Central North Island, summary. Richard Thomson’s new guidebook to the Tongariro National Park may have kicked off some fresh enthusiasm, or maybe it was the good early season conditions. Either way some great-looking ice and mixed routes were climbed last winter. In the Mangaturuturu Cirque, Kester Brown and Jono Clarke climbed Free Radicals (WI 5), The Glass Spider (M 4), Pope’s Pillar (WI 5), and Strung Out (WI 5). On Puggy’s Buttress on the southwest face of Matiaho, Clarke climbed Scratch and Win (M5).

Mark Watson, New Zealand Alpine Club