500th climb a peak for this 71-year-old

One climber's plans for the weekend include scaling Mt Taranaki – for the 500th time.

Derek Andrews, 71, from New Plymouth, knows he's not the oldest, fastest or even the most frequent climber of the mountain, but he's well up there.

In the last 10 years Mr Andrews has hiked to the summit more than 400 times.

"When my wife died she left about 24 pages of notes and one thing she said was `I wonder how many times he'll climb the summit?' I'd already climbed it about 70 times by then," he said.

The pinnacle of his climbing career was in 2008, when he reached the summit of the 2518-metre mountain 70 times in 119 days.

"Now I can do about three in a row, but when you get to this age there's a limit to what you can do," he said.

He first climbed Mt Taranaki as a 15-year-old in 1956. He went up again the following two years, but then didn't return until he turned 30 and joined the New Plymouth Tramping Club, of which he is the treasurer.

"I've got all the newsletters since they started, and all the names of everyone who was ever been in the club," he said.

He recalled taking his "bitzer" dog Whiskey up to the summit in the early 1980s. "He'd been up the top of all the peaks – Paritutu, the Pouakais and the Kaitakis – so all that was left was the summit.

"I snuck home while my wife was at work one day and took him up. He was great, even posed for a photo. When she got home that night she wondered why Whiskey was so tired, but only realised why when we got the film developed later on."

Mr Andrews, who only heads up the mountain in summer, has already climbed to the summit nine times this year, but was a little concerned the weather might hinder his climb today.

Also planning to go up Mt Taranaki today, weather permitting, is the Taranaki Alpine Club with its Open Climb 2012.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Newest First

Oldest First