'The 100 Peaks Challenge' is a list of 100 mountain summits spread throughout New Zealand. Photo / NZ Hunters Adventures
'The 100 Peaks Challenge' is a list of 100 mountain summits spread throughout New Zealand. Photo / NZ Hunters Adventures
It's taken 30 years, but a Masterton man is finally shouting from the mountain tops after having become the first person in New Zealand to conquer The 100 Peaks Challenge.
The 100 Peaks Challenge is a list of 100 mountain summits spread throughout New Zealand [five in the North Island, the remainder in the South Island].
The New Zealand Alpine Club established the challenge in 1991 as part of its centennial celebrations that aimed to get mountaineers of all levels out climbing.
On February 21, 2021, Don French stepped upon the summit of Mt Unicorn [2560 metres] on the Strauchon Glacier on the west coast of the South Island, putting to bed a task he started in 1991.
"There is quite a bit of pride in [achieving this] as I remember at the end of [1991] I was looking at the list and I thought I'd make it a lifetime objective to try and climb the whole 100," French said.
"It probably won't sink in for some time, and it's possibly going to be another 10 years before the next person does it."
Masterton mountaineer Don French. Photo / Wairarapa Times-Age
The 62-year-old, whose first mountain conquered was Mt Egmont in 1976, admitted he got a bit of a head start on the challenge, having already conquered 30 of the listed peaks before he set out to conquer the remaining 70.
"I already had 30 runs on the board at that stage," French said.
Out of the 100, French said he did 14 peaks solo, while with the rest, he had a range of companions accompanying him.
The base camp on the Strauchon terraces. Photo / Supplied
French – who has also participated in four Himalayan expeditions and is one of only a handful of people who have conquered all peaks in the country over 3000m – said the most difficult of the 100 he climbed was Jagged Peak in the Arrowsmith Range.
It is arguably one of the most challenging alpine ice routes in the country.
He said it was a long, steep and committing winter climb, which took 23 hours.
French, who is also an active member of the Wairarapa Search and Rescue team, said he had been reasonably lucky throughout his climbing career, suffering few injuries in his time.
Asked if he ever felt like giving up at any point, French said it rarely crossed his mind as he was content with what he had set out to achieve in mountain climbing.
Mountaineers arrange gear for the first pitch. Photo / Supplied
"I did contemplate, with about two or three peaks near the end [of the challenge], that I don't need to let this get on top of me or control me," he said.
"I could stop now and still have said I've achieved what I wanted to achieve, which is to get up a lot of mountains.
"Participation in the sport is what drove me to do this in the first place. Every mountain is a lot of fun and an adventure spending a lot of time with good climbing companions."
Despite having achieved the challenge, French had no desire to hang up his mountain boots yet.
The peak of Mt Unicorn. Photo / Supplied
It's all about exploration," he said.
"What motivates me to climb is that thing of finding what's around the corner. I do wonder sometimes with my years, 'can I still do it?'
"But once you get to the top of a mountain, you look out and can see hundreds or thousands of other mountains, and then I start to think, 'I wonder if I should climb that, that looks interesting'.
"I have noticed the mountains have got a bit steeper and a bit higher, though," French said.
French's 100th climb was well documented by a film crew from television show NZ Hunter Adventures, who climbed with him up Mt Unicorn.
