Ohau ski field is well known for having good access to ski touring. Indeed, search this website and you will find the posts for Mt Peterson, Mt Stafford and Mt St Mary. These peaks are accessed from the ski field, from above the top lift, via the south ridge . Other more common ski touring routes are Dumb-bell Lake , and the classic ‘Hemi’s run’ (which leads east from Mt Sutton back to the ski field access road). The ski touring runs that are often over-looked, but are quite excellent, are the wonderful bowls to the north of the ski field.
Access is the same for all the routes; a short skin up from the top lift. There is a ‘one off’ lift pass for a cheap price, that will get you up through the ski field expediently. You can also proceed with 30 or 40 minute skin up from the base lodge. Once on the ridge head north for a short but often windswept ski up to point 1952. Due to the prevailing westerlies, it is to be expected to find sections of bare rock where the snow has been stripped. Skis on packs..
If you want to know where all the snow from the ridge went…well into the bowls of course. From Pt 1952 there is some excellent bowl skiing to the east towards lake Ohau. The skiing is fall line and around the 25-30 degree mark. This first bowl from pt 1952 is the most popular and it can also offer access to steeper routes back into the ski field. During winters with good snow coverage there is a boot pack leading from this bowl at around the 1600m mark, back over the ridge into the steeper chutes leading down to the Ohau ski field base. They are a good challenge, a little bit rocky and around 45 degrees. Some do no go all the way so plan your route.
The bowl north of pt 1952, or below pt 1848 is probably my favourite, and offers undulating terrain with many aspects, so you are almost guaranteed to find some snow in good condition.
If you have time, head further north skiing the bowls below pt 1732, and ending up on pt 1675. From this vantage the views over the braided Dobson and Hopkins Valleys are superb, as are the views of the hulking Mt Glenmary, the windswept Ben Ohau range, and even Mt Cook and the main divide.
As a final note, these 2 northern bowls offer fine skiing and can be navigated safely in good conditions. However they have been known to avalanche all the way to lake level, blocking the road at the bottom.
There is great skiing to be had…enjoy!
August 2018
You must be logged in to post a comment.