Kiwi Fruits Dine High

Five crazed Kiwi mountaineers and 'a sixth climber, whose identity was unknown' (!) have broken the world altitude record for a formal dinner party by tucking into a three-course slap-up meal on the summit of Aconcagua, South America's highest mountain.

Dressed in black tie, the group reportedly started with smoked mussels before moving onto a main course of lamb fettuccine and finishing off with a simple, but tasty desert of strawberries and ice cream.

Team leader Craig Crosse said: 'We are absolutely stoked to have achieved this climb. We had a few hitches along the way with team members being sick and we had to contend with rather cold and windy conditions, so it was an excellent effort by the whole team.'

Like the previous record holders - The Social Climbers - the team carried lightweight chairs and table to the summit at just under 7000 metres and had a window of just 30 minutes to enjoy their food - presumably before it froze in the sub-zero, high altitude conditions.

Technically this may be the highest dinner party ever, but inevitably the mountaineering establishment will be racked with debate over the relative technical merits of the two meals. Dining on Aconcagua is all very well, but technically relatively straightforward. Huascaran in Peru, the site of the previous highest formal nosh-up is around 300 meters lower, but a more serious proposition technically.

Here at OUTDOORSmagic, we reckon that it's a question of balancing the quality of the meal with the degree of climbing involved and here, we reckon, the New Zealanders have it over the previous record holders.

Finally, you have to wonder where the 'unknown climber' came from. Sharing a table in a restaurant is understandable, but at almost 7000 metres might be considered careless...

See the original story in the New Zealand Herald.

And here is where it all started - the original expedition post.