MOUNT ASPIRING

Aotearoa’s Mount Aspiring National Park is, without a doubt, one of my favourites. Never before have I witnessed mountains as grand and intimidating as this section of the Southern Alps, making me appreciate why New Zealand has produced so many world class mountaineers. Over one week, I ran the Rees Dart Track, encountering my first glacier at the Cascade Saddle, made my way up to Mount French going as far as I could go without mountaineering gear and rounded it out with the Gillespie Pass Circuit. Though I fell in love with the snowcapped peaks, the icy rivers, cascading waterfalls and ancient beech forests were equally as special.

It was hard not to notice the impacts of climate change on this environment. What used to be a threatening glacial force had clearly been reducing in size rapidly over recent years. It emphasised that globally we are losing ice much faster than it is replaced and the retreat in my lifetime is a hard pill to swallow.