First Light Guiding

Excellent experience in Mt Aspiring National Park with Gavin
Feb 23rd, 2020

My primary goal was to summit Mt Aspiring but I came away with so much more. Not only is Gavin Lang an exceptional mountain guide but he's a skilled life coach. I'm now on a new pathway and its feels great. Gavin is great company, and cooks amazing meals. The best indicator for the strength of this recommendation is that I am already booked in for my next course with Gavin.
Feb 24th, 2019

As a landscape photographer based in Sydney Australia, I started to explore New Zealand's high mountains 5 years ago. Over the years, I have been to several mountain regions of the South Island, including Tasman Glacier, Fox Glacier, and Darran Mountains. In this April 2018, I had explored Mount Aspiring - one of the most elegant mountains in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, with the guide Gavin Lang from First Light Guiding. It was a great experience with Gavin to have this mountain trip. In our 6 days expedition, Gavin made wise decisions to make me stay in safe and very enjoyable as well. During this trip, based on the weather broadcasting, we could have a window on Wed to summit My Aspiring, but due to the delay of a storm, we had to wait in Colin Todd Hut on that day. Then we got the weather update saying that Thursday morning would be clear, so we decided to climb to Sheep Owner Ridge - a 200 m vertical high above Colin Todd Hut, to take sunrise photographs. We started our climb at 5am towards Sheep Owner Ridge. But on the half way of our climb, Gavin observed that there were some snow flakes in the dark sky. Gavin sensed that a storm was coming towards us, and made a decision to turn back to the Hut as soon as possible. So we started to go down. By the time the storm reached us, we already got into the hut safely. I learned many concepts of techniques of mountaineering from Gavin, and look forward to have another mountain trip with him in December 2018 again.
Jan 17th, 2019

I had the pleasure of doing a 5 day expedition with Gavin in April 2018. His communication and organisation were excellent right from the very start. During the trip, the fresh food was amazing and Gavins level of expertise in all areas was clear to see. I would have no hesitation in going on another expedition with Gavin in the future and highly recommend him to others, regardless of your level of mountaineering experience! Thanks again Gav!
Jun 9th, 2018

My adventure and self mastery time with First Light Guiding was a great way to 'stop' check in on things.. By being at the Plateau hut on Mt Cook where most climbers prepare and make there final ascent to submit Mt Cook was awe inspiring and quite humbling experience when you consider what nature as to offer and its immense forces that can change so quickly. The alpine guiding was undertaken very professionally and you can rest assured in the company of Gavin Lang that you are in very good and very experienced hands. Add in time to 'stop' with guided inner reflection and some profound realisations will come forth. Put these two aspects together and you have a fantastic course to grow and develop.
May 7th, 2018