Wanaka, New Zealand
3 Turnbull Crescent
N/A
+64211633030
My primary goal was to summit Mt Aspiring but I came away with so much more. Not only is Gavin Lang an exceptional mountain guide but he's a skilled life coach. I'm now on a new pathway and its feels great. Gavin is great company, and cooks amazing meals. The best indicator for the strength of this recommendation is that I am already booked in for my next course with Gavin.
like
Excellent experience in Mt Aspiring National Park with Gavin
Just returned from a 7-day, 1:1 climbing trip with Gavin of First Light Guiding in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, NZ in Jan 2018. I've hired climbing guides in Europe, Africa, USA, and now NZ, and First Light Guiding was clearly the best client/guide experience I've ever had in the mountains. We flew in to Plateau Hut on 06 Jan, and hiked out down the valley on 11 Jan in persistent rain showers. We managed to summit Mt Cook via the Linda Glacier route on 07 Jan 2018 under a beautiful blue sky. On the other days the weather wasn't the best, so Gavin made good use of the time in the hut to go over crevasse rescue, avalanche safety, weather interpretation, and other useful mountaineering topics. If you're looking for great climbing experience in the mountains, First Light Guiding is the place for you. Gavin is a professional, personable guide who goes the extra mile to ensure you eat well, climb well, and have an all-around fun time in the mountains. If you appreciate climbing at the right pace for you, rather than the pace of the other people on your rope, then you cannot go wrong with a 1:1 trip with First Light Guiding. Other than the time on the mountain, which was terrific, one of the highlights was clearly the food. Gavin asked my preferences long in advance so he could be sure of satisfying any special dietary requirements I might have had. And when it came time to eat, he delivered! Every meal was delicious and nutritious. Already looking forward to returning to NZ so I can go climbing with First Light Guiding again next year.
My adventure and self mastery time with First Light Guiding was a great way to 'stop' check in on things.. By being at the Plateau hut on Mt Cook where most climbers prepare and make there final ascent to submit Mt Cook was awe inspiring and quite humbling experience when you consider what nature as to offer and its immense forces that can change so quickly. The alpine guiding was undertaken very professionally and you can rest assured in the company of Gavin Lang that you are in very good and very experienced hands. Add in time to 'stop' with guided inner reflection and some profound realisations will come forth. Put these two aspects together and you have a fantastic course to grow and develop.
A truly extraordinary experience in a truly unique environment. An adventure on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels! Gavin was a wonderful guide - remaining consistent, calm, encouraging, supportive and knowledgable which made surmounting my personal challenges on Mount Aspiring absolutely possible. So fantastic to be fuelled with real food for the journey too - so important to me, and makes such a difference when out in the mountains to have such nutrient dense fuel. Thank you Gavin! I can happily recommend your services for anyone wanting an incredible mountain experience!
As a landscape photographer based in Sydney Australia, I started to explore New Zealand's high mountains 5 years ago. Over the years, I have been to several mountain regions of the South Island, including Tasman Glacier, Fox Glacier, and Darran Mountains. In this April 2018, I had explored Mount Aspiring - one of the most elegant mountains in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, with the guide Gavin Lang from First Light Guiding. It was a great experience with Gavin to have this mountain trip. In our 6 days expedition, Gavin made wise decisions to make me stay in safe and very enjoyable as well. During this trip, based on the weather broadcasting, we could have a window on Wed to summit My Aspiring, but due to the delay of a storm, we had to wait in Colin Todd Hut on that day. Then we got the weather update saying that Thursday morning would be clear, so we decided to climb to Sheep Owner Ridge - a 200 m vertical high above Colin Todd Hut, to take sunrise photographs. We started our climb at 5am towards Sheep Owner Ridge. But on the half way of our climb, Gavin observed that there were some snow flakes in the dark sky. Gavin sensed that a storm was coming towards us, and made a decision to turn back to the Hut as soon as possible. So we started to go down. By the time the storm reached us, we already got into the hut safely. I learned many concepts of techniques of mountaineering from Gavin, and look forward to have another mountain trip with him in December 2018 again.
I had the pleasure of doing a 5 day expedition with Gavin in April 2018. His communication and organisation were excellent right from the very start. During the trip, the fresh food was amazing and Gavins level of expertise in all areas was clear to see. I would have no hesitation in going on another expedition with Gavin in the future and highly recommend him to others, regardless of your level of mountaineering experience! Thanks again Gav!
Deli
The best companies in the category 'Deli'