The day I nearly died while hiking in New Zealand - The mesmerizing Tongariro Alpine Crossing!

A little alarmist I know but hear me out. A few years back I decided to do some backpacking and found myself in New Zealand. I liked to hike, loved the outdoors, and had already picked the Tongariro Crossing as something I would do while on my visit. As you can see from the photo below, the circumstances involved were somewhat different than the post made by @borran and his beautiful trip to the same destination here. We spent the night in a small cabin at the base of the mountain pass, in order we might make a leisurely go of it the next morning. Unfortunately, when we awoke things had changed dramatically and there was snow on the ground! In the foothills leading in it was a small dusting, but in places leading into the saddle of the pass, the gusting wind had piled powder to your knees. It was cold, slippery as hell, extremely difficult going in some places, and we were ill equipped to deal with the elements that presented themselves. We had already been concerned about our rations prior to discovering our circumstances in the morning, and survived on an apple a piece, and a handful of trail mix at lunch offered by a kind hiking stranger who saw we were gassed. My feet were frozen, and paradoxically cramping with every step. It was agony, and we were saving our final packet of soup for an emergency. I didn't think I was making down. There were several occasions where I was going to call it in and just have the choppers rescue me or not all. We persevered, I'm not really sure how. As we made it down the other side, we stopped at a small cabin and shared our soup, marveling how we had made it. Best damn soup ever. New Zealand is amazing, beautiful, and the weather is no joke. Hope you all enjoy some more pictures of Tongariro and thanks again to @borran for his original post!