If there’s a perk in being on
the FMC Executive, it’s that twice a year, after an all day meeting,
we get to for a wander in a part of the country we may not otherwise
get to. Usually these trips are necessarily short, as people have to
travel home. But when I found we were meeting in Taranaki, I
suggested that there was really only one day-trip there I was
interested in. Probably with that in mind, the meeting venue was the
historic Camphouse at North Egmont, and I made sure that I had a
Monday flight booked.
Despite
earlier threats, Sunday dawned clear and still. The summit was there
for all to see, so seven of us hit the road - literally.
Unfortunately, the commonest route to the summit starts on a 4x4
track, known locally as The Puffer, and it was this that occupied
our first hour and 500 vertical metres. We were down to 6 of us
after Tahurangi Lodge, a large locked hut (with a small emergency
shelter) belonging to Taranaki Alpine Club. The route from here go
"stairway to heaven". Next it was scree – the usual two up, one back
routine. Often there was an underlying hard layer, making traction a
bit tricky. Eventually we reached the bottom of The Lizard, a rock
ridge that clearly showed its volcanic origins. Once atop The
Lizard, a bit of a scramble around the side of one of the low peaks
was needed to avoid a snow slope, and then we were in the crater. As
four of the group had gone ahead and were nowhere to be seen, I was
glad to have had a quick look at a map the night before, and so knew
that the knob on our right was slightly higher than the trickier
looking one to the left. A last five minutes of scree saw us on top.
For the
latter part of the climb, there had been quite a cool breeze, which
had initially been refreshing but was now less welcome. The cloud
had come in below us as we climbed The Lizard, so unfortunately the
view was largely that of the top of a cloud, the only exception
being Ruapehu and Ngaruahoe some 120km distant. Lunch & photos were
dealt to beside a plaque commemorating Dieffenbach’s ascent.
The descent
was unremarkable, although took not much less time than the ascent.
By the time we reached the scree, it was warm enough to lose a
layer. Once below the cloud layer, we were better able to appreciate
provincial Taranaki than in the morning, when we had had eyes only
for the top.
David Barnes
for Lex Smith, John Wilson, Jean Wilson, John Rhodes & Robin
McNeill.