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Off the Beaten Track

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The view east at sunrise from about 1750m. Photo: Peter Laurenson

The crusty couloir

Features, Wild Climbing

Peter Laurenson

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Peter Laurenson

A tramper, occasional climber, photographer, editor and writer, Peter has been adventuring for more than 30 years.

Peter Laurenson

By Peter Laurenson

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July 2022

Peter Laurenson

View more by author

Peter Laurenson

A tramper, occasional climber, photographer, editor and writer, Peter has been adventuring for more than 30 years.

Peter Laurenson

By Peter Laurenson

For trampers wishing to up their winter game and stand on a 2000m summit, Mt Cupola is an ideal peak to flex your crampons on.

For trampers wishing to climb higher into mountaineering terrain, the peaks of Nelson Lakes National Park that exceed 2000m are a good place to start. All offer grade 1 routes that, in good conditions, provide ideal ‘transition ground’ from tramping to mountaineering. One of the park’s two-thousanders is Mt Cupola (2260m), which can be quickly […]

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July 2022

Peter Laurenson

About the author

Peter Laurenson

Peter is a tramper, occasional climber, photographer, editor and writer. His adventures, spanning 30+ years, come together on his website ‘OccasionalClimber’. Richmond-based, Peter is editor of FMC’s Backcountry and has published three books: Occasional Climber (2013) and Khumbu (2021) and Aotearoa Light (2025).

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