On New Years day in 2010, Stephanie and I took a day trip to the summit of Mt Taranaki on a beautiful day via the standard North Egmont route.  This is non-technical, walk-up route, with alot of scree slopes to scramble up.  It took us around 6  – 7 hours at a leisurely pace to get up and back. This was the third time I had climbed Mt Taranaki by this route.

Mount Taranaki, or Mount Egmont, is an active ^[4] [5] but quiescent stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand‘s North Island. Although the mountain is more commonly referred to as Taranaki, it has two official names under the alternative names policy of the New Zealand Geographic Board.^[6] The 2518-metre-high mountain is one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world. There is a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak (Māori: Panitahi), 1,966 metres (6,450 ft), on the south side.^[7] Because of its resemblance to Mount Fuji, Taranaki provided the backdrop for the movie The Last Samurai. (Source Wikipedia)

My camera broke down so we met two to other climbers at the summit, and Paul Harris kindly sent  me these photos.  I called my parents from the summit and my father then flew around the summit in a small aeroplane and waved to us. He took off from the Stratford Aerodrome and took 9 minutes to get there as opposed to the 4 hours it took us!

View of the Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe from the summit of Mt Taranaki.

View down the scree slopes of the North Egmont route

Sunrise

Stephanie and I on the summit at 2518m