This is the best ski mountaineering terrain in New Zealand. Or at least I think so. The Garden of Allah and Garden of Eden are two ice plateaus, each more than 10km long, lying parallel to each other. The Garden of Allah is to the north and the Garden of Eden to the south. They are somewhat unique in NZ in that they are oriented west to east, across the main divide. Sandwiched between these two plateaus is a the John Pascoe range, and the Devils backbone to the west. A myriad of couloirs, passes, cols and glaciers cut through them, so that it is possibly to ski back and forth between the two plateaus. Perfect!

It took 2 different trips to the Gardens to figure the area out. It is quite complex, and there has been a lot of glacial recession since the maps were made. For example, the lower Adams Glacier and half of the Beelzebub glacier no longer exist. The Gardens are extremely exposed to the weather. They get bad weather from the North, and the West. Also the south. And the east. If you are planning a trip there you will need very high pressure weather window, or plan on a lot of downtime in the tent. It would be very easy to become trapped on the plateau for an extended period of time. Added to this is the sea fog that gets trapped under a high pressure system. It may be a stunning day on the plateau, but the valleys (especially to the west) can be socked in, in which case the helicopters cannot fly. You will need to plan to have at least one spare fine weather day up your sleeve for exiting.

I highly recommend carrying a mountain radio that can be rented They work well in this remote area. Regular scheds provide weather reports, and the operators will help with arranging helicopter pick up and drop offs. But you will need to have the phone numbers handy of anyone you want them to contact. A brilliant service. It is difficult to say what conditions will provide the best snow as the the geography is so complex. We first skied here 29 September 2015, then again in December 15 2020. Long daylight hours are good as its a big place. Optimum season would be mid August through December.

The Gardens are extremely remote. Unless you are an incredibly hard man or woman I suggest that helicopter access is the only feasible option given we are carrying skis, boots, winter camping equipment etc. The landing zone is on the Adams Wilderness boundary with the Public Conservation Area. You can view the FMC Wilderness Areas of NZ map here. The helicopter can put you down on the edge of the Wee McGregor Glacier.

There are a couple of landing spots along the ridge. The first trip in we camped at the lower LZ. We weathered a storm well and were quite comfortable. But the time taken each day to get up to the Plateau whittled down the skiing time. So I recommend landing at the higher LZ, then dragging the tent etc and camping up on the northern slopes of Baker Peak.

Heliservices on the west coast will fly you in to the Gardens. They have a helicopter stationed out of Whataroa, which is closer to the gardens than Franz Joseph. Whataroa is also preferable as the pesky west coast sea fog/clag clears in Whataroa sooner than Franz Joseph. Bonus. The pick up is about 2km up a side road from the Whataroa Bridge on the true left of the river. There is parking and toilets. The helicopter stationed at Whataroa is a Hughes 500 D. It is a wee bubble of an aircraft which gets buffeted around the skies. The pilots are superb with thousands of hours flying time, but it is certainly stiff stuff bouncing around in that little perspex cabin. The flight path is over sharp ridges, wild rivers, precipices, ice falls and steamy forest. At times the little 500 was pushed onto its side, spun what felt like 90 degrees, and once dropped like a falling leaf. Attached to the pillar near the door there is a wee strap to hold on to, with both hands….

The 500 can take 3 people with gear and costed $650 per flight in 2020. We had 5 people, so we needed 2 flights in, and 2 flights out, with a total price of $2600. The pilots enjoy the flight as they don’t get to The Gardens often. I recommend bringing an extra kit bag with food, stove fuel and supplies to leave at the landing zone, just in case you cant fly out and have to spend extra time there… Obviously flying out is the way to go. Should you have to walk out I would recommend going down the Colin Campbell Glacier and into the Frances River catchment. Technically it is straightforward. However it would be some 16+ kilometers of boulder and gravel bashing with heavy packs, boots, skis etc. until you get to Erewhon station, which is an anagram of Nowhere.

Another route out is down Adverse creek and into the Perth catchment, or over Adverse Glacier and down into the Perth. I don’t want to contemplate the idea of doing this with skis and boots. I have walked it in mountaineering boots and it was arduous, with much sidling, sometimes gaining 50m vertical to cover 20m horizontal. I know 2 people who tramped out this way with skis whilst wearing telemark boots. It destroyed the boots and they had difficulty walking for weeks afterwards. There is one more escape route via the Wanganui river. I have not done this route. It is described in a blog trip report here as they descended the route. There are also some interesting GPX overlays here.

There are many routes to ski from the plateaus. Probably plenty of them have never been skied before? A couple of routes we found that help to get around are: Access to Garden of Allah:

Crampon up over the Newton Peak Mt Tyndall col.

Lovely slopes to 35 degrees lead down to the Allah Plateau.

Ski routes coming back from the Garden of Allah:

Coming back via Snowy Peak Pascoe Ridge

or down into the Colin Campbell Glacier.

Through Adams Col:

Adams Col was melted out and so we had to transition to crampons. There is loose rock and its not terribly pleasant, but easy enough.

We always wondered why they called the area the Garden of Allah. Below Adams col, near a spot on the map marked Icefall Lookout, is a wondrous area of small frozen tarns, wee streams, sharp glacially polished tors and outcrops.

It is stunningly beautiful and would make the best of camping sites. From here there is easy access to the west and around to Angel Col.

One can also head east to get up on to the Garden of Allah Plateau, but will have to descend into the icefall funnel before popping back up onto the Allah Plateau, where travel becomes easier. . There are several routes up over the Devils Backbone and onto the Farrar Glacier.

Mt Kensington to the north has been snowboarded via Mt Hulka. .

Quality equipment is needed on the Plateaus. A high quality mountaineering tent, the knowledge of how to pitch it properly and solid winter camping skills are mandatory. Its a long way out, a long way from rescue, its cold and there is a degree of altitude (camping Baker pk is 2200m or 7,200 ft) .

Good mountaineering skills and sound judgement are also necessary. This should not be someones first ski tour… Here is another blog post on the Gardens for further reading..