A great adventure ski tour crossing the main divide with a spectacular summit. From Murchison hut ascend the glacier on the opposite side of the valley heading towards point 2178. The glacier steepens at around the 1900m mark to 2000m mark and for us required cramponing. We did this in November with a low snow…
Tag: Heli access
Joie de Vivre Glacier ski tour – Murchison Glacier, Main Divide Southern Alps
A great ski tour requiring a good level of fitness and glacier skills. We skied this late season in mid November in a low snow year. The Murchison is a good staging point for several good ski tours. The Murchison hut is good and tidy with fuel and blankets and sleeps about 8. It sits…
Mt Alta – via Rumbling Burn to Buchanans
A variation to the Mt Alta tour is via the SE ridge and the Rumbling Burn. There is heaps of varied terrain and a multitude of different route options. We did this in a low snow year but still got plenty of powder skiing in. It did involve a hike on tussock out of the…
Mt Cook – East Face & Mt Tasman ski descent
Quite a bit has been written already about these two ski descents by Fredrico Varengo, however I wanted to put them in here for the record as they are milestones in NZ ski mountaineering history. Freddy skied from the summit of Mt Cook last year (2011) taking the direct line from the summit. I spoke…
Twin Stream – Kai Tarau – Ben Ohau Range
Twin Stream is well known for its rock climbing walls but in winter it has some good and steep lines to be skied. You can either walk in or fly in; about 4 hours walking vs 5 minutes flying: $0 vs $350 a load. Contact Heliline Glentanner at 0800 650 651 and make sure you…
McKerrow range – Makarora – Mt Shrimpton missing link (cental part)
I feel like I have to add this tour as missing link between another two in the McKerrow range. It fits in between Boundary Creek traverse and the Camerons Creek traverse. As per the other tours grab an helos lift from Harvey Hutton of Backcountry Helicopters 443 8351. We got dropped off on point 1977m…
Makarora – Mt Shrimpton North to Camerons Creek – McKerrow Range
Having done the traverse of the McKerrow range South to Boundary Creek, we decided to try North to Camerons Creek. Harvey Hutton flew us up in his Hughes 500 for $105 each (seats 4). Contact him on 443-8351. He dropped us off on the ridge near pt 1958, just North of Shrimpton as he would…
Mt Elie De Beaumont, Tasman Glacier, Main Divide Southern Alps
Elie De Beaumont is a classic ski tour at the head of the Tasman Glacier. It offers quality fall line skiing from a 3000m, heavily glaciated peak, right on the main divide of the Southern Alps. Views from the summit extend to the West coast, as well as down the Tasman glacier to the MacKenzie…
Middle Peak 1840m via hi-traverse or heli, Harris Mountains
Middle Peak is the good looking basin just north of Cardrona ski resort. With a good south-east exposure holds snow in good condition never the less the relatively low altitude. Two way to get there: The first is an awesome traverse from the top of Cardrona ski resort: first up to Mt Cardrona, descent to…
Mt Hamilton, Malte Brun Range, Mt Cook National Park
This back country ski was highly recommended to me. It can be done on the exit day from a trip higher up the Tasman Glacier neves. This ski tour has been claimed to maybe be the finest New Zealand ski tour. It offers a huge 1400m ski descent from a 3000m peak. The route is…