Tongariro Alpine Crossing

A chance for a group of semi experienced hikers to walk the Tongariro Crossing at the end of the great walks season. Hike will take approx 6.0 to 7.0 hours
Difficulty: 4 on our 1-5 scale

You must have been out with Auckland Outdoors on at least 1 level 3 hike to join - no exceptions.

Risk

There are a lot of risks when venturing into an alpine terrain at this time of the year and this could be a cold day time hike, please make sure you understand this before you RSVP to attend this event. To name a few - there are dangers of injury (trips ), hypothermia, falling off a cliff, or getting lost.

Plan
4.30pm Saturday 3 May - We will meet at the accommodation and check in. We will then drive to Schnapps Bar at the national park at 5pm where we will have a meet and greet plus dinner for those who want to.
We will then drive back to the accommodation.

6.30am Sunday 4 May - We will hop in our cars and drive to the start of the hike. A group of us will shuttle cars the the end of the hike and then drive back to the Mangatepopo end, climb to the top of the mountain and then all the way to the end where we will drive back to the start to collect our cars. We should finish at approx 3.00 pm. where we will then drive to the Schnapps Bar for an early dinner and then drive home.

Accommodation

We will be staying at the Whakapapa Holiday Park, State Highway 48, Mt Ruapehu for one night. I have had to pre-book the accommodation for the cabins. Call 07 8923897 and tell them you are with Auckland Outdoors. You will need to pay for accommodation within two days of being accepted onto the hike or you will be taken off the going list. Please comment in the comment section below when you have booked and paid for your accommodation and state what name you have booked under as sometimes people's Meetup name is different to their actual name. At the Holiday Park bottom sheets on bunks are provided. You will need to bring your own bedding, pillows and towels.

You will also need to bring:

• Emergency Blanket (silver foil)
• Base layer clothing NOT cotton
• Mid layer clothing NOT cotton
• Jacket
• Rain jacket with hood (poncho or any homemade equivalent are not
  acceptable)
• Rain trousers
• Hiking Boots
• Headlamp
• Backup lighting

NOTE: The above is mandatory, do not RSVP if you are not willing to rent or buy or borrow all of the above. You will be asked to wait at the accommodation if you turn up unequipped!

Food

You need to bring food for breakfast and pack a lunch and enough water (min 3l), and snacks for the Sunday hike. You will burn extra energy staying warm so it is important that you have extra food due to risk of being stuck on the mountain.

Transport
Suggest paying your driver $80 petrol money for the trip. Please make sure you either bring cash at the start of the trip or make a direct bank payment to your driver.

Please read the whole event description properly before you RSVP Yes to attend. You need to answer 3 questions when you RSVP and this may or may not work with meetup app on your phone. The only acceptable answer to all 3 questions is YES. Please don't be offended if I change your RSVP to No if I think you are not suitable for this hike, or your answers to the questions are not satisfactory.

Communication

It is important you enable messaging through this website, and that you check and read emails regarding this event. These kind of trips get postponed and/or cancelled due to changes in weather forecast or avalanche warnings etc. You are asked to reply promptly if required to do so, thanks.