Descending Bridge Peak to the main Tararua Range, looking north-east

A ladder in the wilderness

30th anniversary, Features, Off the Beaten Track

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Peter Laurenson

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

By Peter Laurenson

Peter Laurenson walks the Tararua Peaks circuit, probably the only the walk anywhere to feature a 70-rung steel ladder to negotiate the crux

To mark Wilderness magazine’s 30th anniversary, current and past editors and contributors scoured the archives for the 30 best trips we’ve published over the decades. This story, original published in March 2019, was included. You can find all 30 of the greatest Wilderness trips in the October 2021 issue. It must’ve been the deadening effect […]

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).