Hiking Mt. Taranaki in Winter.

(How or set up should have looked)

I initially wrote about hiking Mt. Taranaki in winter just after doing the hike a few years ago but decided not to publish it. I suppose because of my ego, because it did not quite go the way I wanted it to. I was fairly new to alpine hiking and still kind of felt invincible because everything I had done until that point had gone super smooth and I had done it with less gear than everyone had said I would need or that I should have had. I had been cheap and stubborn and everything had continued to go perfectly so why would that change now. Well it did and I feel like there were multiple points in time where our lives were actually in danger and I swore never to make those same mistakes again. I said it to Sara probably 50 times on the way down as we sat down on our bums with our legs stiff in front of us and heels digging into the ice as best they would for hours making the slow decent over the ice with sticks and pocket knives in each hand dug into the ice to stop us sliding clean off the side of the mountain. I had yet to deal with icy/glacial type stuff and it had been mostly snow or a little ice that was uncomfortably slippery but navigable.

This was when I realized that no amount of money for equipment was worth putting ourselves in a life-threatening situation again. Since then we have upgraded our gear, a lot, and I have done a lot of reading on the subjects of mountaineering, alpine hiking, climbing, ice climbing, survival tactics and basically any kinds of winter alpine environments and techniques. You can never account for the weather but I will never be caught out again on a perfect blue sky day thinking I am going to die without some kind of unforeseen event.

Mt. Taranaki is an incredibly beautiful mountain, especially in winter and the allure of that solitary white peak sticking up out of seemingly no where was too much to not at least attempt, so despite the warnings on the internet we waited for the right weather and then decided to hike Mt. Taranaki in winter.

The hike itself was incredible and started fairly easily, the normal maintained track, a few sets of stairs here and there and then as you pass the snow line things begin to change. It becomes loose volcanic rock and gravel, it is more slippery and eventually snow turns to ice and you are left with a fairly steep climb up to phantoms peak and Syme hut, before the actual glacial traverse to the summit of Mt. Taranaki.

Not a bad view for a coffee and snack break.

Properly equipped this is an incredible experience and one that is not actually difficult with the exception of physical exertion and fairly steep inclines as you progress towards the summit. I would personally suggest making the hike up with sleeping gear and some food and staying in Syme hut as the views are pretty incredible and I would have loved to have seen it at sunrise and sunset. But alas this was not our fate.

Syme hut on Phantoms peak with Mt Taranaki towering over the top in the background.

Hiking Stats:

The hike to Syme hut and Phantoms peak is only 4 kilometers but allow about 4 hours from the Dawson Falls visitor centre. From there it is only 1.7 kilometers to the summit of Mt. Taranaki but an elevation gain of 580 meters. This is the part that was incredibly icy and fairly steep the entire way with no defined track so some alpine knowledge is highly recommended to make your time more enjoyable.

That irresistible looking peak.

Getting to Mt. Taranaki.

This is a little off the beaten path especially in winter time, maybe not completely but it is deffs not the Roys Peak, Mount Cook tourist path so it makes it a little more difficult. The best bet would be to have your own car or van then it I super simple and not more than a few hours from either Lake Taupo or Wellington. There are a few ways to do the hike also but we chose to start the hike at Dawson Falls because well waterfalls are always cool as well!

The view of Phantoms peak and Mt Taranaki from the start of the hike.

Since hiking Mt. Taranaki in winter I have done far more technical routes in far colder and worse conditions but with the right gear and so far nothing has even come close to being as scary as it was trying to descend this place with out the right gear.

We did some other hikes in winter as well. Including hiking Roys Peak in Winter which you can see here. Other hikes you might be interested are as follows. Hiking Marian Lake Hiking Key Summit Hiking Roy’s Peak Hiking Ben Lomond Hiking the Tongariro Crossing

This is Dawson falls which is about a 5 minute walk from the car park and should deffs be checked out.