Photo: Matteo Zanga
Simone Moro has been involved in some extraordinary missions over the years through his high-altitude mountaineering career, and as a helicopter pilot.
Growing up in Bergamo, Italy, he began climbing with his father in the nearby alps when he was just 13, igniting a passion which saw him first attempt Everest at age 25. He didn't reach the summit, though he has done four times since.
No other alpinist has completed four 'first ascents' during the winter season above 8000m.
In 2001, he was traversing the Everest-Lhotse peaks, when he stopped to rescue an English climber, enduring horrific conditions in darkness, on his own, with an extremely high risk of avalanche and without supplementary oxygen.
He was also the first European helicopter pilot qualified to fly in Nepal and has undertaken several rescue operations, including the highest long-line rescue at 7,800m on Everest in 2013.
And he's in Central Otago to speak at the New Zealand Mountain Film & Book Festival.
