A leisurely weekend away planned for a change?..not a chance! this weekend we set out on a trek to find the highest geocache in New Zealand.
On the top of Mount Ruapehu, overlooking Crater lake is a a small shelter, inside of which is hidden the cache. Mount Ruapehu stands at 2,700M, (twice the height of Ben Nevis in Scotland), and is used for skiing etc.. in Winter. Unfortunately in winter, the hut is often buried under snow, and to access the cache you can climb down the chimney (hence the name 'Santas suprise').
This volcano is NZ's most recently active volcano- last eruptions were 1996, and 2007! The active vent is filled by the famous Crater lake, which is frequently ejected across the ice and snow during eruptions,causing Lahars
We went with a small group of geocachers, and stayed overnight at the 'Skotel', so we could get an early start on the Sunday morning
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The Team |
The ski lifts were active on this calm, sunny blue zinger-sky day, and we started the long ascent with a wee lift!
Man it was a tough climb!. All vertical apart from a very narrow ridge near the top, with lots of boulders, rocks and loose scoria to negotiate.
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Above the clouds |
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the hut on top of Ruapehu |
We got great views on the way up, climbing higher than the clouds, and lots of interesting rocks, in fabulous colours- purple, pink, blue, yellow, red etc..
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crater lake |
When we reached the top, we were rewarded with amazing views of Crater lake.
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yey we made it to the top
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Extreme ridge walking..don't look down! |
It was quite cold at this altitude, so we quickly located the cache and signed the logbook to say we had found it. Then there was a quick lunch break, and a few photographs, before we started the descent.. but not before we were treated to the unusal sight of a half naked youth, running along the ridge and past the hut, to perform some Yoga poses!! ...
"Only in New Zealand"- is the phrase that springs to mind!
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Mount Dooommm! |
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Extreme yoga |
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Yoga for the brave |
few more pix for you......
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Huge melted holes in crater floor |
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no need to climb down the chimney today |
but these poor guys did....
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Santas suprise in winter!!! |
and link to rest of FLICKR fotos
here!