The best/worst time of my life.

Let's just call it an adventure.

Kelley and Jacob were kind enough to take me away for the weekend. Friday night we drove four hours to Turangi so that Jacob and I could climb Tongariro Crossing the next morning.

Tongariro Crossing is part of a national park that was given to the government as a reserve by the Maori. Normally it's a 7-8 hour hike and you can see emerald coloured lakes toward the end.
Jacob also wanted to add Ngauruhoe Summit:

The 2500 year old near perfect cone of Mount Ngauruhoe entices many visitors to it's summit. Relatively quiet since 1975, this parasitic cone of Mt. Tongariro is traditionally one of New Zealand's most active volcanos.

This track is not for the faint hearted, a difficult climb or scramble up a sharp scree slope taking around an hour and a half up and 15 minutes down! Some of the best views to be had, but only to be challenged on a clear day.

It sounded tough, but it was a beautiful day and looked well worth it so I wanted to give it a go.

The first hour and a half before getting to the base of the summit was challenging but not too difficult. There were lots of other people from different countries and you had to take breaks every so often so you were able to stop and talk to lots of people. As soon as people saw the flag on my back they initiated conversation since most of them had been to Canada or knew people there. After a while I put on my iPod so that I couldn't hear my heavy breathing and I was having a pretty good time. It was tough but manageable and the views were breathtaking.

So we're about to take on the Summit and I'm feeling pretty good about it. It looks steep and it looks really hard but I think the view will be amazing and I'm up for the task. Here's the summit behind me and I'm looking optimistic.





We start to climb the Summit and it becomes ridiculously difficult. All of the rocks are small and they give way once you step on them. The incline is also more than 45 degrees so if you wobble you could fall backwards. I spent the next 45 minutes crawling on my hands up the mountain.

Jacob is up further ahead talking to some people on their way down the mountain and they tell us that there is an area to the left that is a bit easier. Sure enough there are people climbing to the left and it is much easier.

I know it doesn't look easier but it is.

Jacob was great to hike with and let me go at my own pace, waiting for me at points so we could have a break and to see how I was doing. The view was fantastic.

Even though it was still tough I told Jacob that it was the hardest thing I had ever done and that the worst part was over now that we climbing up a different part.

I was wrong.

Just as we were entering the first crater (there were two) it started to rain. I put on a sweater and raincoat but the rain made it unbelievably slippery and while the top was 20 minutes away there was no view because we were encased in a cloud. As stubborn as I am, I told Jacob I didn't think it was worth it. I was worried about slipping on the rocks and there was no view.

He agreed and we decided to start back down. And then it got even worse.

Keep in mind this is the middle of summer. We were out exposed on a mountain and all of a sudden hail began to attack us. Hail. It was pelting down in a blizzard and it hurt. I had to crouch down because it was assaulting us from every direction basically paralyzing me. I was terrified that the rocks were slippery and I didn't know how we were going to crawl down this mountain.

Jacob was incredible because I was freaking out and he was very calm. He called over to me to come to a rock that we could hide behind. At that point I told him I didn't know if I was crying or if it was rain on my face. This trip was no longer fun. Fortunately it began to die down and Jacob reminded me that this would make a great story and we should take a picture. This is the first time I had smiled in 20 minutes.

But it was good to smile because I was miserable and it cheered me up. Now only 2 hours to go to climb our way pack to the start. My mood changed and as the mud and sand invaded my socks and sneakers I told Jacob that sand was nature's exfoliant. There's always a bright side.

We persevered and Kelley, our dutiful photographer/driver/servant picked us up and brought warm dry clothes to change into.