Upper Ruapehu & Whakapapa Ski Area
Meads Wall
Easy 1.0 km 20–30 min return
Lava landscape · Upper Ruapehu & Whakapapa Ski Area
Meads Wall
1,700 m VolcanicFilming locationSnowPanorama Famous view #2
A towering wall of jagged lava beside the ski-field base, used for Emyn Muil in The Lord of the Rings.
A ten-minute walk from the top of Bruce Road leads to the base of Meads Wall, a ridge of fractured black andesite with views across the Whakapapa lava flows to Ngāuruhoe. Peter Jackson filmed Frodo and Sam’s scramble through Emyn Muil and Gollum’s capture here. It is the easiest place in the park to stand among big volcanic rock and, in winter and spring, in snow.
On screen. Emyn Muil, where Gollum attacks Frodo and Sam in The Two Towers.
❄ At 1,650–1,750 m this is the most reliable place to reach snow on foot from June to October, often into November.
Meads Wall © ELLK Photographic · CC BY 2.0 
© Kiwiz1338 · CC BY 3.0 Tracks that reach Meads Wall
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