Wilderness readers are a fascinating bunch, and this column is where we get to meet you all.

‘Old critter’, as he calls himself – 85-year-old Pete Strang – says Wilderness is the magazine he most looks forward to reading as “increasingly, an armchair climber who can only dream of past exploits”.

Otago-born Strang has filled his decades with ski mountaineering, tramping and other outdoor pursuits. He has skied off the top of Mt Brewster, climbed the South Face of the low peak of Aoraki and the east face of La Perouse, and climbed Mt Herschel in Antarctica with Sir Edmund Hillary. That feat was a 27hr round trip in -40℃ temperatures. He’s a pioneer of New Zealand’s climbing scene.

“As a med student, my companions and I always felt that if we got more than a C in our exams, we had not done enough climbing,” he says – although he did go on to become an accomplished doctor.

Although he has tramped solo, Strang prefers to go with friends. “As a team you can discuss issues and support each other, and make some wonderful lifelong friendships out in the backcountry,” he says. 

One such friend is Wānaka mountain guide Geoff Wyatt, who frequently called Strang with a new mission in mind. “It often sounded way beyond me,” Strang says. “But next thing, I’d find myself climbing behind Geoff, wondering why we were also carrying skis on the steep slope.” He has often climbed with his sons, Jeremy and Tim, as well.

These adventures have inspired a lifetime of writing for Strang in the form of poetry. “The outdoors, climbing and tramping are a metaphor for life, really,” he says. “There are times of wonderful joy, but there are also times of suffering. But you learn to tackle life’s problems best in nature.”

– Do you know a subscriber worthy of being profiled – yourself, even? You don’t have to have climbed with Sir Ed – we want to meet you all. Email: editor@lifestylepublishing.co.nz