Shaun Barnett (1969-2024) tramped extensively throughout New Zealand over the past 35 years and visited over 1000 backcountry huts. With a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology, and a Post-graduate Diploma in Parks, Recreation and Tourism, Shaun was been a full-time writer and photographer for 30 years, and authored a number of best-selling books, including Classic Tramping in New Zealand, Natural New Zealand, North Island Weekend Tramps, Tramping in New Zealand, Day Walks in New Zealand, Tramping: A New Zealand History, and Leading the Way: 100 Years of the Tararua Tramping Club, the latter two coauthored with Chris Maclean.
Rob Brown has been tramping and climbing throughout New Zealand for over 35 years. After gaining a Technology Degree from Massey University, he worked in the outdoor equipment and publishing industries, before becoming a full-time landscape photographer and writer. He is the author of a number of acclaimed books, including Classic Tramping in New Zealand (co-authored with Shaun Barnett), which won a Montana Book Awards, Rakiura: The Wilderness of Stewart Island, and New Zealand: The Essential Landscape. In recent years he has been the manager of the Backcountry Trust, which co-ordinates the renovation and rebuilding of huts throughout New Zealand.
Geoff Spearpoint began tramping in the Tararua Ranges when he was 15 and has followed a passion for transalpine tramping and climbing ever since. Initially trained in microbiology, he later worked for Mount Aspiring National Park and spent many years in prepress in the print industry. He wrote Waking to the Hills in 1986, and has edited a number of editions of Moirs Guide North (a tramping guide to the area between Mt Cook and the Hollyford), and with co-author Yvonne Cook, wrote The Canterbury Westland Alps, a climbing and transalpine guide. In 2019 his acclaimed collection of writing and photography, The Great Unknown: Mountain Journeys in the Southern Alps was published.