Distance: 12.4 km (hike only). Elevation low/high/total: 27/1122/1426 m.
Difficulty:9.2/10 Scenic: 8.8/10
A rather serious hike (by our standards). Photos are here, hike gpx is here and full gpx including required biking and 75 minutes of wrong way hiking here.
My favorite kind of adventure involves a good dose of "mis" to make it more memorable. Well, this outing had a bit of everything. First, there was gaining access to the Mont Tonta hike itself. The trailhead is along a heavily used mining road ... but the road is closed to the public ... or at least public cars. Paul knew somebody who knew somebody and we learned we could throw our bikes over the barrier gate and bike the 5.6 km to the start of the hike. So, knowing it would be a hot and humid day, we got out of Noumea by 6 AM and had all gathered at the gate before 8 AM. A new guy, Fabrice, joined me, Paul and sorta new guy Robert. Fabrice is a bit out of our age class, but that turned out to be a good thing, So, off we set .... on a 75 minute wrong way start to the hike, gaining 112 meters in the wrong direction. By the time we figured out we were off track, we returned to the very start of the trailhead and officially started the hike at 9:30. Not ideal. The hike is hard (for us older guys). There is no shade anywhere and it is relentlessly vertical, usually at a 30% incline, I don't mind admitting that Paul and I considered not summiting and after a twisted ankle fall, I was -> <- that close to calling it quits.
But we decided to have lunch there, at about 650 meters (a bit more than half way up) and we sent the oldest and youngest guys on up ahead to summit and Paul and I dragged behind. BUT WE MADE IT! The odd thing was that the top 100 meters of the mountain was completely encased in dense fog/cloud and so what should have been a spectacular view instead was just a sea of white. Didn't matter to me and Paul, we could now check Mont Tonta off our list. Good fun with good people and I had a lovely river bath back at the base of the mountain. There is nary a drop of water along the trail so if you ever do this hike, especially in the heat, take LOTS of water. I went through 3+ liters on the way up and had to pace myself to conserve a bit for the return. I also placed a geocache at the top (linked here) in an old maintenance or sleeping hut. Up until 1970, radio equipment for the Tontouta airport was stationed here and there remains not only the former access road (very slippery and nowhere near driveable) but lots of old pieces of junk metal and such.
