While the world was still asleep, my love and I had already climbed a mountain.
While New Zealand was pouring it’s first cup of coffee, we were drinking a bottle of red at the summit with a pair of new friends.

Roy’s Peak: check!

Climb highlights: hiking beneath the Milky Way & Co. Listening to Eric speak Spanish to the sheep in our path. (I preferred to address them as criminals when my torch beam caught their eye. Preferred term: perp.) Witnessing the sky shift, morning light creeping in behind the city below. Daybreak. Meeting a Czech guy and a Minnesota gal at the tippy top, bonding over the views, cheap wine, and an hour of story time. Reveling in the endorphins high, giggling, dancing, and running on the way back down.

Climb lows: let the record show that I do not, shall not, list our 3:30AM wakeup call! I was excited! The record must, however, document the minefield of fecal debris we treacherously navigated in the dark, going up. Frost was another buzz kill. Attempting to depress the camera shutter, stiff and exposed fingers fighting the motion. Violently shivering on the peak, despite snuggling up in generously offered sleeping bags. My thighs protesting the 1,500 vertical meters back to the van. Basic bitches that don’t say hi back to me on the trail.

All things considered: win! And we’re sketching out our next climb for tomorrow already.

KILLIN’ IT!

-K

^ Canoodling the afternoon before in one of the iconic picnic shelters on Lake Wanaka.

^ I won’t lie. We only pulled out the camp chairs for a photo. We prefer to pop every window when we want air + ambiance.

^ Hike morning! It was so dark when we began, we couldn’t see a single thing.

^ We did see a tad more, however, when I took the lens cap off. I promise I’m a professional.

^ Wanaka glittering below.

^One of my favorite shots so far from this whole trip.

^Blowing hot air upon my frozen fingers.
^The view from the other side of the mountain: Mt. Aspiring National Park

^ The final stretch to the summit. Notice the patches of frost that decorate the ground.

^ Hooraaaaay! Cheers to our Czech friend who jumped in as button pusher after watching our failed attempts at a 10 second timer.

^When I said a bottle of red, I meant a water bottle. Cheap wine to keep us warm.