Mount Taranaki

This a view from our backyard of Mount Taranaki, taken about 2 weeks ago during a summer cold spell that coated it in snow.  Everywhere you go in Taranaki this mountain looms over you, it dominates the entire region, at least when the weather allows.  It really is an imposing site and no photo I have seen of it really portrays its majesty. It gives the region and the people an identity as being a bit more hardy and extreme than the rest of the North Island if not all of New Zealand.  They have a term, Taranaki Hardcore, which is reflective not only of this mighty mountain, but of the unpredictable sometimes extreme weather we get being right on the coast as well.   It is also descriptive for the hardy souls who call Taranaki home, the farmers and ranchers whose predecessors cleared vast swaths of impenetrable rain forest mostly by hand, the workers on the oil platforms distantly off shore, and the longshoreman working in New Zealand's only deep water port on the west coast. (certainly not for the soft handed ED physicians).   Whenever we are on a road trip it beckons us home from 2-3 hours away in whichever direction we are coming.  When we are out surfing it is right over us, when I drive to and from work it is constantly there and I can't stop glancing at it.  It is an almost perfect cylindrical volcano and its image from every aspect is incredible.

Ever since we had made plans to live in this area I have looked forward to a time when I could enjoy the view from the top and this past weekend everything came together for what became a perfect, well almost perfect day.  Jenny, Lindsey and I were joined by our new friends Paul and his son Gavin for a summit attempt.  Paul, originally from Taranaki, has been living abroad for the past 17 years with his American wife Mary.  Gavin, their 11 year old son is in Lindsey's class in Oakura.  It was a fairly ambitious goal for two young kids but we felt that the competition between the two of them would prevent either from whimping out halfway up.

6:20 am start

 We started in perfect conditions on a clear cloudless morning under a full moon.  From the car park to the summit at 8261 feet we had 5138 vertical feet to climb and we wanted to give ourselves every chance to succeed by getting an early start.  We did, however, encounter folks who had left the car park at midnight and we even ran into a German medical student who I work with and his girlfriend who had actually climbed up the night before and slept at the summit.

Sun rise in the east, Mt Ruapehu in the central North Island visible right of center.
It served as Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings and is the tallest on the North Island.

 It is interesting to note that the climb up Taranaki took us through a whole range of vegetation types.  We started in what they call lowland forest with tall trees as well as smaller ones which make up a sub canopy.  Lots of shade as the trails wander through very dense rainforest like foliage. As the landscape becomes more exposed to the elements there is the montane forest with a lower more uniform canopy and scattered taller trees that are disfigured and battered from near constant winds. It is here that you get your first unimpeded views of the mountain.  As we leave the forest we are in the grasslands or scrub as pictured above.  Next is the tussockland which I think is just more sparse grassland which gives way to the herbs and mosses of alpine herb fields.  As we ascended through the scree slopes of loose rock the patches of growth become more sparse giving way finally to the hardy lichens which cling to rocks.

Wooden steps to preserve areas of vegetation from foot traffic and erosion

Approaching the scree (loose rock)

 The picture above is looking north west out towards the Tasman Sea.  You can just make out our little town of Oakura on the coast just left of center.  The two groups of hills between here and the coast represent the Kaitakes and the Poukais, two ancient volcanos that preceded Taranaki and have since either exploded or just eroded away.  Most sources seem to indicate that Taranaki is a dormant volcano but I am sure that someday it will roar back to life.

As blue a sky as I have ever seen

Approaching the rim of the crater

final push to the summit

Lots of smiles today, very proud of my girls

After six hours of climbing up we made the summit.  It was a nice accomplishment for all of us but particularly for Lindsey and Gavin.

Successful summit team

 Though Dutch explorer Abel Tasman passed by this coast of New Zealand in 1642 it was Captain Cook and his crew aboard their ship the Endeavour in 1770 who were the first Europeans to lay eyes on Mt Taranaki.  He named it Mt Egmont after John Percival, second Earl of Egmont who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time, and referred to it in his log as "certainly the noblest hill I have ever seen".  It was referred to as Mt Egmont in the early days of New Zealand but out of  respect to Maori sentiment it has since been officially changed back to the Maori name, Taranaki which means barren mountain.

On top of  Taranaki, way to go Linds

On the descent nearing the scree field which was much easier to descend than climb.  Notice that the end of the forest in the picture is in an arc that goes completely around the mountain at a distance of precisely 6 miles from the summit.  It represents the boundaries of Egmont National Park established in 1900.

Not far from here on the descent Gavin took a tumble and sustained, among several abrasions, a very nasty laceration to his knee.  As you can imagine rescue from here would be quite an undertaking and carrying him was too dangerous as it was difficult for one person to maintain their balance the whole way down.  He bravely descended on his own, every step obviously quite painful, and the day ended with a brief visit to the ER.  Though he will have a forever reminder of the day in the form of a scar, I think all of us will have lifelong memories of an all in all great day.

And of course every day here ends with a beer and a fantastic sunset over the Tasman.
Cheers everyone.