Skiing with Alpine Guides🎿🏔
Alpine Guides offers a range of backcountry skiing options. We are based in the heart of the Southern Alps and have a team of experienced and qualified local guides. Learn to ski tour, improve your knowledge of avalanche safety or join us for a multi-day ski touring adventure.
See below for some of our most popular trips and check out our website for more information.
Cass Valley Ski Touring
The Cass Valley is an emerging gem of the NZ backcountry. Made accessible in the past few years by the building of two cosy new huts at around 1400m by Will and Emily Murray of Glenmore Station. These huts provide a fantastic base to ski tour the valleys of the Liebig Range. There is a diverse range of terrain to suit your level of ski ability and adventure, with runs averaging 600m in length. We have limited dates available for these tours, get in early to secure a trip.
2020 Dates
14-17 September (8 spaces)
20-24 September (4 spaces)
25-29 September (6 spaces)
We help you to get started on your journey into the backcountry with 3 days of touring in the Ohau backcountry. Learn how to plan a trip, figure out your equipment and learn techniques for uphill travel. This program includes the MSC Avalanche Awareness Course and lots of skiing.
We stay at Lake Ohau Lodge, allowing you to maximise learning time with evening lectures and in-depth discussion with your experienced, professional guide.
IST courses scheduled for Winter 2020
4-6 August
1-3 September
24-26 September
Alpine Guides also offers Mountain Safety Council – accredited Avalanche Courses:
The 1.5 day Avalanche Awareness
and 4 day Backcountry Avalanche
Ski the Glaciers
The Southern Alps hold vast landscapes of smooth, rolling, glaciated terrain. The névés receive an average of 15 meters of snow every winter, this is great news for skiing. It also means that in many places, the crevasses found in summer are full of snow, allowing for surprisingly free movement and plenty of ski lines. Spend a week in a high alpine hut tucked high in the alpine and let your professional guide choose the best place to ski each day before returning to a home-cooked meal. A great experience for both ski tourers and splitboarders.
Available on demand with dates to suit you. Ask us about including instruction in ski mountaineering or big-mountain avalanche safety as part of your trip.
Full backcountry immersion. Come and stay at our Backcountry Base Camp, set up at the head of a valley, high in the Ben Ohau Range. Depending on how early-season conditions shape up, this could be in either Whale or Duncan Stream. These locations are both chosen to provide easy access to a diverse range of ski touring terrain. Your guide will show you the ropes of
camp life and take you out each day to reach the cols and ridges and ski bowls, faces and chutes before bringing you back to camp to enjoy plenty of hot soup and dry socks.
Groups of 1-8 skiers can book in a Backcountry Ski Camp at any time from July to October.
Traverse the Sealey Range from Barron Saddle Hut to Mt Cook Village. This is a classic, adventurous trip for experienced ski tourers. Fly in to Barron Saddle Hut and spend the afternoon touring at the head of the Mueller Glacier, early on day two you will set off for the Sladden Glacier and Annette Plateau. There are options to camp out or to stay at Mueller Hut
on the second night before descending to Aoraki Mt Cook Village
For more details including prices, dates and equipment, follow the links to the trip pages on our website. We are always happy to chat on the phone or email about which ski touring experience will be the best for you and to confirm availability for your preferred dates.