rangipo hut, to catch a few hours shut eye before starting early the next morning.

Dawn at Rangipo Hut

Saturday morning dawned calm and clear, but as we climbed away from the sheltered area around the hut, the wind steadily increased

.
The first half of the 1000m height gain from the hut was just a stroll on a broad ridge. We had some awesome views into the Whangaehu Gorge, which is the valley that the Lahar's from Ruapehu's Eruptions normally travel. We also checked out the Tukino Ski field, which was nestled among a complex face of bluffs, gullies and ridges.

Chris peers into the Whangaehu Gorge.

Summits are Cathedral Rocks (L) and Te Heuheu (R)

Ringatoto's East Ridge, Grade 1+

From our vantage point over Tukino Ski field, we got our first views of the actual climb. From here, the crux looked to be actually gaining the ridge itself, through a small notch in a buttress.

Chris climbs the notch

The notch was interesting, with a section of loose sloping rocks to climb, that were covered in either sastrugi or soft snow.

Just above the rock step in the notch

Above the notch, we sidled Gendarmes on the north side, through sun baked snow and generally very solid rock. This section had lovely scrambling, without too much exposure.

Sidling Gendarmes on good rock

Easy but exposed rock climbing

Chris on top of the major gendarme on the ridge

We shared the route finding, scouting out ways round obstacles on either side of the ridge. At one point, Chris chose the right hand route and ended up on top of the gendarme, rather than finding a route around. Looked pretty cool, but he was understandably not that keen on descending back to the ridge down the (left hand) face.

Safely off the major Gendarme


"This is not the way..."

As the East Ridge met with the North, the ridge angled back to a mellow grade, but still with pretty good drops on either side (especially into the Whangaehu!). The wind was pretty fierce now, so we had to be quite careful on the last bit of ridge to the summit.

Summit!

I'd had sufficient adventure by the time we reached the top, so declined Chris' offer to keep heading up to the true summit of Mt Ruapehu (Tahurangi). We descended the easy, sastrugi covered slopes of the Wahiano Glacier. The upper basin was very straight forward, but through the middle section we had to weave around and route find through lots of small (and not so small) bluffs and gullies.

It was usually impossible to see from above if a line bluffed out or not, so we had to make a couple of U-turns at dead ends.

Descending the Upper Wahianoa Glacier

Once below the bluffs, it was an easy but tedious stroll down to the 'Round the Mountain Track' and the end of the route finding.

Lower Wahianoa River

We were reasonably tired by the time we reached the track, so it seem to take forever to get back to Rangipo Hut. Here we were treated to a hot brew by a family occupying the hut, which charged up the batteries enough to make the last 1.5hr amble back to the car go relatively quickly.

Snowy Friends at Rangipo Hut