The Quiet Summiteer

Nathan Longhurst is a pilot, trail runner, and mountaineer with a full range of alpinism skills. Tracking him down is hard enough when he’s always on some kind of adventure, but added to the fact that he doesn’t care about posting/sharing his trips made it even harder.

I spotted a rumour on Instagram about his New Zealand project though another contact. I tracked him down and arranged a remote interview with a 13-hour timezone difference.

This piece follows Nathan’s successful attempt to hike and fly every peak of the New Zealand Alpine Club’s 100 Greatest Peaks list. It took Nathan 3 months. The only other person to complete the list took 30 years and I interviewed him also for his reaction.

It took a couple of months for me to find sources, arrange interviews, uncover stories within the story (like a helicopter re-supply and lost charging cable) and complete the feature.

The piece was published in US-based, USHPA Pilot magazine across 7 pages. I also had a news piece published in Cross Country Magazine.