Everyone has their comfort level in the mountains. The key is knowing yourself well enough to recognize the risks you can tolerate and those you can’t. I prefer to climb with a partner—it’s safer and a hell of a lot more fun—but when I found myself alone in New Zealand, I did what I could. I climbed and calculated. Peak by peak, I gathered data—wind speeds, snow conditions, summit times—preparing for Mount Cook. I lost my camera trying to take a selfie on one of my solo ascents—it dropped into a crevasse—so I don’t have photos of this trip. Just my notes, the climbs, and the moments when everything else fell away.
