A decade on from losing his leg during a volcanic eruption, William Pike is hoping to summit a mountain in Antarctica.
The 32-year-old, alongside three other young people, was selected by the Antarctic Heritage Trust from more than 100 applicants for its Inspiring Explorers' Expedition to Antarctica.
When Mt Ruapehu erupted in 2007, it spewed mud and boulders onto Dome Shelter where Mr Pike was sleeping.
His legs were crushed, one so badly it needed to be amputated.
Mr Pike vividly recalls the night that altered the course of his life.
"My good mate James was beside me, snoring like a chainsaw. In the other ear I heard this rumble outside," he says.
He sat up and listened carefully.
"All of a sudden the door of the shelter blew open with tremendous force, ripping it off its hinges."
He shuffled across the floor, grabbed the door frame and looked outside to see Mt Ruapehu erupting.
"It was a full moon, a beautiful night and 1.5 million cubic metres of rocks and mud moving through the sky."
That debris rained down on the Dome Shelter.
"There were rocks the size of basketballs and bigger, snow, bits of door frame, it was full on."
He says water was gushing into the hut and he became pinned and submerged.
"I thought I was going to drown on top of a mountain and who drowns on top of a mountain?"
Luckily the water escaped through the floor boards and amazingly, Mr Pike's friend James Christie was uninjured and able to stabilise him before he ran for help.
He alerted a Snow Cat driver who raised the alarm with Search and Rescue.
Lying in his hospital bed, Mr Pike realised he had two choices.
"You can curl up in a ball and feel sorry for yourself or you can set yourself some goals and get on with it."
Since then he's started the William Pike Challenge Award, a youth development programme for Year 7 to 9 students across New Zealand.
He also became an inspirational speaker and got married to wife Bex, who is expecting their first child in May.
Mr Pike says climbing with a prosthetic leg is hard and uncomfortable, but he loves mountaineering enough to grin and bear it.
"Going over rough terrain is tough for me, the [prosthetic] ankle doesn't accommodate the different angles so I'm really having to place my foot carefully."
But the ever-optimistic Mr Pike sees the upsides.
"I'm able to go uphill all day long, definitely get no calf burn in the right leg. Right foot doesn't get cold."
Royal New Zealand Airforce officer Sylvie Admore, film maker Simon Lucas, Newshub reporter Isobel Ewing and Mr Pike will voyage from South America to the Antarctic Peninsula, where they'll attempt an ascent of Mt Scott, an 880m peak named for famous explorer Robert Falcon Scott.
The expedition aims to encourage the spirit of exploration by continuing the legacy of the early Antarctic explorers.
The expedition members, alongside Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson and two professional guides, depart for South America on February 13, before boarding a ship to Antarctica.
The Antarctic Heritage Trust was formed in 1987 with the purpose of conserving the historic huts and sites in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica.
It's just raised $960,000 to restore Hillary's Hut, the first building constructed at Scott Base and the base for Sir Ed's famous expedition to the South Pole by tractor in the 1950s.
Newshub.
