I first heard about the possibility of climbing Mitre Peak in 2011. Arguably its the most photographed mountain in New Zealand and rises a stunning 1692 metres (5,551 feet) straight up out of the fiord in Milford Sound, towering above the water. The iconic shape of the peak, with its sheer cliffs blanketed in thick rain forest and unmistakable knife edge ridge, makes it a true New Zealand landmark.  Its also one of the tallest sea cliffs in the world.

I was 17, had just finished high school, and even though I lived only five hours from Milford, I’d never actually been there. A friend of mine, Chris Long (aka @wildkiwiadventurer), was working as a sea kayak guide in Milford Sound at the time. I remember the excitement in his stories of clinging to the ridge line, watching rocks displaced by your feet skitter over the cliff, and questioning the decision to summit alone.

You can read Chris’s story of the climb here.

Seven years later, while back in New Zealand for a short time to hike the Abel Tasman Coast Track, I found myself being offered a job sea kayak guiding in Milford Sound, and I took it. Spending the New Zealand summer in Milford is magic.  The list of hikes, rock climbs and kayak trips that you want to tick off only gets bigger the longer you live there. But I knew the biggest challenge I wanted to take on was to summit Mitre Peak.

In order to climb Mitre Peak, I needed a weather window and friends with the same days off. And importantly, a way to get across the fiord to the base of the ridge. The 14th of February 2018 was our day. Two friends who worked for the same company were also looking to hike to the summit. A lot of climbers will choose to camp at the tree line and take two days over the hike. However the three of us only had a single day off together, and so we decided to summit in a day.

As an adventure traveller and YouTuber, I was naturally planning to vlog (make a video log of) the climb. But we quickly realised what a mission it was going to be.  We decided on packing a second camera and planning to produce a short film instead.

We borrowed a couple of kayaks, packed our gear, set alarms for an unsociable hour of the morning.  And we were off. We pushed off from the shore in Deepwater Basin at 6.30am, kayaking through the thick fog hanging across the fiord. Fur seals played around the boats as the morning mist cleared and Mitre Peak came into view.

The excitement was palpable. Good thing too, as we needed all the psych we could get.  There were definitely times on the mountain when I questioned the decision to crawl along a knife edge ridge with a GoPro in one hand.  But it made for some fairly exciting footage and a pretty wild film!

15 hours later we were physically exhausted and absurdly hungry.  Stoked on life, we finally beached our kayaks back at the boat ramp. It was 9.30pm, and we had done it. High on adrenaline and the wild sense of achievement, all three of us were riding the post mission buzz. We had done it. We summited Mitre Peak in a day.

Click this link or watch it now for the full story!