Driving down on a Thursday night, we heard the sound of the ‘naki’s calling. With a clear weather forecast for the climbing day ahead, the excitement started to build. With the Stratford plateau covered in dense fog with eerie silence around, I couldn’t help but think we were characters in a standard zombie apocalypse video game. “It’ll clear tomorrow. The forecast is fine.” I kept telling myself. The next morning we marched towards the Maunganui ski field, up the tow bar line onto the steep scree-laden slopes. The fog had remained but fleeting patches of clear sky surprised us at irregular times. After some fog induced confusion as to what the ‘Policeman’ could be, we eventually stumbled upon this otherwise obvious lump of basalt protruding up from the side of the mountain. At the top of the Policeman we continued upwards along the East Ridge with the gradient becoming steeper and steeper. Soon, walking was replaced by steep rock-scrambling. Although the fog had nicely camouflaged the extent of the exposure, the the biting cold wind reminded the party not to be complacent.
It’s all good.
Don’t worry about the exposure.
Just don’t fall.
Once at the Shark’s Tooth we headed north along the top ridge slightly, until we spotted some old metal wires that guided us towards a chimney. Downclimb the chimney into the crater, I felt pumped and a sense of achievement as we completed a thrilling ascent up the classic East Ridge. Finally, we met a steady stream of tourists who had topped out from the North Ridge route, and our sense of solitude on the ascent is broken. A few summit photos later we strolled down on our merry way via the North Ridge. On the descent, the fog lifted for a couple of hours before new fog and cloud began shrouding the mountain once again. The weather forecast wasn’t completely wrong after all.
We drove home with satisfied, smug looks on our faces. Thank you Taranaki for a magical day out- until we meet again.
Author: Tuan Chien
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