“The ‘Scorpion” is a well traveled and rewarding backcountry ski tour, taking in some gorgeous valleys, a fine alpine pass, and lovely some bowls. A deservedly popular backcountry ski loop. Where: The Cass River Valley lies on the western side of Lake Tekapo. Access is solely through Glenmore Station and booking ahead is necessary as…
Ohau Peak
Ohau peak offers an easy ski tour and ascent. The snow line fluctuates throughout the winter, so one could assume a fair amount of tramping or mountain biking will be required tog get to the snow line. View Larger Topographic Map Access via Quailburn track or Tarnbrae track.
Mt Peterson – Ohau backcountry ski tour & Maitland Hut
by Joel O’Rourke On Monday afternoon, Kenji and myself drove from Methven to Ohau, collecting Simon Trummer from Lake Tekapo on the way. Our objective was to camp at Maitland Hut for two nights and ski Mt Peterson behind Ohau. Unfortunately, the few weeks between taking the above photo and actually getting around to doing…
Mt Ngauruhoe – North Island NZ
Mt Ngauruhoe is a classic cone shaped volcano of near perfect symmetry. It sits in a spectacular position besides its cousins Ruapehu and Tongariro. In winter it tends to holds snow well and makes for a wonderful, single day, back country ski tour. The slopes tend to hold some beautiful corn snow later in to…
Ben Lomond- Queenstown – East face to One Mile Creek
In early season (July) during some winters a good covering of snow falls in the Queenstown basin. In order to get snow to such low levels a southerly front from deep in the southern ocean must sweep up the country. Southland will be the first to get hit with snow, falling to sea level, followed…
Mt Ross from the Macaulay River
by Jordan Tiernan http://jordantiernan.com Both me and Holly managed to get a good look at the south face of Mt Ross from the Roundhill access road and both instantly knew that we wanted to ski it. After taking a quick walk up the Macaulay Valley, we saw that conditions were pretty good, with a snowline…
Remarkables; The Grand Couloir, Queenstown
The Grand couloir is an obvious ski line leading from close to the summit of the Remarkables, down to Lake Alta. It is a reasonably popular descent, the skiing is fall line and aesthetic. At the steepest it might be a touch over 40 degrees, but the majority is in the mid to high 30s….
Glentanner to Mt Mary – heli access
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Mt Philistine, Arthurs Pass National Park
by Dan & Zucco Arthur’s Pass National Park (APNP) provides a lot of steep or long access routes to the mountains, making it more of a mountaineering destination. However, quality ski touring can still be found. SH73 passes through APNP at around 800 meters and provides some of the better touring opportunities in the area….
Couloir Atemlos -Tasman Gl – west of Mt Abel
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