Tefas - Mount Tongariro alpine crossing

Mount Tongariro alpine crossing

"It can get a bit cold in the morning but during the day it gets boiling hot so don't wear any clothes but bring a lot of snacks and you'll be fine" Elvira said as she dropped us off at the carpark outside of the entrance to the Mount Tongariro Alpine crossing trek. So together with a bunch of germans wearing flipflops (I would not choose to comment on this stupidity) and Kiwis running ahead of us we started our 8 hour adventure 6.30 AM shivering as babies.

And we were freezing. DAMN how we were freezing. The first hour was flat so we power walked to get up the heat but the cold winds and low tempreature just made it impossible to not shiver.

And after the flat part we reached this steep part that woke up our morning tired bodies and brought numbness to our legs. But here, just after 2 hour of walking we found the scenery amazing and so was the wind. Amazingly strong.

We reached some kind of March scenery. Red rocks and barren mountains. It really felt like walking on March and we were the only people there. Next to us the huge Tongariro volcano (1978 meters) raised. This part of the trek we ran. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to not loose her body.

A normal day with a nice breeze and sunshine would have been optimal to do the climb. In that scenario we probably would have stopped 4 times to take in the view and eat some snacks. How many times did we stop? None. Zero. The wind was as strong as Mallorcean chili and our legs were naked. Cover from the wind didn't exist on the world map and for a while there I was thinking about how I would have to leave Mollie behind and continue the trek without her. And also how I would have to tell her parents about this...

But after using all the swearwords we could come up with and constantly walking we reached the top. And the best part, we were both alive! I hesitated to go to close to the edge to take photos becuase of the not too polite wind. Instead of saying "hi", it gave me a stormy and overwhelming "WHATSUP?". Yep, this hike was everything but cosy.

But guys, when we reached the mountainous lakes and had this amazing view over Moun Ngauruhoe (also called Mount Doom in the Lord of the rings movies) I dropped my shorts. More filmic sceneries must be impossible to find.

It was so beautiful my camera went crazy and took a lot of photos. I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it.

After the lake part of the trek it was only down hill for two hours, YES, we thought and "nein" thought our knees and when we finally made it to the carpark where Elvira was waiting for us our international bodies were crying.

We did an 8 hour hike on 6 hours. We walked unreasonably fast and couldn't stop for lunch since we would either 1. Blow away 2. Freeze to death 3. Die in a war of the orchs

It was horrible. I can't beautify that but since I'm writing this 7 weeks after the trek and I do sit here with a normal body temp, am not hungry and not longer sore in all my muscles I can truly say it was worth it.

The Mount Tongariro Alpine crossing is (according to Lonely Planet) selected the best day hike in the world and I would absolutely agree with the lonely planeters. Just make sure you have clothes, aren't to optimistic about the weather and are not taking advices from Elvria. New Zealand weather is like Sweden in April. Everything changes in a period of two minutes. The wind is living up there and is an inescapable one. BUT HEY, what a country this is? The mountains must be photoshopped, there can't be another answer.