Climbing at Tukino, Ruapehu

The Eastern side of Mt Ruapehu is a great place to go rock climbing in summer. There are a whole lot of trad climbing routes, and the place to stay there is the fantastic Tukino alpine club lodge. I headed up for the NZAC annual rock meet.

The first day we were there the weather was really pretty bad. Undeterred, we went for a walk, but it really wasn't that great so we made our way back to the lodge. The alpine club had done an awesome job on the catering, so we ate well, drank a lot of cups of tea and helped out around the lodge.

The fabulous Tukino Alpine Sports Club lodge.

The weather on our first day.

The next day we woke to fantastic weather. We set off from the lodge and started climbing. Helen and I actually managed to get in an (unplanned) first ascent (we recorded details in the lodge first ascents book). It was an interesting route! 

The next day the weather was even better again so we headed off a little further this time, not that it was a very long walk either. Tukino is such a great place to climb, the Tukino lodge is amazing, and there are a whole lot of very uncrowded crags to choose from.

Me climbing.

View from the lodge.