Mountain man leaving a legacy

Otago Daily Times

13 hours ago

Queenstowner Aaron Halstead's one of the lucky ones. He's managed to forge a hugely successful career from his hobbies, resulting in him receiving a King's Birthday Honour. He talks to Tracey Roxburgh about his journey so far.
While Queenstown's Aaron Halstead may have been personally singled out this week, he credits the teams he's worked with over the past 30-odd years for his success.
On Monday, Aaron, 53, was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year's King's Birthday Honours for his services to Search and Rescue and the tourism industry, something he's "immensely humbled" by.
He notes he's been "pretty lucky" throughout his varied career, which has traversed the military, mountain guiding, mountain rescue, working in the Antarctic, for Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service, as Study Queenstown's manager and, presently, as Southern Lakes Trails chair.
A lot of that 'luck', though, comes down to skill and hard yakka, though Aaron's also a believer in the law of attraction.
"No matter what you do in life, if you cast it out there I think things come your way."
Aaron grew up in Lake Tekapo because his hydrologist dad, a keen climber, who'd helped set up the Vanda Station in Antarctica's Dry Valley, did snow surveys, looking at snow melt and river flows around the Mackenzie Country.
He recalls a "monumental" two-day trip over the Copland Pass with his dad when he was 13, going from Mount Cook village to the West Coast, which catapulted him into climbing, something he further advanced at Otago University.
While he started studying psychology, "I never finished it", ultimately getting a degree in applied management instead, and going on to do a master's in social entrepreneurship.
He also decided to join the military while at uni — "it was a great way to earn extra income being in the reserves".
He's been "in and out" over the years, and is still technically a captain in the army, having had a couple of overseas deployments, including to the Pacific in 2022 with the Five Eyes.
In his second year at Otago, Aaron joined the cliff rescue team, in part, to get some professional training, "rather than me just bumbling about in the outdoors".
"It was probably like joining the fire service — there's an excitement to it, there's a camaraderie, there's a training element, there's a skill level upgrade.
"Then I kept going."
He quips he's accidentally turned his hobbies into a career, "and I love it".
His first intro to Queenstown was in 1999 when he was cast as a climbing double for American survival thriller Vertical Limit and was based here for a year.
"That just catapulted me — I worked with a bunch of professionals, other mountain guides, and then made a bunch of money — probably should have bought a house, but just went travelling.
"Some people are focused on finance and they make a lot of money in their lives.
"I've been focused on adventure."
For a long time, Aaron's year was split between ski patrolling for NZSki, guiding in Antarctica, mountaineering at Mount Cook and stints in the Himalayas.
"Not very conducive [for] a family or a relationship, to be fair, but very good to have that outdoor career adventure."
Wanting more of a commercial career, he heeded advice to get out of Queenstown for a bit and moved, with his now-wife, Megan, a doctor, to Melbourne for three years, where he worked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
The couple's daughter, Scarlett, who turns 10 this week, was born in Aussie, but the family returned to Queenstown where he took on the Study Queenstown gig.
Then, in 2019, he became a Southern Lakes Trails trustee, and was appointed chair in 2023, responsible for the governance of a new walking and biking trail network, which will link Queenstown to Dunedin.
It will, he believes, be a huge economic driver for the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago and open up massive business opportunities.
"We're building tourism infrastructure for this region.
"It's incredible being part of that, and I'm definitely keen to do more of that sort of thing."
In between, Aaron's set up his own business, exploreGO.
Established as "like a booking.com for adventure", it's morphed into looking after high-net-worth individuals wanting bespoke adventures.
Simultaneously, he's still hugely involved in a variety of alpine rescues.
"People think, 'alpine rescue team, you just go in and rescue climbers'.
"I've been to aircraft crashes ... cars off the road, cars down Nevis Bluff or off Arthurs Point, anywhere that's steep or inaccessible, it's not just climbers."
But technology's also making things "really interesting".
While it's been a saviour for people in the outdoors, who can now "push a button" when they need help, there are "a couple of downsides".
"People get into what they could probably get themselves out of, but go, 'oh, I'm a little bit cold, a little bit scared, I'll push [the] button'."
There's also an increase in rescues involving what Aaron dubs "the Instagram generation", where "the wow factor doesn't necessarily align with the skill factor".
"The technology has allowed everyone to see the wow photo, but not realise there's actually a lot of skill, experience and hard work [required] to get that."
While not every rescue effort has a happy ending, his continued involvement in Search and Rescue, and his many other passion projects, speaks to his ethos in life.
"I think if you can use your skills, experience, knowledge just to help people around you ... that's one of the great joys in life — giving back and being able to help somebody else.
"For me, it's about leaving a legacy for the community, for my daughter and for my friends."