20 Oct 2025
Jon Hind’s career began at Mott MacDonald in the United Kingdom where he started as a roading design engineer focused on modelling. He spent 24 years working for the company on roads and highway engineering, progressing to leadership and project management. Jon then took a secondment in New Zealand, intending to stay for two years, but: “Twenty years later, here I am.”
John has seen Aurecon’s transport team grow from 12 people to more than 250 and he’s enjoyed working on projects including the Waterview Connection and Western Ring Route, Southern and Northern Corridor improvements and SH1 Papakura to Drury. If you’re looking for Jon outside of work, look up!
When and how did you first get involved with mountaineering?
My first taste of mountaineering was in 1999 on the Three Peaks Challenge, which involves climbing the three highest peaks in England (Scafell Pike), Wales (Snowdon), and Scotland (Ben Nevis) within 24 hours. My team and I did it in around 22 hours and then I got the bug.
What is your current involvement with climbing?
I have been fortunate to travel all over the world and climb – to Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Alaska, Europe, East Africa, Northwest India, Nepal, Russia, Mongolia and New Zealand and continue to do so. This year I will attempt the third-highest peak in North America. I have climbed Kilimanjaro (5,895m), Mont Blanc (4,808m), with overall four peaks over 6,000m, nine over 5,000m and 22 over 4,000m. I’m also attempting to complete the Munros in Scotland which are 282 mountains over 3,000 feet. I started when I lived in the UK and I currently have 90 to go, but it’s challenging when I live so far away. I also climb a lot in New Zealand.
How do New Zealand’s mountains differ from those elsewhere?
They offer much tougher climbs than most I have done overseas due to weather conditions and remoteness.
What achievement with climbing makes you most proud?
A trip to Bolivia where we aimed to climb four tall mountains up to 6,500m and we managed to scale all four. Often, that doesn’t happen as the weather turns, or altitude sickness or fatigue set in. (Illimani at 6,500m also happens to be my highest peak.)
Photo: Supplied
What is one climbing experience you’d rather forget?
A really tough climb on Malte Brun in the South Island, which is about 3,200m high and considered one of the more technically challenging in New Zealand. It was a four-day trip up the Tasman Glacier, right across the valley from Mt Cook. On our second day we headed for the summit – a beautiful, crisp, cold blue-sky February day up high; the snow was perfect, and the crampons were biting just right. Halfway up the steep glacier there were a lot of crevasses – some 15m wide and very deep. Suddenly the weather just turned with cloud rolling in and the temperature rising quickly. Then there was a rockfall followed by a wet snow avalanche right on top of us, with a yawning crevasse right below. After we got through that, we figured it was time to call it a day on that particular climb.
How do you handle fear when climbing – any tips for readers?
I approach climbing in a very calculated way: I put in a lot of planning and assess risk – much like I do at work. While there are obvious risks on a mountain that you can’t do much about, you can reduce the chances of those objective dangers through good planning and picking the best conditions to climb in, not pushing on if things turn bad.
What do you enjoy most about mountaineering?
I think it’s the challenge – when you are out there, part of you is wondering why you’re doing it, but the memories stay with you much longer and more vividly than other trips.
Tell us something about mountaineering that might surprise people.
Many mountaineers aren’t that keen on heights, including me!
Is interest in climbing growing or dwindling in New Zealand?
I still have a lot of connections with the Alpine Club in New Zealand, and I think they would say it’s a challenge to maintain and grow the membership as interest is dwindling a little. Maybe that’s because, from the outside-in, it doesn’t look particularly appealing, and there are so many other things to appeal to young people now. Things that are less hard grind, more instant gratification, maybe.
What’s next for you?
I’m travelling to Mexico in October, where I plan to climb the third-highest mountain in North America, Pico de Orizaba, which is 5,636m.
This article was first published in the September 2025 issue of EG magazine.
