Tongariro Crossing New Zealand Tour Review

BBMLive’s Elen Gibbons travel’s New Zealand with Stray Travel. Here she recalls her experience of Tongariro Crossing on New Zealand’s North Island.

As our driver pointed out the snow covered Mount Tongariro in the distance, I felt my stomach flutter with nerves.
I couldn’t fathom that with no hiking experience I was about to climb the huge volcano in front of me. The nerves intensified as we were fitted with hiking gear, crampons and ice picks and told that there was a good layer of snow at the top.

Mount Tongariro

The 19.4km trek spans the length of Mount Tongariro and is considered the best 1 day trek to do in New Zealand, if not one of the top 10 in the World. A careful eye has to be kept on the weather conditions beforehand as New Zealand’s winter weather can be extremely changeable. Despite the fact that 100s of people do this trek all winter and 1000s complete it in the summer, I had built up in my mind an image of an epic trip through dangerous icy conditions, comparable only to Sir Edmund Ripley’s ascent of Everest. However, any nerves were completely unfounded, as the day that unfolded was hands down best thing that I did during my time in New Zealand.

What To Expect When Climbing Mount Tongariro

For the first couple of hours, we stuck to a well maintained boardwalk as we crossed plains strewn with volcanic rock. The knowledgeable ‘Adrift guides’ stopped periodically to explain different rock formations and tell Maori lore about the vast volcanoes towering over us. During the climb I often became so distracted by the amazing views surround me, that I kept forgetting to put one foot in front of the other.

The rocky part of our ascent over, we strapped on our crampons and learnt pick axe technique before traversing a great snowy valley. Everything as far as the eye could see was blindingly white and any fatigue was quickly forgotten as I took in the dazzling landscape.

Reaching The Summit

Once we reached the summit we allowed ourselves a few minutes to stare open mouthed at the snowy peaks of the Tongariro National Park, before we settled down to lunch on pleasantly warm rocks, heated by the volcano that we were sitting on. The way down was in fact the most fun part of the trip. The guides gleefully informed us that we would be glissading part way down, in other words, we would make ourselves human sledges and slide down.

Our descent was part walking and part punctuated with screeches of excitement as we shot down the slopes, before being greeted with a well done drink as we completed our trek 9 hours later and extremely happy.

The Adrift guides were both extremely friendly and professional, their love of the landscape was clear, and they ensured that everyone got just as much out of it as they had when they first fell in love with the trek. They carefully made sure that the pace was neither too fast nor too slow so that everyone felt comfortable. Nobody was left behind and we all ended the day on a massive high.

Tours run from $175 throughout winter, and is a must do whilst visiting New Zealand.Reach Tongariro via Stray Travel’s North Island Travel Passes.

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Words by Elen Gibbons