Dan Bryant (left) was the first New Zealander to climb on Everest. That’s nearly 100 years ago, and today many alpinists have never heard of him.

Dan Bryant with Rod Syme was the first to climb the Syme Ridge of Mt Tasman, and the first with Lud Mahan (right) to climb the east ridge of Aoraki/Mt Cook, still a formidable task.

There are records of all sorts. But these hark back to a spell-binding time when snows and ridges and glaciers and plateaus were virgin territory. Dan Bryant was there. For some of us, he still is.

Read all about him, and his incredible commitment before he lost his life at 52, not to a mountain or an avalanche or a crevasse, but to a ridiculously simple motor car accident.