The spirit of adventure was embodied in all its facets recently when six young explorers made the 50-kilometre journey from Coronet Peak, through the snowy Harris Mountains, to Treble Cone.
Led by Antarctic Heritage Trust director Nigel Watson, the five-day trek aimed to push the explorers, aged 18 to 30, outside their comfort zones and inspire teamwork and resilience in the vein of early Antarctic explorers.
Wakatipu High School student Zoe Crawford, while a keen skier, says she’d never done anything like the traverse before and the journey was ‘‘absolutely incredible’’.
‘‘I hadn’t done a lot of skinning before so I wasn’t super-confident … but I learnt so many different skills, not just from the guide, but from the whole group, along the way.’’
While Zoe says she came back with a greater hunger to explore her ‘‘backyard’’, for the brains behind the Mahu Whenua Traverse, Arrowtowner Erik Bradshaw, it offered a chance to reflect on his deep relationship with exploration.
Bradshaw’s the only person to have skied the length of the Southern Alps — ‘‘a hell of a lot of fun’’ — and he’s spent his life climbing both in New Zealand and the Antarctic, where his mother was the first female to lead an expedition.
‘‘[The traverse] was just kind of tying these two threads together, one being my family’s background with the Antarctic, but also this winter adventurous activity that could be organised.’’
He says walking along the ‘‘dramatic and beautiful’’ crest of the Harris Mountains was exhilarating as ‘‘it’s not often you’re up that high’’.
‘‘I suppose it’s a space you feel somewhat of a guest to be — you’re there at the mercy of the weather and the elements.’’
Bradshaw also masterminded the traverse’s unique ‘Turk’ accommodation – 26,000-litre water tanks converted into huts — which he hopes makes the backcountry route more accessible to people.
“It’s just about getting people out and seeing them extend themselves and realise what they’re capable of and what there is to do,” he says.
