This website tracks Nathan Longhurst's attempt to climb the New Zealand 100 Peaks Challenge in a single climbing season.

Photos and videos from this project are available on Nathan's Instagram posts and story.

An article celebrating the first list completion describes the list like so:

The original list of 100 peaks was conceived by [...] the New Zealand Alpine Club [...] in 1991. After consulting with prominent climbers of the day, the list was put forward as a challenge and way of encouraging climbers to get out and attempt some summits off the beaten track. The list was designed to address the aspirations of climbers at all levels and genres. Hence there were relatively easy peaks, very hard and steep peaks, and a number of very remote peaks included.

Don French is the first and only finisher of the list, having done so some 30 years after it was first published. There are several articles about his historic achievement:

• • Don French Becomes The First Person To Complete The 100 Peaks Challenge, New Zealand Alpine Club
• • Masterton man the first in New Zealand to conquer the 100 peaks, New Zealand Herald
• • Business analyst Don French completes New Zealand Alpine Club's 100 Peaks Challenge, RNZ
• • NZAC Wellington Presentation, Don French

Download the original publication of the 100 Peaks Challenge here.

Basic information about the peaks is available on the Peaks page.

Nathan was no stranger to the outdoors as a child. He grew up skiing and running with his parents just outside his hometown of Spokane, Washington, USA. The town has what Longhurst describes as a “mellow outdoors scene,” and that the culture surrounding the outdoors there is not intimidating, making it feel more accessible. He was introduced to rock climbing in a gym in middle school and started running on the cross country team around the same time. He found enjoyment in running the trail system near the house where he grew up.

As Nathan matured as an athlete, he found a passion for long endurance efforts that combined climbing and running. He fell in love with mountaineering and speed-mountaineering, and began climbing mountains in a “fast and light” style. Longhurst gave college a try, but ultimately decided it wasn't for him and chose a nomadic lifestyle where he could follow the seasons in order to climb and ski in the best conditions.

In 2021, Nathan became the youngest person to complete the Bulger list, a list of the 100 tallest peaks of Washington State, by climbing them all in a 94-day timespan. He was also the second person to complete the list within a single season.

In 2022, Nathan became the first person to complete in a single season the 247 peaks of the SPS list in the Sierra Nevada of California. His and his partner's effort were chronicled on the SPS2022 website.

Two highlights of 2023 were his single-push solo of the Cassin Ridge on Denali and, in the fall of that year, his introduction to paragliding.

Nathan first visited New Zealand in March of 2024 and was immediately taken with the country's mountains. He climbed and flew off several peaks in the Southern Alps and Fiordland. His trip culminated in a bike-run-fly speed record on Mount Aspiring chronicled in the short film, "Aspiring to Fly."

We'd like to thank Cedar Wright's Dirtbag Fund for their generous support of this project.