Annette Plateau with Kenji Boekholt

Weather plays an integral part in any trip in New Zealand, playing the weather game sometimes feels like throwing the flat food money for the week on red or black. A friendly game of feast or famine.

This was a typical version of that exact story. With another supposed storm of the century hitting the West coast and the impending flu truck clan making their way up the East to Dumbkirk I managed to talk an old work colleague and friend Nick into what I’d convinced him as a mellow traverse in stunning undulating terrain. Nick, much like many of my climbing partners had not realised my habit of understating the true nature of the trip.

Long story short, we managed to score some of the good and the bad, between getting lost on the cloudy plateau unsure what way was up and glancing over my shoulder to see the puzzled expression on Nicks face wondering “Why the fuck did I agree to this?” to waking up in one of the most beautiful locations in the world and enjoying scrambling among some of the Aoraki regions more tame peaks. We both finished the trip with grins on our faces, itching for the next adventure.

See photos below <3

Trip:

Sebastopol Ridge - Annette Peak - Mt Kitchener - Mt Ollivier