THE MOOSE FUND

Financially obliterated. Spiritually rich.

Requires assistance locating a large, emotionally unavailable moose.

An Ironman athlete, recently bankrupted by his own achievements...

What will the money be spent on?

Flights, accommodation, food, and field equipment for a nine-person circuit of Gillespie Pass beginning 2 April 2026. The moose situation will be assessed on arrival.

On the 7th of March I completed an Ironman triathlon, which involves swimming 3.8 kilometres, cycling 180, and then running a full marathon, back to back, until you either finish or your body files a formal complaint. I finished. I am an Ironman. I am also, as a direct consequence of the entry fees, travel, equipment, nutritional supplements, and various other costs that seemed entirely reasonable at the time, completely out of money.

This is where you come in.

On the 2nd of April, a group of nine of us will attempt the Gillespie Pass Circuit in Mount Aspiring National Park: 54 kilometres of backcountry terrain through the Young Valley, over the pass at 1,629 metres, down through the Siberia Valley, and out via the Wilkin River, with a side trip to Crucible Lake, which sits in a glacial basin under Mt Alba and is described by people who have seen it as genuinely jaw-dropping. We intend to do this in a single day, which the Department of Conservation's suggested timeframe of three to four days suggests may be ambitious. We are not deterred.

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The official purpose of the expedition is moose reconnaissance.

In 1910, ten Saskatchewan moose were released at Supper Cove in Dusky Sound. They settled in. They were photographed on a sandbar in the Seaforth River in 1929. The last confirmed photograph of any of them, a cow browsing in Herrick Creek, was taken in 1952 by a man named Robin Francis-Smith. Since then, a biologist named Ken Tustin has spent the better part of thirty years placing remote cameras throughout the region and has produced, in that time, a collection of shed antlers, promising footprints, and two DNA-confirmed hair samples, which is either compelling evidence or the most expensive way imaginable to find out nothing. In 2025, independent sightings were reported on the Kepler Track by separate parties within weeks of each other. The moose, in other words, is probably out there. The Department of Conservation believes it is probably not. We are going anyway.

The group when asked about fitness requirements for a 54-kilometre backcountry traverse with 2,900 metres of elevation gain, replied that there were none, only 'a requirement to meekly accept suffering.' He said this directly to a man who had asked whether he should bail on fitness grounds. That man said 'totally' and is still coming.

Another member will be arriving with two headlamps producing a combined output of 1,000 lumens, which he considers sufficient but not excessive. He believes this is a reasonable lighting strategy.

He has also indicated that if this proves inadequate he will simply escalate to three headlamps. The headlamp standard was set after it was suggested the test was whether your lamp could wake the Gore mayor through his window from outside. A third member operates a rubber duck drop-shipping business that did well during Covid and has proposed his company sponsor the expedition. This negotiation is ongoing. A fourth, when asked about the logistics of the jetboat crossing, noted that a recent crash on the Makarora River gave him pause, then clarified his position: 'I'm running or I'll swim.' This is not a joke. He is an Ironman as well, which among this group is apparently less a title than a personality type.

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Another man appears to be approaching the day with a strategy best described as cheerful surrender. Presented with the distance, the elevation, the pass, the river crossings, and the fact that most normal people take several days to do this route, he has continued to respond ‘totally’ in a tone suggesting that agreement itself may count as preparation. It probably doesn’t, but morale-wise it is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

One member may not attend. He cited 'political issues.' We wish him well.

A serious proposal has been made to carry inflatable rubber ducks into the alpine environment and release them into Crucible Lake. Based on average duck mass, it has been concluded that each person will only need to carry approximately one kilogram of rubber ducks. At this point there is a real possibility that the first documented evidence of surviving Fiordland moose will feature a bright yellow duck flotilla in the background.

Members have begun mentally preparing by visualising extreme glycogen depletion at night before bed.

One suggestion in the chat describes local mountains as “massive granite stones left by an ancient moose civilisation.”

No one has formally challenged this.

$1,500 gets the rest of us there. It covers flights, accommodation, food, gear, and transport into terrain that is, by any honest account, extraordinarily beautiful and not obviously designed for the kind of pace we are planning to move through it at. The Siberia Valley, I am told, looks absolutely gorgeous in the morning light, with wildflowers running to the Crucible Lake turnoff and braided blue rivers catching the sun the whole way. We will see approximately none of this because we will be running.

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If we find a moose, we will photograph it. If we do not find a moose, we will have covered 54 kilometres in a single day through one of the finest landscapes in the southern hemisphere, which is its own kind of thing.

Please donate. The moose has been out there since 1910. The least you can do is help us go and look.

What You Get

If we find a moose → photographic evidence of one of the strangest wildlife comebacks in history

If we don’t → 54 km in a day through elite-level wilderness with borderline questionable intent

Either way:

This is a good story & ship loads of fun.

Donate. Back chaos. Fund the hunt.