Fire and Ice

‘Diligently researched, excellently presented’ — Tony Orman, Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of NZ

‘Aotearoa’s answer to Bill Bryson’ — David Slack, More Than a Feilding

‘A damned good looking book, destined to be among the year’s best, appealing to trampers, mountaineers, climbers, ski-ers, Tongaririo crossers, local iwi and other citizens of the plateau, and really anyone who appreciates an intelligently told natural history’ — Steve Braunias, ReadingRoom 

‘Absolutely riveting stories’ — The Spinoff

‘Local secrets and mysteries revealed’ — Ruapehu Bulletin

‘Compelling’ — Claire Williamson, NZ Listener

Hazel Phillips is the author of four books: Fire & Ice (2025); Solo: Backcountry adventuring in Aotearoa New Zealand (2022); Wild Westie (2014), a biography of Sir Bob Harvey; and Sell! (2013), a history of the advertising industry. Her previous book Solo was shortlisted in the New Zealand Mountain, Film & Book Festival book awards (2022) for mountain and adventure narratives and was a New Zealand non-fiction bestseller. Hazel has a background in newspaper and magazine journalism, and her writing has been published in media and journals across New Zealand and Australia. She published an essay in the book Otherhood (2024) and contributed to the global publication Atlas of Mountaineering (2025), edited by Conrad Anker and Katie Ives. Hazel holds a Masters in Creative Writing with first-class honours and an MA in media studies. She is currently working on her next book, about early women climbers and adventurers of Aoraki Mount Cook.