Giveaways
THE Whakapapa Valley lies on the north-western flank of Mount Ruapehu, a huge, occasionally active volcano in the middle of the North Island. At 2,797 m (9,177 feet), Ruapehu’s summit is the highest point of the North Island: the mountain is, however, so broad that, in a photograph, it doesn’t look very high.
The Whakapapa Valley is the site of the largest ski field in New Zealand, with 44 kilometres or twenty-seven and a half miles of runs, the last time I checked.
And probably the sunniest as well, being the nearest to the equator in New Zealand and on the sunny side of its mountain as well: a fact that is becoming an issue in the time of global warming.
In the Whakapapa Valley, you can drive in an ordinary car through lowland forest that includes the Tawhai Falls (the site of Gollum’s Pool in the LOTR movies), up the mountain past the Whakapapa Village and the now-closed Chateau Tongariro near the scenic Taranaki Falls, and then on further, still via a good road, to the Iwikau Village at the base of the Whakapapa Ski Field.
And on up from there by the Sky Waka gondola to the foot of the jagged Pinnacles/Nga Tōhu Ridge, where there are always cafe-style refreshments on sale in a facility called the Knoll Ridge Chalet.
Here are some photos and a video from my most recent visit, in July 2024.
From the top end of the Sky Waka, you can hike the Whakapapa Skyline Walk to 2,300 m. I will have more to say about this, further on. Mountaineers can also press on to the top of Mount Ruapehu.
If you are coming up to the Valley from the south, you will pass through the town of Ohakune, long an important railway stop for skiers approaching the southern part of Mount Ruapehu.
And from there, you would head north to the township of National Park, also a railway stop, at the intersection of State Highway 4 and State Highway 47, where you can get good views of the conical and even more active Mount Ngauruhoe, poking up from the vicinity of the more flat-topped Mount Tongariro, itself prone to periodic eruptions.
Here is a video I made of scenes on this latest winter trip, including the mountains as seen from the road, followed by a journey on the Sky Waka.
Coming up to National Park from the south, you can check out the picturesque Makatote Viaduct. Or, you can arrive from the north via State Highway 4, or from the northeast, past the Mahuia Rapids, a route that gives an even closer look at Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe.
Here is a larger-scale map showing more of the attractions in the area, including the camping grounds on State Highway 47 and the location of The Pinnacles/Nga Tōhu at the bottom right.
Bookings are essential for these campgrounds. The Mangahuia Campsite is fairly basic, while Discovery Camping, Discovery Lodge and the Whakapapa Holiday Park have permanent accommodation, as well as campsites and all the facilities.
There is also the Skotel Alpine Resort at the Whakapapa Village, along with various other huts and ski lodges in the area. But perhaps the most historically interesting accommodation was to be had at the Chateau Tongariro, of which a bit more below.
In December 2021, I began a journey up to the Whakapapa Skifield with a trip to Tawhai Falls, the site of Gollum’s Pool in the Lord of the Rings movies. When I was there, the river was so flooded that nobody would have been able to find the Ring, that is for sure!
Tawhai means silver beech, Nothofagus menziesii. Tāwhai, with a tohutō (macron), means to stretch out; but I think the name refers to the locally abundant beech trees.
The environment is quite verdant in this part of the national park, the great Tongariro National Park which encompasses all three of the main volcanoes of the central North Island, but it gets a lot more barren further up!
The national park was the gift of Te Heuheu Tūkino IV, paramount chief of the local Ngāti Tūwharetoa iwi (tribe), who feared that the area, sacred to Māori, would simply be chopped up by white farmers otherwise.
Māori lore holds that the volcanoes of the central North Island are spiritual entities or living beings. And that the similar-looking Mount Taranaki, some 130 kilometres or 80 miles due west, once lived among the volcanoes of the central North Island, but was exiled after a romantic quarrel, gouging out the course of the Whanganui River as he moved westward. This is one of the most famous of Māori legends; you can read about it, along with a dramatic illustration, on this webpage from the government’s online encyclopaedia of New Zealand, Te Ara.
There is also a more detailed version of the same legend in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. The occasional eruptions of the central volcanoes — which, like Mount Taranaki, are by no means extinct — and their steady emissions of steam between eruptions, are said to reflect their anger and disgruntlement.
Heading on uphill, I got to Whakapapa Village and the amazing Chateau Tongariro, completed in 1929. Here’s an aerial photo and map of the village, showing some of its attractions and places to stay that were open that summer, including the Chateau.
By the way, Whakapapa Village should not be confused with the Whakapapa Ski Area, further up the mountain, though it has a sort of village there too these days.
It can be a bit confusing as to which is which on Google Maps. But, basically, Whakapapa Village is next to a couple of hairpin bends on the Bruce Road that continues up to the Whakapapa Ski Area nearer its end.
The Whakapapa Village contains the Tongariro National Park Visitor Centre, the Chateau Tongariro, the Skotel Alpine Resort and the Whakapapa Holiday Park, among other important facilities.
A few years ago, in 2021, I stayed at the Whakapapa Holiday Park. In the following photo, taken there, you can see that there is plenty of green forest around the Whakapapa Village. Further up the valley, the Whakapapa Ski Area lies in a barren rocky wilderness.
Long the most famous and poshest place to stay in the area, the Chateau Tongariro was modelled on the Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.
A tourist road into the Whakapapa Valley was created in the early twentieth century, at the instigation of local climbers. Auckland City Mayor James Gunson drove the first car to Whakapapa in 1925.
The next step was to create a hotel of international quality. The Chateau was commissioned by the New Zealand Government and operated by the Government for most of its history. The national electric power grid did not make it into this part of the country until the 1950s, so the Chateau had its own hydroelectric power station!
An old photo, hand-coloured, shows the magical qualities of the Chateau during the snow season.
Many of the Chateau Tongariro’s windows have panoramic views, as in this historical image that looks as though it was taken in the 1930s.
Here’s a picture of myself inside the sumptuous lobby of the Chateau Tongariro.
Surprisingly enough, the Chateau was not all that expensive to stay at when I stayed there. You could get a double room for NZ $130 a night if you timed it right. Of course, you could also spend more if you wanted!
Though I did not realise it then, I was to be one of the Chateau’s last guests. On the fifth of February 2023, the Chateau was closed after an engineering investigation found it to be well short of today’s earthquake standards. Perhaps some future owner or the government will spend the sums needed to renovate it, but otherwise, the closure will be permanent.
This, plus the climate change that is the most likely cause of three years of bad snow lately, may be bringing down the curtains on a skiing trade that once flourished in Tongariro National Park.
I’ve embedded a film from 1960 called ‘Skiing at Chateau Tongariro’, here:
There is a fascinating slideshow of old photos and posters about skiing in New Zealand on a Radio New Zealand gallery. One of the posters, at the beginning of this post, contrasts a snowy mountain with a subtropical Polynesian landscape at its base under a baking sun, thus unwittingly foreshadowing the vulnerability of our North Island ski fields to global warming.
The Whakapapa Village was for a long time heavily oriented to the ski trade though it is now pivoting, like another tourist village in the area, National Park, toward hikers and mountain bikers.
Revisiting Whakapapa Village in winter 2024, I chose to stay at the Holiday Park again, which was still only NZ $32 for a dorm bed and $25 for a vehicle site. Unfortunately, there were ten kids there with homeschooling parents, nice but noisy.
I spent a day skiing on the Happy Valley run, and went on the Sky Waka.
I also had a lovely octopus salad for about NZ $30 at the Skotel’s Terrace Restaurant.
The Skotel Alpine Resort, which now bills itself as “New Zealand’s highest hotel,” is not nearly as retro as the now-closed Chateau but does, on the other hand, have amazing mountain views through its windows just like the Chateau, including Ngauruhoe when it is not in cloud.
And tables out the back where you can sit and view the mountain wilderness outdoors as well.
For those who just want to have a wander in this area, there are lots of hiking trails. For instance, you can get to the Taranaki Falls via the Taranaki Falls Walk. It takes about an hour to get to the falls from the village.
I visited these falls in April 2023, hiking with some companions. The Taranaki Falls Walk is lovely in itself.
And after an hour, we got to the falls.
Along with local hikes, other trails form part of the Round the Mountain Track and the Tongariro Northern Circuit Great Walk. Part of the latter is the Mangatepopo Track, which leads to Mangatepopo Hut and the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
(You can also get to Mangatepopo Hut, and the beginning of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, by way of Mangatepopo Road, a bit further northeast up SH 47 after the Whakapapa access road. There are shuttles to the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing at the end of Mangatepopo Road, if you don’t want to hike from Whakapapa. The shuttles are also quite convenient if you are camping nearby in a van, and don’t want to move the van or risk driving it up a rough road.)
I continued up the gravelly mountain road to the village at the Whakapapa Ski Area, a village known more properly as Iwikau Village though I see Google Maps has it as Whakapapa, after the nearby ski field. There are three ski fields on Mount Ruapehu: Tūkino (after Te Heuheu), Tūroa, and Whakapapa. The latter pair are on shadier flanks of the mountain.
Whakapapa also has better access to the skifield via the fully paved Bruce Road. In winter, Tūroa requires a four-wheel drive vehicle or a two-wheel drive vehicle with chains, and Tūkino requires a four-wheel drive vehicle. That was one reason why I visited the Whakapapa ski field this winter to do a bit of skiing, along with the attraction of going on the Sky Waka.
The first time I rode on it, in 2022, the Sky Waka was open from 10 am to 4 pm daily, with the option of a buffet lunch at the Pinnacles (Nga Tōhu) Restaurant. This was billed in its day as the highest full-service eatery in Aotearoa/NZ at 2,020 metres (6,627 feet). Unfortunately, the restaurant is now permanently closed, though there is still a cafe at the top in summer and a buffet in winter. Current details about Sky Waka tickets and dining options at the top are given here.
Here’s a photo from the Sky Waka, looking down onto Iwikau Village.
The Sky Waka opened in 2019 and was developed, in more detail, with the input of NZ $9.5 million from the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board. Central North Island Māori are investing more and more in local tourism ventures around Mt Ruapehu and the other volcanos nearby, and also further north in the Lake Taupō area.
The building that housed the Pinnacles Restaurant is called the Knoll Ridge Chalet. It boasts an award called the Design Curial Best Designed Café in the World, 2015. A full list of what is currently open at various times of year is given here.
The next photo shows Mount Ngauruhoe past the pinnacles, technically known as the Ngā Tohu Pinnacle Ridge. It’s all pretty epic up here!
As I mentioned, the Whakapapa Skyline Walk, up to 2,300 metres, is another thing that you can do from the top end of the Sky Waka route (or even climb to the summit if you are an alpinist.)
The Skyline Walk takes you up to the Skyline Ridge, where the views are amazing. Here are some photos I took while hiking the Skyline Walk in April 2023.
Here is a short, professional video by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, the operators of the Sky Waka, that shows more of the Skyline Walk and why it is so worth doing!
Alternatively, you can hike the Waterfalls Descent to the base of the Sky Waka, rather than taking the cable car back down. There is a guide to all the short walks and hikes accessible from the top of the Sky Waka route, here. The guide includes some fairly stunning photographs!
Here’s a video I made, of several scenes from the Tawhai Falls to The Pinnacles. I was planning to hike to the top of the mountain once again, by way of the Crater Climb, but didn’t make it up in the end.
However, in April 2023, I returned and managed to do the Skyline Walk this time. Here’s a video of that trip, which includes the Taranaki Falls at the beginning.
Another hike I would like to do near the Sky Waka is the Knoll Ridge Loop, and from there to head up Knoll Ridge to the summit.
This winter, I couldn’t judge the avalanche risk, so I just went for a small walk past the top of the Sky Waka.
You can finish off any trip to this region by relaxing in the Tokaanu Thermal Pools, further up State Highway 47, at the southern end of Lake Taupō!
There are several apps relevant to Mount Ruapehu. They include:
The NZ Government Great Hikes and Walks App
The Mount Ruapehu Snow Report app, by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Ltd (best downloaded from the Google and Apple web store).
The GPSSkiMaps Whakapapa (Mt Ruapehu) Ski App and Tūroa (Mt Ruapehu) Ski App.
Here are some links to my other blog posts about Mount Ruapehu, the Tongariro National Park and nearby Lake Taupō.
a-maverick.com/blog/mount-ruapehu-you-can-make-it
a-maverick.com/blog/mount-tongariro-crossing-a-gem
a-maverick.com/blog/lakes-rotoaira-and-rotopounamu-between-volcanoes-taupo
If you liked the post above, check out my award-winning book about the North Island! It’s available for purchase from my website a-maverick.com.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive free giveaways!
