NZ Mountain Film Festival founder, IFMGA climbing and ski guide, author and guest speaker Mark Sedon shares the trips that have had the greatest impact on him.
Having spent most of his adult life working and playing in the world’s most remote mountains, oceans and wilderness regions, Mark lives for the outdoors. From climbing the ‘Seven Summits’ (the highest mountain on each continent) to exploring Aotearoa, he’s most at home when the road ahead is a little unknown. He lives in Hāwea with his wife Jo and continues to be heavily involved in the NZ Mountain Film Festival.
In 2019 I was invited on an expedition, with Leo Houlding and Jean Burgun, to kite ski from near the South Pole to possibly the most remote mountain in the world, The Spectre. We would climb it, then kite ski to the other side of Antarctica to get home. I almost turned the last-minute invitation down as I was 10 years older than the others and had recently broken my back in a helicopter crash. They had been training for five years and I had five weeks! They wanted me to film the expedition for them. I did go, however, and we spent 55 days dragging 180kg sleds for over 2000km in temperatures of -35℃. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, but I loved every minute of it, mostly because of the team, but also because the skills required were all things I’d learnt from a life of adventuring. Seeing that remote part of Antarctica, where almost no one had ever been, was indescribably special.
Climbing Mt Everest had been a dream since I was young and heard about Ed Hillary and Peter Blake’s adventures. I had been guiding the high mountains of Nepal twice a year for Adventure Consultants, so it was a gentle progression. We had a fantastic group of clients, and working with Guy Cotter was sensational. On summit day I was the junior guide, following behind to help the slower clients. At the South Summit Guy said, “Hey Mark, you want to lead from here?” “Hell yeah,” I replied, and led the group along the narrow arête to the Hillary Step. I climbed that (without pulling on the rope to see how difficult it was), snapping photos on my 35mm slide camera, then slowly edged along the snowy ridge to the summit. I was laughing one minute, crying the next. Summiting was a career highlight.
From my bed at home I can see Terrace Peak (2027m). It always glows red at sunset when covered in winter snow. After meeting the farmer in the early dark hours of a spring morning, we headed in and climbed through steep bush to gain a ridge, where we donned our skis. We summited around 6pm as the snow was turning a warm yellow, then stepped into our skis and dropped onto the west face, making the first ski descent of the mountain. We bivvied at the bottom and the next morning climbed back the way we’d skied and headed down again through the farm. I still look at the face, many years later, and fondly remember that day. It changed my perspective of the view from home and reminded me just how damn good New Zealand is to live in.
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