You might call Jamie Fitzgerald and Kevin Biggar suckers for punishment. The pair have taken on gruelling expeditions like rowing across the Atlantic, trekking unsupported to the South Pole, and they've filmed two seasons of First Crossings - the excellent local show in which they re-enacted the stories of some of New Zealand's earliest adventurers and pioneers.
They would don clothes from the late 1800s, load up their swag with rustic tools and old ropes, and take to the mountains, or rivers, or rugged coastlines with enthusiasm, to bring these amazing tales to life. Now they're back with a new series entitled Intrepid NZ, which sticks with the same idea, but widens their story possibilities.
"I think the big advantage of the new format is that we don't feel quite as constrained for it to be a 'first'" Biggar explains. "The episode where we follow the Ruth Adams rescue is a great example of a great story that should be told. It's part of our folk lore, and yet it wouldn't have fitted quite so well in First Crossings."
Ruth Adams was the daughter of Ernest Adams, and a keen mountaineer. Along with Harry Ayres, Mick Sullivan and Ed Hillary, she set off to climb Mt La Perouse in the Southern Alps - a mountain which had been little climbed at the time in 1948. Unfortunately, not far from the top, a rope broke, and Adams fell, breaking her back. What followed was a remarkable rescue effort, which remains one of New Zealand's most notable.
"I think it's a wonderful story because it's a side of Sir Ed you don't often see, and I wonder if it helps to explain his attitude towards mountain rescues. The amount of effort that Ed and this huge team of people went to, to rescue Ruth and bring her down off the mountain, I think that made an impression on him. People made sacrifices to save someone, to do the right thing, despite the fact that it sounded like a very difficult and unlikely rescue."
