Mark Sedon

LAKE HAWEA, NEW ZEALAND

Mark Sedon is a New Zealand mountain guide, author, filmmaker, and one of the most widely travelled ski guides of his generation. These days he’s easing into part-time retirement, spending much of his time sailing his yacht around the South Pacific — though he still guides selected trips to Antarctica. Over more than 25 years he has led high-end ski and snowboard expeditions to Antarctica, the Himalaya, Greenland, India, and dozens of remote corners of the globe — trips built around small groups, off-the-beaten-track terrain, and exceptional snow, without sacrificing comfort or safety along the way.

Mark holds the IFMGA certification, the highest level of guiding qualification recognized internationally, and has spent his career split between heli-skiing, backcountry touring, and full-scale expedition leadership. He has served as senior lead guide for Harris Mountains Heli-Ski in Wanaka, guided ski touring for Bill’s Trips in Kashmir, led heli-skiing operations for EYOS and Ice Axe Expeditions in Antarctica, and worked 17 years as an expedition leader and guide for Adventure Consultants across the Himalaya and beyond. He is also an examiner for the NZ Mountain Guides Association and one of only a handful of guides to have done exploratory heli-skiing in both Antarctica and the Himalaya.

Beyond guiding, Mark’s adventures have shaped a parallel career as a storyteller. He founded and directs the NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival, the country’s leading celebration of adventure sport and lifestyle, and has documented his own expeditions as a photographer, filmmaker, and writer. His memoir, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, recounts a string of near-misses that reads more like fiction than autobiography — a fatal helicopter crash, summiting Everest, kite-skiing across Antarctica, a fall into a deep crevasse, being trapped in a Papuan mine, and a broken mast in the Southern Ocean. He is also a sought-after guest and motivational speaker, drawing on those experiences for audiences and conferences worldwide.

When he’s not guiding or sailing, Mark lives in Lake Hawea, near Wanaka, where he spends his downtime kitesurfing, biking, and continuing to document the adventurous life through photography and film.

Accomplishments

• First person to climb and ski all 18 peaks over 2,500m in the Queenstown Lakes District, documented in his self-produced film Kora Ma (White Gold)
• Summited Mount Everest and led more than 20 Himalayan ski and climbing expeditions
• Completed the Seven Summits — the highest peak on every continent
• 18 ski and climbing expeditions to Antarctica, including camera work for Leo Houlding’s Spectre Expedition, a 55-day, 2,000km kite-ski and climb across the Transantarctic Mountains
• Author and photographer for Classic Rock Climbing in NZ; co-writer of Adventure Consultants’ A Climber’s Guide
• Over 20 first ascents on rock and ice across New Zealand and Antarctica
• Finalist, New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year, for his Antarctic photo essay on the Spectre Expedition
• Roughly 40 full winters spent on skis, guiding across Europe, Scandinavia, Greenland, Alaska, North & South America and NZ. 

Send me an email if you have any questions….