Cooking up a ridgeline feast

Aoraki/Mt Cook stood proud and formidable, like a giant shard of glass. It looked menacing, hard, but there was something mesmerising about it. It was beautiful.

The wispy mist clung to the grass, to the tin hut, to the grooves of the mountains that towered around us. It gently floated as the rising sun seared holes through it. I was confident the sun would succeed. It had to. Because today was an important day. Stag Saddle, in the Two Thumb Range, beckoned, followed by a ridgeline rumoured to have sublime views across Lake Tekapo. Today I would get my first glimpse of Aoraki/Mt Cook.

But, it was cold. Gloves and leggings cold – colder than it should be for a morning in late February. But then,