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Taranaki Mt Egmont

Type
Altitude
2518m
Part of

A solitary peak on the North Island's west coast, the mountain dominates the landscape. Its graceful shape and visibility have made it one of New Zealand's most photographed and painted mountains. That attraction and the ease of access to this lone alpine peak have probably made it New Zealand's most climbed mountain.
For rock climbing on the mountains see https://climbnz.org.nz/nz/ni/taranaki
Skiing
It is possible to ski on Mt Taranaki from April to February, but more reliably between June and December. Snow depths vary with up to 1.5m on the ridges and 15m in the deep valleys, with the surface conditions very changeable particularly during early/mid winter. An icy winter can make skiing on the upper portion of the mountain, above 2100m, impractical until late August. Spring skiing (September to late November) can be excellent.
Climbing on skis (skinning) has never been very popular as the terrain and usual snow type is not ideal for skinning. In most cases a skier will make faster and easier headway uphill on foot wearing crampons. A sound rule on Mt Taranaki is to always climb up the route you intend to ski down. This is in order to judge the ski route for snow conditions as hard rime, ice or spring sluffs can make unpleasant surprises.
Most of the summit runs could be classed as adventurous—in particular Surrey Road, and Pleasant Valley. Ultimately enjoyment on the day is dependent on the skier and snow conditions. Teds Alley runs adjacent to and south of East Ridge and could be described as extreme.
It is expected that those who want to ski away from the commercial ski areas should be a mountain-wise and well equipped party and at least strong intermediate skiers, preferably better—the upper slopes are continually steep. With good snow conditions skiers can traverse between routes, and very fit skiers can do two routes in one day.

Image
Lat/lon
POINT (174.06380559 -39.29586506)
Topo50
BJ29 917 499
Access

Crag Access
While access can be described from the road ends, it is more practical to provide access information from Tahurangi Lodge, as it is central amongst the crags and provides an excellent base. Access to Tahurangi Lodge is gained by following the Translator Road from North Egmont (1 hour, 15 minutes), or the Around the Mountain Circuit from Stratford Plateau (1 hour, 40 minutes).

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Routes

Reference Title Grade Length Pro Quality Operations
6.01 Crater Rim Traverse
1.02
6.02 High Level Round the Mountain Circuit
0
Comments
Attribution
Eden, Ross. Taranaki Mount Egmont; A guide for climbers. NZAC, 2003.
UUID
 
d5e4ac3e-bcb2-40e9-8976-a1700d361eda