Difference between a Mountain and a Peak

[ledge]

Acc. to the old Alpine Club definitions, if I remember wrightlee, a 'peak' was part of a bigger 'mountain.'
(e.g. Fanthams Peak, is a subsidiary cone of Mt. Egmont / Taranaki.)
... I assume this Peak Bagging website separates the various peaks of each larger mountain?
... In that case, can we 'name & claim' the 10 high peaks on Mt Ruapehu, for instance?
(Tahurangi, No 2, Paretetaitonga, Dome, Tukino, Te Heuheu, Cathedral Rocks, Pyramid, Mitre & Girdlestone?)  Obviously not, coz I've used crampons / axe to get up some of them.

... I think the Dome can be accessed on the rock during late summer, my friend camped up there in my tent.
The first time I ascended Tahurangi, my two companions scrambled to the top. They were novice teenagers, not mountaineers. Does 'scrambling' using your mits count as climbing?

Your thoughts please...

[vinodrinker]

Hi ledge

On Tahurangi

Id love some advice on getting to the summit

ive heard too you can do it in a scramble end of summer. just a bit nervous trying without more info

glad to see someone with real experience posting here!! ive only started this year but did taranaki twice early this year...thinking ruapehu shouldnt be too much harder if you know where to go???

[Jon (aka site admin)]

Yeah scrambling is fine....  it's more about avoiding using crampons/ropes etc  -  be interested to hear more about the scrambling route up Taruhangi

Interesting about the peak definition, I never heard that one before.  we just chose 'peak' as it's the word used describe other similar lists overseas.  Another similar site in Ireland, uses the term 'summiteering' which isn't too bad, especially when dealing with smaller hill summits.

See my other reply to your posts for more on how we can recognise climbing peaks.   We hadn't really thought about listing separate 'peaks' on a mountain thus far...

[ledge]

Vinodrinker :

Regarding your wish to 'scramble' up Tahurangi, highest point on Ruapehu.

1) I wouldn't recommend it - the two teenagers were foolhardy, walking on sloping scree slopes with a huge drop-off down to Crater Lake. They started at Tahurangi No. 2, and traversed the main ridge towards the west. I met them 17 hours later in Oturere Hut, after failing to summit Ngauruhoe & Tongariro in 24 hrs!

2) The first two times, in Jan & Feb, it was all rock, but with sheets of rotten black ice blocking the way. 60-degree ice near the top of the Gliding Gladdis: crampons were still the order of the day.

3) I prefer snow. The easiest time I climbed Tahurangi was 1998. Snow most of the way from the Turoa chairlift ride, up Gliding Gladdis, to the top. My mate skinned down, I glissaded. A bit of iced-up snow, but easy.

[ledge]

Now I remember...
Someone told me you Could scrmble All The Way up Tahurangi..via the Skyline ridge, just to the right of Turoa ski area. Did this ridge on snow in Spring of 2001 - safest option, just not as direct / steep as Gliding Glassis.

[GuanoGerbil]

ahh Tahurangi... been up here so many times, but never in the summer. Why would you want to - it all looks SO much prettier in winter. Even bivvied up here one night and woke to the most spectacular sunrise imagineable.
Skyline Ridge is definately the easiest way up - you even get a few hardcore snowboarders walking up there in boots, so you should be able to do it when snow is in good condition (don't try it in icy conditions though - for that you need ice axe and crampons. And know how to use them).
This is the view looking down over Crater Lake from Tahurangi. Expand the photo and you'll see tenters down on the plateau and Dome shelter on opposite side on ridgeline in centre.
Now this is how Ruapehu should be seen, in all her glory... and so many more peaks to climb!