Four female adventurers are undertaking a traverse of the Southern Alps, heading from Arthur’s Pass to Aoraki/Mt Cook.

They plan to start the 32-day trip on November 22 and to finish on Christmas Eve. The route will see the quartet head to the Garden of Eden and Garden of Allah ice plateaus and include numerous alpine crossings. They will upload their progress online with live GPS tracking.

The team, all in their late 20s, work in the outdoor industry. Tara Mulvany first summited Mt Aspiring/Tititea when she was 11 years old and went on to be the first woman to circumnavigate New Zealand by sea kayak in 2014. She was later part of an expedition which first circumnavigated the Svalbard archipelago, between Norway and the North Pole. Dulkara Martig, Ingrid Booiman and Anna Loomes work as instructors and guides in the mountains.

Martig said she was excited to embark on an all-woman trip.

“Even if you’re strong in the mountains, I find women shy away from making the bigger decisions when trekking with men, just because of natural leadership styles,” Martig said. “With women there is a softer dynamic. It’s less goal-orientated and less competitive, which creates a really supportive environment where fun is the focus.”