Turning 30, honestly not quite as a big deal as I first thought. I still feel great and am still determined as ever to do awesome things, though I still wanted to celebrate coming into my 30’s.

My friend Anna made an one off comment “oh, how about 30 peaks in 30 days” and for whatever reason it stuck, id lie if I said I did much planning, all I knew was that it sounded cool and that the mountains would be a great place to spend my time.

I didn’t take much time off, maybe 15 days so to do 30 peaks seemed kind of silly, but I am lucky that my work has a few perks of getting into the hills, so I was able to tick off a few as went about my month was the thinking.

The first peak was castle hill, a relatively easy wobble but I wasnt going for the biggest or baddest, just time in the mountains and my one rule, I had to take other people with me. The first lad was an aussie bloke, never met him before but he had some tales to tell. He handed me gifts (very surprised) and I was sure that my goal was to be about celebrating people in my life more than my own life, more than the mountains summited.

The next day I met up with the same guy from before and two French Travellers for their first day in NZ. I think it was a great combo of personalities and we enjoyed the fine conversations as I showed them up another classic beginner mountain- Cloudsley.

Was great to learn of their reasons for traveling, why they became doctors, and their experiences in Africa in the medical field, was a great reminder of how much I appreciated my own health and freedoms. We learnt about each other’s reasons for being in the mountains and how its often so hard to explain to others what it is that draws us closer to the heavens, where weather is harsh and times are often describe as type 2 fun.

The end of the day we said some goodbyes but not before I was gifted with a voucher for new mountain boots… I didnt know what to say, I never wanted to be paid or gifted with anything other than snacks and company but here I was being blessed, along with some food and drink to make it all the more better. I decided to gift them on as I was already privileged and got cheap or free gear often but the sentiment was unmatched.

Word quickly spread of my exploits, though only 3 days in, I was being bombarded with people keen to come out, have a chance to push themselves and do it with someone more experienced. Who could blame them, it was a great deal and opportunity! Never thought id be recognized in the climbing gym from strangers, very weird!

Over the coming weeks I managed to do 15 summits which I suppose in itself is a pretty good effort but something I was more proud of was how I managed to take 162 people total in the mountains (some came on multiple days)

The mental flexibility and time taken to give back to people and see their objective as mine was a great experiment. I saw first summits, first time on snow, first grade 2s amongst the many highlights for me and those individuals.

Off the back of that great experience I was feeling brave, reached out to Inselberg about it and now I am on the gear testing team something that I would never expect but yet again a joy of trying something even when it seems too big and too scary.

Here’s to many more!