Mt Taranaki at 2518m is located in the province of Taranaki in the North Island of New Zealand.  At 2518m it is the first mountain I ever climbed at age 14, way back before digital camera’s were around.  I cannot even remember who took this photo but it has survived the years!

I don’t remember much of the climb except for a few vivid points.  I got food poisoning from the packed lunch we got from the school, we got stuck on an exposed icy patch trying to get over into the crater and had to wait for a climber to come and cut some steps, this scared the hell out of me, and finally at the end of the day I was knackered and thought to myself – why would anyone want to do this for fun?

Standing on the summit of Mt Taranaki, age 14 with the New Plymouth Boys High School boarders. I am in gray bottom right side of photo.