Southern Alps
Ski
The Southern Alps on the South Island of New Zealand are the main hub for alpine sports in New Zealand. The mountain range runs for 450 kilometres down the island’s spine and is home to the country’s tallest, most rugged peaks, which are heavily glaciated and weather-patterned.
This creates a dynamic ski and mountaineering environment with huge quantities of character and technical difficulty. There a five main commercial ski ‘resorts’ - the Remarkables, Coronet Peak, Treble Cone, Cardrona and Coronet Peak, alongside around 15, locally run ski fields, affectionately known locally as club fields, or clubbies.
The Southern Alps hosts the tallest peak in the country, Mount Cook, at 3754 metres, which stands tall and is easily distinguishable amongst its neighbours, despite there being 19 peaks in total over 3000 metres. Mount Cook, which separates the east and west coasts, and can be seen from both shorelines, and is of great cultural importance to Moari, who originally named the peak Aoraki, meaning Sky or Cloud Piercer. Subsequently named by European settlers, principally the British navigator, Captain James Cook, the surrounding national park was also named after the Brit, forming the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.
15 Sep 2024
The timing of my move from the UK to NZ meant I enjoyed back to back summers, the consequence of which meant I skipped the Northern Hemisphere 23/24 winter and so haven’t skied for roughly 16 months. This would be my first time skiing in the Southern Hemisphere, and outside of Europe for that matter. Keen to make up for lost time on snow, I headed south from Wellington for a two week, two phase trip to the Southern Alps.
First, heading to Lake Tekapo where I’d join a group in Edelweiss Lodge. We loaded up a Land Cruiser, and headed out through 4x4 tracks, through rivers, sub alpine and then the alpine, to stay in a remote hut in the Cass Valley. I picked John up from Christchurch airport and he’d be with me for the next 10 days or so, joining me in Lady Emily hut and I convinced him to stay on for phase two. He’d travelled from Lake Tahoe and this would also be his first ski foray in New Zealand.
The Lady Emily hut hosted us for five nights, located on the Glenmore Estate in the Gamack Range. Leaving the vehicle in the valley, we hiked and then skinned up to the hut, with all food and supplies needed. Close to the Main Divide, the Cass Valley is snow sure and expansive, wide ranging terrain of offer.
We planned to move from Lady Emily hut to Caroline hut, but the weather closed in on the changeover days and access to the Caroline hut to our West was not possible. Deliberating options for some time and trying to make the best of the weather on offer, we opted for a flexible approach to each day, moving our base to Queenstown in the Southern Lakes area where would could access appropriate terrain given condition and chase the sun and fresh snow. This worked out very well and between these two parts of the trip I learnt fast how skiing and weather works in New Zealand. TLDR - very changeable and every kind of snow imaginable in roughly 100 metres! Here’s how it played out.
Cass Valley
Ten or so days ago I was concerned there’d be very little snow around and we’d have some trouble, however, the week leading up to my trip was filled with snowfall each night, with half a metres or so of snow falling several nights in a row. So now, the issue of potentially too much snow and dangerous conditions would be a concern. Probably the preferred way around, though.
Our relatively straight forward access to Lady Emily hut, which sits at 1500 metres, began with an hour or so’s drive through the valley, first crossing farmland, then along the Cass River, fording the river several times and advancing into the scree fields as we moved into the sub alpine.
Hiking through the tussocks of the lower slopes then moving to skis as we progressed above the snow line. The pattern of fresh, late season snowfall from last week would continue, and we’d get top ups each night, with high pressure day during the days.
Day 1: 14 km | 1330 m+ | 4/8.5 hours
Day 2: 13 km | 1470 m+ | 4/7.5 hours
Fresh over night snowfall and clear blue skies is the best way to start any ski trip, and the bonus cloud inversion in the valley made it feel like I’d woken up much further from civilisation than we were, the cloud enveloping the vehicle in the valley and path we’d travelled up from.
We were a group of four and had the hut to ourselves for the first few nights and it was pretty tight still. The numbers would swell to ten in the hut and two in a tent outside in a couple of days, but for now I enjoyed the cold crisp air and peace of the valley.
We skinned away from the hut at 8.30am, heading up the valley for rough three and a half kilometres and 600 metres of climbing to Bad Decision hut. This self proclaimed ‘highest whiskey bar in the world’ is home to a huge number of bottle of whiskey, flown up once preordered from a shop in Christchurch. Locals would tour up and enjoy a dram whilst pit-stopping. I was excited to see it for myself.
Gentle gradient allowed me to find my ski legs at my own pace, adding in a couple of kick turns to bring the muscle memory back. We kept the day simple and dropped off the back of the hut, returning and then ascending a flanking slope to access a wide bowl for a few short-ish runs. The snow was deep and temperatures cold, it was an ideal way to start. My only concern was my slim touring skis not have the width underfoot for the conditions, but I made it work.
Waking on our second day to 20cm of fresh and another day of blue skies was too good to be true. The day’s skiing would start as it would every day when heading out from Lady Emily, heading straight up the Cass Valley to the Bad Decision hut.
The goal for the day was the Scorpion, a long, curling run around the back of the sloped of the Cass that we’d skinned up.
Our guide for this trip was Vindy, a Kiwi ski guide and local, and he definitely had his work cut out putting in the skin track for us this week! Snow started falling as we ascended and the weather closed in, but we continued, reaching the top at 15.00, making it a two hour skin.
The final few hundred metres to the top of Scorpion were deep and steep, and all of us in the group, Vindy, John the American, plus Jordan, a Kiwi from Christchurch, were all pretty ecstatic about the run we were about to get.
We hovered at the top for a weather window, hoping the wind would blow some cloud out and let the sun provide us with better visibility for a few minute for our trip back down. We made the best of the light available and I wooped my way down the Scorpion, in pow around knee deep.
The transition to skin back to Bad Decision hut was different this time around, we all grinned ear to ear and knew that run would be hard to beat over the next few days. We celebrated with a wee dram and skied back down to Lady Emily to meet the group who’d be joining us for the next few nights in the hut.
Day 3: 11 km | 1490 m+ | 3.5/7 hours
Day 4: 0 km | 0 m+ | 0 hours
Day 5: 14.5 km | 1300 m+ | 3.5/6.5 hours
The hut was bustling and frantic with so many bodies moving in such a confined space, all eager to get back out on snow. The hut had two rooms, labelled north and south ‘wing’, roughly measuring three metres by four metres. Prepping breakfast and lunch with ski kit hanging from the ceiling, boots drying near the fire was initially frantic, although everyone was organised and we got out at 08.30 again. This time though, the temps were noticeably warmer and I skinned in just a base layer from the off.
Today, instead of heading all the way up the valley to Bad Decision, we’d peel off to our right three-quarters of the way up, heading west to the top of Super Bowl. We spent the whole day here, with three variations on the face before calling it a day. We had very windy transitions at the top but coming down in a big, wide open bowl was good fun. The snow wasn’t as deep as yesterday but three laps in we discussed how somehow, this potentially topped yesterday’s Scorpion run.
The shorter trip home was much appreciated and we had a longer evening to chill and hang out in the hut, although tomorrow’s forecast wasn’t offering us much chances of skiing. The larger group had moved on and we were now joined but a group of three, including an English couple who’d also recently relocated to New Zealand.
Overnight was calm but from 07.00 the winds picked up and stayed up all day, peaking at 80-90 kph. We didn’t leave the hut and spent the day eating drink tea, eating cheese and crackers, chatting about avalanches and playing Exploding Kittens (a card game). The wind howled at the hut and we all knew it wasn’t an option of whether to head out or not. We’d have to make up for it tomorrow.
Our final day in the Cass Valley saw us head up and down to the Falcons Nest hut. We pit stopped for a coffee in the sun, before head ing back to Lady Emily and then down to the vehicle to drive out. It was a scorching day and the snow felt more spring like and appropriate for September in the Southern Alps.
Rest of group photos
Southern Lakes
The mountains surrounding Wanaka and Queenstown are often referred to as the Southern Lakes region, where there’s three major lakes in relative close proximity - Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawea and Lake Wakatipu, and all of which sits inside the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area.
This is where you’ll find the majority of the large, commercial ski fields in New Zealand, mainly Treble Cone, Cardrona and the Remarkables.
Having driven out of the Cass Valley and reconfigured in Lake Takepo, and swapped guides, we decided to head south in search of weather windows that would bring some quality skiing. We traded the hut we’d booked for an apartment just outside Queenstown and take a flexible approach to each day. I’ll come back another year for Caroline hut!
As a lot of snow had fallen over the last week or so, avalanche risk was high. Our guide for this part of the trip was Didac, a Spanish guide who spends his winters in Switzerland. He planned to take us to the free ride terrain in and around the ski fields, using a ski lift bump first thing if needed, and make use of the added safety advice and knowledge of the local ski patrol.
We ended up with two days off the back of the Remarkables, a day in Treble Cone, then another final day in the Remarks. Due to the snowfall, subsequent increased risk and given it was late in the season, we skied some incredible lines with very few other people around. The days were shorter as we had some driving to get to each ski destination each morning, but the runs were punchy and snow was very good indeed.
Rest of group photos
Day 1: Remarkables. 7.3 km | 700 m+ | 2/4 hours
Day 2: Remarkables. 12 km | 1220 m+ | 2.5/5.5 hours
I love staying in remote huts but the contrast of staying in the Lady Emily hut, with no running water, long drop toilet, stove for heating and bunkbeds, to a newly build house was quite nice. We headed off to the Remarkables resort for what looked like a day of patchy weather. We skinned up the lower pistes and traversed over to ski Shadow Basin above Lake Alta. The weather was pretty windy and not much visibility, but there were other skiers around as a lift could take you to the couloir we planned to ski. The colour was steep and fun to ski, so was worth the poor conditions. Two runs down couloirs above Curvey Basin followed before calling it a day.
The follow day we came back, taking one chair lift ride up from the base to Curvy basin again, this time dropping off the back of the resort into the Doolans area. We skied this all day, skiing lines down until the terrain mellowed, then turning around and heading back up to repeat. We saw two other tourers on this side all day! The weather was good and fun lines with many possibilities.
Day 3: Treble Cone. 14 km | 980 m+ | 2.5/5.5 hours
Driving further afield to Wanaka to ski Treble Cone, the resort overlooks Lake Wanaka and the scenes are unreal. Several times I thought to myself the views of the lake below didn’t quite feel real. We had a delayed start due to avalanche clearing, where we drank coffee in the shelter of the cafe and I stared out the window to the valley and lake below, but the wait was definitely worth it.
There’s a huge number of feature-filled tight chutes and gullies, wide faces, spines and drops to be had. Wind was high all day so we had moments of pausing after transitioning and being ready to ski down where we waited out a calm spell. We squeezed five runs in, albeit shorter but punchier too, and due to the increased avalanche danger there was no one else around. The lower key, less commercial vibe here I really liked, and I’m keen to come back.
Day 4: Remarkables. 14 km | 1760 m+ | 4/7.5 hours
Our final day saw us back in the Remarkables ski field and we planned to go big. We had another, local Kiwi guide join us for the day, Andrew, and we got away early, heading straight up the main piste, with the Grand Couloir in our sights. A few hours later, after skinning until it was too steep and deep, a bootpack was needed. An hour or so since reaching the foot of the climb, we stood at the top of the Grand Couloir, looking down on the Remarkables, chair lifts in the distance, super excited for the descent to come.
The skiing was the best of the whole trip: steep, soft and a long run. I was pleased with how I skied the steep couloir, managed the slough/sluff, and wasn’t phased by the tighter pinch points. Skiing all the way down to Lake Alta for lunch, this must have been the longest run of the trip. Still short in length by European standards, but nevertheless good and very welcome. After passing for a refuel, we followed this up with the Hidden Couloir, then a quick bonus couloir, before heading back to the car. Skiing the Grand Couloir was a real highlight of the trip. Epic snow conditions, steep skiing and a good group vibe made for the best day of the trip.
Over the last week or so I’d really developed a new appreciation for skiing in New Zealand and skiers that learn here. It’s by no means easy and I also found it mentally challenging in particular. I’ve never talked about the weather so much and had to change plans so much constantly, and been kept on my toes so much throughout a whole day. You can ski every type of snow in the space of about 100 metres, so focus is needed and the ability to adjust skiing style continually based on the immediate snow conditions.
Skiing here also requires time, patience and ideally lots of money. Helicopters buzz around the mountains dropping groups off in tiny weather windows. Helicopters and heli skiing here is much less expensive compared to Europe and most of the rest of the world, but it’s still not cheap. Sitting tight and waiting for weather to change and then taking advantage of the immediate conditions is the name of the game here. I’d learned this over the last few weeks and despite being warned about this, adjusting to this mentality was more challenging than I’d imagined.
I was potentially disappointed in my skiing during my days in the Cass Valley. I felt I struggled in the conditions, the increased snow on a slimmer touring ski, or the huge variation in snow, and most memorable was my inability to ski on the thick crust that developed in the afternoon on the runs back down to the hut. I hadn’t been on skis for a good 17 months, so was rusty, I won’t let it get that long before a big trip again.
Come the second week in the Southern Lakes, though, the conditions were more familiar to me and I felt my skiing came good. I finished feeling more positive and keen to continue developing my skiing in poor snow conditions to avoid feeling or struggling and making my time on snow more difficult than it needs to be. The more relaxed I was this week meant overall I could enjoy myself and not be so hard on myself or critical on my skiing. We’ll see what conditions next winter brings and which part of the Southern Alps I end up skiing next.
Further info
See more at: skitouring.co.nz, glenmorestation.co.nz, doc.govt.nz.
Useful links: Dave Searle’s Dream Lines on the Sky Piercer: Skiing in New Zealand.
Short films: The Sky Piercer, WEST OF WANAKA, The Great Alpine Highway 73, Terra Incognita.
Related reading:
- Backcountry Ski-Touring in New Zealand, Shane Orchard
- The Story of New Zealand Freeskiing, Sam Masters
- Ski Touring: A Practical Manual, Bruce Goodlad
- Ski Rando: World Ski Touring Guide, Ski Rando Magazine
- Powder, The Greatest Ski Runs on the Planet, Patrick Thorne
- Free Skiing - How to Adapt to the Mountain, Jimmy Odén
- The Art of Shralpinism: Lessons from the Mountains, Jeremy Jones
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1 Mar 2024