Mount Egmont, or Taranaki, rises in the west of New Zealand’s North Island, a singular volcanic cone exhibiting a powerful symmetry. So symmetrical is Taranaki in fact (provided one isn’t viewing the mountain perpendicular to the parasitic cone of Fantham’s Peak), that it was used as a stand-in for Japan’s Mount Fuji in the film The Last Samurai. So, what better way to get to know Mount Egmont than to circumnavigate it, and then celebrate with an ascent?