Tongariro Alpine Crossing cancelled

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is reportedly the best one-day hike in New Zealand. It’s a strenuous-but-satisfying 20km hike over an otherworldly volcanic landscape, with bright turquoise pools in the rocky craters. I’m often on the lookout for hikes when I travel so this was ideal! I did all the admin for the hike (more on this below) and was consequently very disappointed when, the afternoon before the hike, I received an email with the subject line: Tongariro Alpine Crossing cancelled.

Planning the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Planning the Tongariro Alpine Crossing involves quite a lot of admin.

The first task is choosing where to stay. Based on my research, accommodation near the hike is pretty limited. We chose to stay in Taupō, about an hour away from the hike.

You also have to book the hike in advance with the New Zealand Department of Conservation. This is a safety measure so that the Department knows how many people are doing the hike on any given day.

Finally, you have to sort out transport to and from the hike. At this point in our New Zealand trip, we didn’t have a car. In any case, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is a point-to-point hike so, even if you do have a car, you have to figure out how to get back to it at the end of the hike. The easiest solution is to book a shuttle – I booked mine on GetYourGuide. The only downside of this is that you have to finish the hike by a particular time to catch the return shuttle so you’d have to keep an eye on the time whilst hiking. But I think it is overall the easiest option.

Making all of these plans was no easy feat. Why, then was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing cancelled?

Tongariro Alpine Crossing cancelled

GetYourGuide had contacted me the day before my scheduled hike to say that my shuttle booking was “on hold” due to the weather. The main concern was high winds.

Later the same day, I received another email saying that our shuttle had been cancelled, meaning we had no way of doing the hike.

I was annoyed. We had done a lot of admin in preparation for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, and we had stayed in Taupō specifically to do it. If there was another way to do the hike, I was determined to find it.

However, upon going into a deep dive about other people’s experiences of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing being cancelled, I reluctantly accepted that doing the hike in defiance of wind warnings would have been unsafe and unwise. The Red Crater Ridge in particular is a high, narrow section of the hike and is apparently very exposed. You’d be taking an unnecessary risk to try and do the hike in high winds.

It’s also not fair on the search and rescue teams. They would be putting themselves at risk to rescue people who have chosen to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in spite of clear weather warnings. If those people get into difficulties, the rescue teams have to use their resources to find and rescue them, which can be avoided if weather warnings are heeded.

Finally, from a more cynical perspective, the shuttle companies are businesses. If they are cancelling the shuttles, the reason for the cancellation must be serious enough to justify losing the money that customers would have paid.

Disappointing as it is, if the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is cancelled, it will be for a good reason.

What to do instead

If you’re in Taupō, spend the day walking along the edge of Lake Taupō. It’s a pleasant walk, although was very windy when I went (which made me thinking how much windier it would have been doing the hike).

If you have a car and can explore outside Taupō, head to Rotorua and see the geysers and hot springs and experience some Māori culture.