Tongariro National Park

Welcome to the Mangatepopo carpark, the starting point for the legendary Tonga-ree-roh Alpine Crossing. As you stand here, adjusting your backpack and feeling the crisp, often biting alpine air against your face, you are stepping…

The first phase of our journey takes us up the Mangatepopo Valley. The track here is relatively flat and well formed, providing a gentle, hour long warm up for the immense physical challenge ahead. …

Leaving Soda Springs, you immediately face the most physically demanding section of the entire crossing: the infamous Devil's Staircase. This is a grueling, steep ascent that climbs rapidly in elevation. …

Having crossed the South Crater, the track pitches upward again for the final push to the highest and most exposed point of the crossing: the Red Crater. This climb requires you to navigate a steep, narrow ridgeline. …

From the high vantage point of the Red Crater, you face the most technically challenging and dangerous section of the trek: the steep descent to the Emerald Lakes. The track drops roughly one hundred meters down a slope entirely…

Leaving the sulfurous basin of the Emerald Lakes, you take a short, easy stroll across the Central Crater and a small climb over a rocky ridge. As you crest this final rise, a massive, cold, deep body of water reveals itself: the…

Having passed the Blue Lake, you begin the arduous, ten kilometer descent down the northern flank of the volcano towards the Ketetahi carpark. This final leg drops over a thousand meters in elevation and will take roughly three…

As you finally emerge from the forest canopy into the Ketetahi carpark, take a moment to drop your heavy pack, stretch your exhausted legs, and look back up at the cloud shrouded peaks you just conquered. You have successfully…