I always dreamt of climbing mountains while growing up. Into Thin Air was my favorite book growing up and I poured over photos and stories in the pages of National Geographic of these adventurous climbers summiting iconic peaks around the world. I wanted to be like them.

Much of my life has been spent in the mountains; skiing in the winter, hiking and camping in the summers. However, I mainly admired the peaks from below, rather than attempting to reach the top of them–those that required technical gear and experience at least. It wasn’t until I began to feel the need to challenge myself more that I decided to take up mountaineering.

The Remarkables Range, just over half an hour from Queenstown, offers some of the most accessible climbing and mountaineering in New Zealand. This makes it an ideal location for beginner climbers to get their ‘feet wet’ in mountaineering and be able to bag a couple impressive peaks, all while making it home in time for dinner and après.

Our plan was to climb and ski Single Cone, the highest peak in the Remarkables, dominating the skyline over Lake Alta and the ski resort below. For my partners and I, this would be the first of several ski mountaineering missions in an effort to eventually summit and ski the iconic Mt. Aspiring at the end of the season. Considering this was my first time using an ice axe and crampons, I would need a few more of these ‘warm-ups’ before that attempt happened.

Luckily, I had two experienced and trustworthy partners, both of whom I met in Queenstown while working at a local ski shop over the winter. Kaz is an early-30’s and unbelievably fit Japanese fellow who moved to New Zealand over five years ago. He spends his winters ski instructing in Queenstown and his summers guiding multi-day hikes on the famous Milford and Routeburn Tracks. Julen is a Spaniard just a couple years younger than me and my main ski touring partner of the season. He is one of those who enjoys the uphill even more than the downhill. In recent years I’ve come to enjoy the uphill more (or rather, hate it less), but skiing for me is still about about the deep turns and high-speed descents. But who knows, maybe this whole climbing mountains thing will give me new perspective.

We could not have picked a better day to summit. The morning started out a touch overcast, but by the time we left the ski area and put skins on, only a few lingering clouds remained in an otherwise clear sky. The route was straight forward, skinning from the top of the chairlift and then ascending up the southwest ridge of Single Cone. Crampons were not needed until just below the summit, where a short, but steep and VERY exposed, section was our only obstacle before reaching the top. Luckily, the snow was in perfect condition for climbing-soft enough to punch through with crampons, but firm enough to feel stable. I tried not to think about the fact that I had 3000 feet of vertical drop between me and the ground below, with no rope to catch me if I did slip.

However, the exposed section was short and not too technical and it wasn’t long before we were taking in the views from the top, looking across at Double Cone and the other Remarkables peaks, and down to Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown below. Two ski patrollers were also at the summit–with mono-skis on their packs–who were planning to summit and drop into the Grand Couloir on the other side during their lunch break (crazy cats).

We descended the same way we came up and had a cruisy ski down to the bottom as the morning breakable crust had softened up into a fast and carve-able cream cheese. By the end of the day, I was wrecked but felt much more confident in my mountaineering skills and ready for the next mission.