On her third attempt, she conquered three mountains wearing full firefighting gear.
Each time she summited in under three hours — a perfect result after months of training.
Miss Stables (22) first planned her bid to raise funds for the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust to take place on May 28.
But she postponed when she discovered she had to sit her commercial helicopter pilot’s licence flight test the same day — and yes, she passed.
She got Covid-19 just before her second attempt and postponed again.
After a trip to Canada and the United States to visit family, Miss Stables arrived back in Wanaka two weeks ago and set August 13 as her third and final chance before moving to Western Australia to start work as a junior pilot for a mustering company.
Miss Stables knocked off Mt Roy (1578m), Mt Isthmus (1386m) and Mt Iron (548m) in one day, supported every step by friends and firefighters.
"I am a bit sore now," she said yesterday.
"I didn’t sleep the night before. I was nervous, thinking I don’t want to go. I was terrified I wouldn’t do it."
Personal trainer Lucy Hunter picked her up before dawn on Saturday and drove her to Mt Roy.
Miss Stables found the breathing apparatus pack was quite tough on her shoulders going down.
"The BA has a heavy hip strap which took heaps of pressure off the shoulders going up, and it worked quite well. But coming down was a bit more painful," she said.
Once off Mt Roy, she headed to Mt Isthmus.
"I thought, ‘right, one more big one’ ... When I started Isthmus I thought, ‘oh no, I don’t know if I can do this’.
"It was also covered with snow and it was dry and compact compared to Roy. It took two hours 59 minutes. I was stoked to do that under three hours."
Up to 20 people joined the final push up Mt Iron.
"All the boys were there in fire trucks with sirens on. It was super cool, really cool. I didn’t think I was going to get that."
More surprises were in store as she neared the summit of Mt Iron.
Friends jumped out of bushes with party poppers and she was given a bottle of Champagne to spray over the crowd.
Ms Hunter also completed the 36.5km triple-peak trek with Miss Stables, but without the breathing apparatus, heavy boots and other firefighting gear.
"She was amazing," Ms Hunter said of her charge.
"She is exceptionally fit. Always up for a bit of an adventure, up for a challenge, absolutely does not back down ... I had to train myself. It was an absolute slog for me and an honour to do that alongside her."
Miss Stables raised about $5500 for the CatWalk charity. The online fundraising page is open for another week.
