Tongariro Northern Circuit 2022

12 March 2022

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/8441167441

https://www.strava.com/activities/6809921476

Tongariro Northern Circuit

Brett drove Barnaby, Neville, Will and I down to Howards Lodge in National Park for our Ring of Fire replacement activity.

The day was fine, with mostly overcast skies and little wind.

We set off on the first 10km leg from the Chateau through to the Mangatepopo Hut.

Will and Barnaby went ahead, and I ran just ahead of Nev and Brett in peaceful tranquility through lovely trails.

We got to the Mangatepopo Hut, which is near the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing one-day route.

Barnaby foolishly accepted the challenge of winning an OSM food prize by running non-stop up the Devil's Staircase. Naturally this backfired terribly on him as the climb up to South Crater got steeper and steeper. I stuck with him as we overtook the many day walkers toiling up the hill. The hill crushed Barnaby like a boot heel kills an ant.

By the top the wind was cold and we were in the cloud and it got fairly chilly in our sweat soaked clothes.

Spot the many people behind me climbing the trail

We sauntered across the flat South Crater with occasional views through the mist of Mt Ngauruhoe.

Then it was time for the next big climb up onto the top ridge, where the cloud sometimes lifted and we could see the lovely views.

We slipped down the scree slope (Will doing it unwisely fast) down to the Emerald Lakes.

I encountered a seagull for no good reason.

Just a bit further along the flat, and we turned off the one-day trail and headed away from the crowds and towards Oturere Hut. This section was steeply down and tricky underfoot. If you squint hard at the next video you can just see Nev, Will and Barney heading off down the hill ahead of Brett and I.

Fortunately none of us had chosen to wear road shoes. Definitely sturdy trail shoes required.

We reached Oturere Hut for a rest and some vegemite and chip sandwiches. We were all feeling pretty good at this stage. No-one had fallen over, although Will had given it a jolly good (and entertaining) attempt by partially tripping and barely managing to retain his footing as he accelerated faster and faster downhill.

It was at this point (Oturere Hut) that Will decided to put his Strava master plan into action. The idea was to steal the KOM for the segment from here through to Waihohonu Hut. The record was a very competitive time of 55 minutes for the 8.5km trail, set by some real speedsters as they completed a full lap of the circuit.

We didn't realise the ridiculous commitment that this would require until we started running and watched in disbelief as Will started sprinting off into the distance. Naturally we couldn't let this kind of stupidity go unchallenged so we tore off after him trying not to fall over on the scoria trail.

This was the most fun part of the day for me. Racing flat out trying to keep Will only a hundred meters ahead of me was not a smart idea, but two extra NoDoze tablets kept my running brain in top gear and hindered any rational considerations. The track was very runnable with some sandy segments and a bit downhill on average until it reached the treeline and we entered some beech forest and a big 100m+ climb. This river crossing was at the bottom.

I was feeling strong at this point, and I rocketed up the hill until I caught and passed Will (who had started cramping). As I crested the hill, with just a short distance to go until the hut, both calves started to cramp and I was forced to swig some vinegar and slow right down. Will triumphantly passed me and got to the end 9 seconds before me. Nev and Barnaby were a few minutes back.

We found out later that the strava segment that we were trying desperately to win was actually not where we thought it was, and so all our efforts were for nothing anyway. (Well not quite. We later created a proper segment that actually ran between the huts and it turns out that we were still about 2 minutes off the required pace to take the KOM. Maybe next time!)

After resting at Waihohonu Hut, we 5 set off again on the last 16km leg. Unfortunately (and entirely predictably to anyone with an ounce of common sense), I was by this stage completely stuffed.

Brett was tiring also, and so we ran (and walked) the last few hours together. Nev, Barnaby and Will ran off ahead.

I felt really nauseous for the entire rest of the day.

Brett and I jogged and walked through to the Taranaki Falls and the others went via lower Tama Lake (where they inexplicably waited for us). There was no way that I could have managed a detour at this stage! Will eventually phoned me to check on our whereabouts, and although I could barely believe they were at Tama Lake, we carried on.