gimpilator - Oct 29, 2015 11:55 pm - Voted 10/10
Nice shot!I was just researching this peak today. I'm planning to visit in February. One reference claimed that reaching the summit required class 4 or 5. Did you experience anything like that, or just steep snow climbing?
Baarb - Oct 30, 2015 12:44 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Nice shot!There are a bunch of different ways to get up to the high point. Most references that I've seen assume snow/ice and not much re. rock except for the one above or just saying "lovely, block scramble". I believe Skyline Ridge from the Turoa (south) side is the easiest, particularly in snow like there is now. So maybe 40 degree slopes max. For that route in winter it's generally classed as no rope required. You can also cross the plateau from the Whakapapa (north) side with similar grade applied. Not sure if you've seen this page http://climbnz.org.nz/nz/ni/tongariro/mt-ruapehu/tahurangi with the descriptions deriving from the blue book shown at the bottom. The book also has a bunch of figures which are useful. The grades on the website don't appear to correlate well with the ones in the book though, I'd trust the latter more from what I've seen in person. The West Ridge for example is nearer grade 2 than grade 1 given that it looks like an ice cliff most of the time. Other than that a website called The Occasional Climber has some indicative pics of Skyline, e.g. http://www.occasionalclimber.co.nz/browse-images-2/new-zealand-north-island/ruapehu-browse/tahurangi-july-2007/. Having adopted the page now I've added a bunch more info. Latest I've been up was December and there was still a lot of snow around the summit area. The local DOC people or climbing groups may be able to advise more. Let me know if you want more resources. Cheers.
Baarb - Nov 1, 2015 2:40 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Nice shot!Also there's this report: http://www.lukefoster.com/2012/to-the-top-of-mount-ruapehu/
The steepest bit they get to may be Te Ataahua, not sure, but there's a picture indicative of the scrambling.
Also you can see the high point on some of the photos here: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/mangaturuturu/interesting/
Also a discussion here: http://tramper.nz/?view=topic&id=116
gimpilator - Nov 1, 2015 10:00 am - Voted 10/10
Re: Nice shot!Thank you very much for all of this information. It's tremendously helpful.
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