A cool shorter back country ski tour for when there is a good amount of snow down at lower elevations. We skied this on the 19th August and remarkable had good dry powder skiing right to the road. Only the tops were a little wind scoured and icy. Heres a
After a good dump of snow from the South or East this huge western face of St Bathans can make for an awesome back country ski tour. The face is very rocky so make sure there has been a good solid metre of snowfall. The ascent is easy skinning, the
High on Mt Ruapehu lie the only glaciers in the North Island. While they are mere remnants of their former ice age size, they still provide some of the best skiing terrain around. Ruapehu is a mountain created with ski-touring in mind, with access, terrain and (at times) snow conditions
This was a wicked day of backcountry skiing New Zealand style!. Access is easy with a straight glide from the top of Treble Cone’s quad chair to the saddle between Gotleibs and Towers Ridge. Here the fun starts with a 300m fall line ski descent on 30-35 degree ribs of
End Peak to Treble Cone is one of the best one day ski tours around. A helicopter lift is cheap, quick and will get you tot the beginning feeling fresh. There are excellent bowls t ski to the south, and the basin to the west of End peak is superb.
The traverse of the Crown Range is a good day touring where the objective is to complete the traverse and unless very fit there is not a lot of time for runs off the ridge – good as they appear to be. It is a good trip to do when
Four of us in Harvey’s chopper flew up onto the McKerrow range up behind Makarora for a long exhilarating ski tour. A bit of organisation was required; firstly I drove the Jeep up the farm track at Boundary Creek to close to the snow line, then mtn biked back down,