Tramping Mt. Ruapeho

The day before we went skiing, Taylor and I took a trek on the lower part of the mountain. About half the journey was on a nice clear, paved trail. But eventually the trail degraded into a series of orange stakes, and the "trail" was covered in snow up to our thighs.

It was absolutely gorgeous, albeit cold, wet and miserable as well.

There are too many pictures to post here so follow this Link to the Album.

This is the mountain, adjacent to Mt. Ruapeho, that served as the model for Mt. Doom.
The beginning of the trail.

Hail Taylor! King of the Rock!

The top of the waterfall.

The Waterfall.

Behind the falls.

Stuck in the snow.

The end of the trail.

Skiing Mt. Ruapeho

Ski Masks - not just for bank robbers anymore.

Finally! After ten years of waiting, I got to go skiing again - and on the slopes of Mt. Doom no less. The weather has been miserable for a month, so the entire North Island came out to ski this weekend. The slopes were packed. But, I had a great time nonetheless. It took me a few rough falls to get my skillz back. But by the end of the day I would've been willing to try a black diamond, had I spent the money for an upper mountain lift ticket...

For the snowboarder punks...

Very, very crowded.

This is the slope I skied the most.