I have just come back from a planned trip around Mt Ngauruhoe. I had looked at the geonet web cam and thought that snow conditions looked OK with only occasional patched of snow at the altitude we planned to traverse.
However when we got up to South Crater I realised that I had forgotten that South Crater and the leeward sloped to the east would have accumulated a lot more snow. There would have been 1.5m of snow right across South Crater with only the occasional marker pole sticking above the surface. It was a complete white out and we navigated to the other side by GPS.
We intended to drop directly from South Crater into the Oturere but all we could see was a steep snow slope dropping into the fog. You could kick steps but without an ice axe to hold onto it didn't feel secure. I was also fairly sure the run out was good but couldn't see anything to be 100% sure.
It was frustrating but we decided to turn back at that point. Looks like there will be quite a bit of snow on the crossing for a few weeks more yet.
The new track up from the Mangatepopo valley to the saddle is impressive, gravel surface all the way and complex water management systems. I have filed a GPX file of the route of the new track at http://www.tramper.co.nz/?3122
