After two days in Rotorua, we had a decision to make. we could either heasd to Waitomo and go through some crazy caves or we could backtrack to Taupo and try to do the Tongariro Crossing. This was important because the Tongariro crossing is where Mt. Doom resides. Mt. Doom from the movie Lord of the Rings was filmed here. We decided against the caves because of "Descent" a movie Nini saw that made her scared of caves. Back to Taupo. Once there, we got a weather report saying there was going to be a break in bad weather for one day and we could hike the Tongariro crossing. I was stoked. See, before the trip my friend Jonny was the only one who asked me to get him something. He wanted a rock from Mt. Doom. After our first attempt, I thought it was over, but with the break in the weather, I took another shot. We headed toward the crossing at 6:00 in the morning and were on the trail by 8:00. Mt. doom was completely covered in snow. I wouldn't be hiking to the top, but the pass was still clear. We had warm clothes and boots and were on the trail. When we came to the "Devil's staircase", the hike did not look as fun. Dark clouds had moved in overhead, but we continued up the steep incline of jagged volcano rocks. About half way up, the snow started coming down. About 5 minutes later, the winds came. We were off trail and moving ahead slowly. By the time we reached the top of the Devil's staircase it was snowing really hard and winds had reached about 60 kmph. Not quite what we signed up for. We talked to to guys who had been up there a few days. They said that without ice climbing gear, the other side would be really tough. Nini and I decided to head back. BUT!!!!! Not before I grabbed a rock at the base of Mt. Doom. It was small as most of the rocks were frozen into the ground. JONNY, I GOT YOUR ROCK!. Nini and I were the only 2 out of 40 to turn around b/c of danger. We were kind of bumbed until we reached the end to find that the entire group had gotten turned around about 30 minutes after us. The next day, we found out that one guy broke his ankle and two people were airlifted to the hospital with Hypothermia. Yeah, it did get that bad that quickly up there. It was an experience to remember. The pictures above are before the snow and afterwards, about 90 minutes apart.
Jonny's Rock
After two days in Rotorua, we had a decision to make. we could either heasd to Waitomo and go through some crazy caves or we could backtrack to Taupo and try to do the Tongariro Crossing. This was important because the Tongariro crossing is where Mt. Doom resides. Mt. Doom from the movie Lord of the Rings was filmed here. We decided against the caves because of "Descent" a movie Nini saw that made her scared of caves. Back to Taupo. Once there, we got a weather report saying there was going to be a break in bad weather for one day and we could hike the Tongariro crossing. I was stoked. See, before the trip my friend Jonny was the only one who asked me to get him something. He wanted a rock from Mt. Doom. After our first attempt, I thought it was over, but with the break in the weather, I took another shot. We headed toward the crossing at 6:00 in the morning and were on the trail by 8:00. Mt. doom was completely covered in snow. I wouldn't be hiking to the top, but the pass was still clear. We had warm clothes and boots and were on the trail. When we came to the "Devil's staircase", the hike did not look as fun. Dark clouds had moved in overhead, but we continued up the steep incline of jagged volcano rocks. About half way up, the snow started coming down. About 5 minutes later, the winds came. We were off trail and moving ahead slowly. By the time we reached the top of the Devil's staircase it was snowing really hard and winds had reached about 60 kmph. Not quite what we signed up for. We talked to to guys who had been up there a few days. They said that without ice climbing gear, the other side would be really tough. Nini and I decided to head back. BUT!!!!! Not before I grabbed a rock at the base of Mt. Doom. It was small as most of the rocks were frozen into the ground. JONNY, I GOT YOUR ROCK!. Nini and I were the only 2 out of 40 to turn around b/c of danger. We were kind of bumbed until we reached the end to find that the entire group had gotten turned around about 30 minutes after us. The next day, we found out that one guy broke his ankle and two people were airlifted to the hospital with Hypothermia. Yeah, it did get that bad that quickly up there. It was an experience to remember. The pictures above are before the snow and afterwards, about 90 minutes apart. Jonny's Rock
