Mount Ngauruhoe is one of three volcanoes in Tongariro National Park, a dual world heritage site located on the North Island of New Zealand. While Mt. Ngauruhoe has always had great spiritual and cultural significance to the people of New Zealand, it garnered world-wide attention when it played the part of Mount Doom in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. In this article, I’ll go over my experience on Mount Ngauruhoe and why it might be better to simply appreciate “Mount Doom” from afar.
Using the correct Maori pronunciation shows respect and helps keep Te Reo Maori (the Maori language) alive:
Ngauruhoe: Gnaw-Roo-Hoy
Tongariro: Toh-Nuh-Ree-Row
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Accessing Mount Ngauruhoe
You certainly don’t need to climb Mount Ngauruhoe, or “Mount Doom,” to see it. You can get a great view from State Highway 1 or from the Tongariro Northern Circuit on Mount Ruapehu.
Click to Enlarge
If you’re looking to summit or hike to the base of Mount Ngauruhoe, it is most easily accessible from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing trail.
Mount Ngauruhoe is located next to the South Crater on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The best way to get there is to start at the Mangatepopo car park and follow the crossing for about 7km (4.3 miles) to the South Crater. From the trail, it’s about another 500m (third of a mile) to Mount Ngauruhoe’s base.
Climbing Mount Ngauruhoe
There are two important things to consider before hiking into the fiery depths of Mount Doom:
- How much of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing you’ll hike in addition to climbing Mount Ngauruhoe
- Whether or not you even should attempt to summit Mount Ngauruhoe
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which starts at the Mangatepopo car park, is 19.4 km (12 miles) and takes 7-9 hours. Summitting Mount Ngauruhoe adds an additional 3 km (2 miles) and 2-4 hours to this hike.
The problem with only hiking Mount Ngauruhoe and skipping the rest of the crossing is that the Mangatepopo car park has a 4 hour parking limit. If you can’t summit Mount Ngauruhoe and return within 4 hours, your car could be towed. This is why many hikers take a shuttle to the beginning of the crossing and hike Ngauruhoe as part of it.
Even if you have figured out the logistics of how you could hike Mount Ngauruhoe, there are important factors to consider to determine whether or not you should hike it.
Cultural Respect
Recently, the New Zealand Department of Conservation has removed trail markers leading to Mount Ngauruhoe. They are now asking visitors to respect the sanctity of the mountain’s peak by not climbing it. Although it is not illegal to climb, rangers are now occasionally stationed near the mountain to ask hikers to show respect and rethink their hike.
Please strongly consider second-hand “hiking” Mount Ngauruhoe by reading blog posts, watching videos, or browsing photos from home. Unlike Mount Ngauruhoe, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is not discouraged at all and affords great views of all 3 peaks on a clear day.
Safety
I would love to be able to say anyone of any ability could experience Mount Ngauruhoe’s glorious summit, but it is an extremely difficult and hazardous climb only suitable for experienced hikers.
Hazards include: rapidly changing weather and temperature, falling rocks and boulders, toxic fumes from thermal vents, falling, exhaustion, and more.
Just last year (April 2019) a hiker nearly died of hypothermia after sustaining injuries from a fall and getting stranded on the summit of Mount Ngauruhoe. There are a very high number of rescues from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing as it is; climbing Mount Ngauruhoe increases this danger considerably.
My Experience Summitting Mount Doom
When planning to summit Mount Ngauruhoe, I chose a window of several days that had perfect weather forecasts. If the forecast ended up changing at the last minute, I could wait until the next day. The first day, the March weather ended up being perfect – completely clear skies and plenty warm. I bought the earliest shuttle ticket and embarked from the Mangatepopo car park.
Since I had previously done the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in its entirety, I hiked my way through the fields of lava and up the Devil’s Staircase as efficiently as possible. Read about my experience on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing here.
Once I made it to the South Crater and was able to see Mount Ngauruhoe clearly, it was apparent just how difficult this climb would be.
It appeared as though the base of the mountain was only a few hundred feet away, but every hill I trudged over just had another behind it.
Finally, once I was on the slippery slope of Mount Ngauruhoe, the challenge became finding the best path up. Almost the entire mountain is made up of loose scree and pumice, so I tried to work my way towards the patches of large rocks I could climb on all fours. On the small loose rocks, for every one step up, it felt like I slid two steps back. Since there were other people climbing above me, I had to be constantly cautious of falling rocks.
The Summit
After about an hour and a half, I reached the white and red rocks near the top. I was overjoyed! I thought once I reached the outer rim I would be at the top and the crater would be directly in front of me. In actuality, once I got to the “top,” I was disheartened to see I had only made it to the outer ridge. The inner crater was still few hundred feet up a rocky slope.
The Volcanic Crater
The view at the top made it all worth it. A thin walkway of red rock surrounded the 150 meter (500 feet) wide crater. It was incomprehensibly deep and bright red, orange, and white.
The video below gives a full view of Mount Ngauruhoe’s volcanic crater and the rest of the summit.
After enjoying the view at the windy summit, I made my way back down to the outer ridge. I began descending the same way I came, zigzagging to keep my footing. I had to move quickly, as I still had 12 more kilometers (7.5 miles) of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to hike.
The hike down the perilous scree could only be described as controlled falling. I had to use the utmost caution to make sure no falling rocks could hit me and to make sure I wasn’t making any rocks fall on anyone else.
Even though I was very physically fit at the time, once I got down from Mount Ngauruhoe I was exhausted. My hike back to my car at the other end of the crossing wasn’t even halfway over yet. If I had been in any worse shape, or if the weather had been worse, I might not have been able to finish the 12 kilometers left of the crossing.
Because I was so tired and sore from hiking Mount Ngauruhoe, the remainder of the crossing took me hours longer than anticipated. Thankfully, I made it back to my car just in time to not have to hike in the dark.
Would you ever climb an active volcano? Weigh in below!
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5 Comments
Anon · April 18, 2022 at 6:32 am
This is so stupid!! You state why people shouldn’t do the walk, but you do it anyway, and then tell people how to do it themselves. You are so disrespectful. Take this blog post down and stop encouraging others.
Bry · April 18, 2022 at 2:05 pm
I am by no means encouraging anyone, as I state. I respect your thoughts on the matter, but I make it very clear in my post that people should make good choices and choose to look at photos and stories online rather than doing the walk themselves. I’m leaving this post up despite how feelings have changed since I did the hike so people will not feel the need to attempt it themselves. A lot of older blog posts about Ngauruhoe make no mention of why people shouldn’t climb it, so I want to make sure I’m adding that important piece to the dialogue, which I think I have accomplished here. Regardless, thank you for your input. This is not something I take lightly.
Mike Wilson · October 29, 2022 at 3:50 am
Great post – thanks so much. I intend on climbing Ngauruhoe after Christmas, not having done it for over 20+ years.
Normally it is only the very top you are not supposed to stand on. You can pretty much climb any other mountain apart from Mt Tarawera which is on private land. I was on the summit of Mt Taranaki earlier this year. You just don’t stand on the ‘official’ summit rock (only about 2 metres in size). Can’t see the fuss with Ngauruhoe – just observe the highest point and don’t stand on it. I’ll definitely be climbing it when the time comes.
Jim · February 5, 2024 at 11:36 am
There are services to take you back to your Car. You seem like an inexperienced hiker. My brother did this hike and called it one of his most memorable experiences. LOL
Bry · February 5, 2024 at 1:35 pm
When I hiked this, the only shuttle available was one that took you from your car parked at Ketetahi to the Mangatepopo car park (the start of the trail) like I mentioned in the article. There was no way to get a ride back to where you had parked unless you somehow completed the hike under the 4hr parking limit and before the shuttles from Ketetahi to Mangatepopo stopped. It’s certainly possible that that’s changed or they’ve added more shuttles since. I was only in my early 20s when I did this hike, but I already had the experience of hiking in the area I live in for my whole life and in New Zealand for ~3 months or so. Regardless, I agree that it was an unbelievably memorable experience.