For many years Dave Vass was one of New Zealand's leading mountaineers, known for putting up new routes on many of New Zealand's most difficult mountains. During this period he also established and ran one of New Zealand's first canyoning businesses in the foothills of the Southern Alps near Wanaka. In 2015 he broke his neck while walking out from a climbing trip in Fiordland and has been living in a wheelchair since. He has recently completed a Master of Creative Arts at the International Institute of Modern Letters in Wellington.