ITINERARY
Please note this itinerary could potentially change depending on weather and snow.
Day 1: Arrive into Queenstown International Airport via Auckland. Shuttle transfer to Wanaka (1 hour). Stay at Wanaka Hotel in twin share ensuite rooms. Meet by your guide for trip welcome and briefing. Dinner cooked in hotel kitchen.
Day 2: Ski tour behind Cardrona Ski Resort. Cardrona is less steep than TC, but has some great back bowls that hold good snow through to the end of September. Leave town at 7:30am (45 min drive). Packed lunch. Return about 5:00pm. Dinner cooked in hotel kitchen.
Day 3: Ski tour near Treble Cone Ski Area, the closest ski area to Wanaka. TC as it’s known, is the largest ski area in the South Island, boasting one of the longest vertical rise in New Zealand. It’s steep and the touring behind the resort is some of the best in the country. We’ll leave town at 7:30am (45 min drive). Single lift ride provided to access the backcountry. Packed lunch. Return about 5:00pm. Dinner cooked in hotel kitchen.
Day 4: Heli accessed ski tour in Buchannans Range (there are very few roads to access NZ’s ski touring terrain, so helicopters are sometimes used). About 9:00am we’ll fly to the summit of Mt Alta (2,339m/7,680ft) and ski its cold south face (remember aspects are opposite in NZ). Then we’ll tour up to the summit of the Buchannan Peaks for a few more runs, working our way back towards the heli base. Then when we get tired, or run out of day light, we’ll get picked up by helicopter at the snow line and flown back down to the valley (3,000ft below). Packed lunch. Return about 5:00pm. Dinner cooked in hotel kitchen.
Day 5: Leave Wanaka at 7:00am, drive to Ohau Ski Area (2 hours), single lift ride to access back country. Packed lunch. After skiing stay in Ohau Lodge, dinner provided by lodge.
Day 6: Heli accessed ski tour at Mt Cook in the Ben Ohau Range. We’ll fly up into either the Twin Stream or Bush Creek drainage and ski tour for the day. There is no road or track access and the bottom of the run is still 3,000 ft above the road end (and we’ll lane another 3,000 ft above that). Stay in the NZ Alpine Club’s Unwin Hut right in Aoraki Mount Cook Village with spectacular views of Mt Cook, dinner in lodge.
Day 7: Drive to Round Hill Ski Area (2 hours) or back to Ohau Ski Area, single lift ride to access back country. Drive to Cromwell (2 hours). Packed lunch. Dinner cooked in lodge kitchen.
Day 8: Drive to Queenstown (1 hour) and ski tour behind Remkables Ski Area. Packed lunch. Return about 5:00pm. Stay at hotel with final dinner included at local restaurant.
Day 9: Depart for home.