John McGlashan College student Adam Ludgate, 16, was award $1000 by the Federated Mountain Clubs Youth Expedition Scholarship programme to organise a tramp off the beaten track into the Olivine Wilderness area of Mt Aspiring National Park last month.
Adam covered the demanding five passes route with his classmate, Roam Penwarden, and their fathers, Mathew Ludgate and Brendan Penwarden, which included navigating through about 100km of rugged alpine terrain and climbing nearly 3000m.
Adam said it was pretty cool to go into an untouched part of the country.
"We were really one of the first parties that had been there pretty much all summer. We saw no footprints or anything."
It took a little bit of adjustment to sleep in a tent but once the group got into their rhythm it was surreal being among the mountains.
"You see Mt Tūtoko, the tallest one in Fiordland, off in the distance when it's beautiful weather and it's almost humbling in a way being out in the wilderness."
The trip got a little dicey when a bad weather system from the north forced the group to cut their tramp short.
They had to change route and climb down Fiery Col using ice axes.
"It was a bit more than I’d initially signed up for," Adam said.
It was his first time in proper snow and he was only in his trail runners and found out the hard way they did not go well with crampons.
Adam was planning on reporting back to his peers about his experience at assembly and writing an article for Backcountry magazine.
People often got sucked into going overseas to experience something cool and unique but there were adventures waiting to happen in New Zealand, he said.
Adam knew about the Olivine Wilderness because his father went tramping there about 20 years ago and he decided to put an expedition plan together for his group to explore it.
He had to include his itinerary and a risk management plan to get accepted for the scholarship.
