Damian was kind enough to drop me off at the airport after our trip in Mount Cook National Park. While in Christchurch I waited for John Blankenstein to arrive from Australia before meeting up with Chris Rayner and Wiggles. We stocked up for a overnight trip attempting the Cragieburn traverse. It would be around 30kms and 10,000 vert going past 4 ski fields with an overnight stay at Mt. Olympus.

Fortunately I had a Licence to Chill pass so I was able to use the Nutcrackers. After taking the rope tow to the top of Craigieburn Valley ski area I waited for John and Pow as they climbed up the resort.

It had barely snowed throughout the season and we were almost 4 weeks into a drought. We would have to make the best out of the situation.

On the wind loaded side of the mountains there was still snow but everywhere else was melted out.

As we made our way across the ridge there was no snow. We hoped as we went further into the range conditions would get better.

We were able to ride from the top of Craigieburn Valley Ski Area over to Broken River club field and use there rope tows on the traverse.

Once on top of Broken River ski resort we were back on the ridge and a bit closer to finishing the Cragieburn ski traverse.

We climbed up in lose scree taking in the views of Broken River Ski resort below us. While it had been a month since it snowed they still had a decent snow pack.

We were happy to find a little bit of ski able snow as we made our way towards Mount Cheeseman ski field.

The contrast between the snow covered slopes and the melted out areas was ridiculous.

After passing Mount Cheeseman we made a detour towards Mount Olympus ski area to stay at there hut. There is a hot tub there and this was the only time I have ever taken shorts with me while ski touring.

While there was a lot of on scree hiking we found quite a bit of areas to go snowboarding. With the conditions being what they were, we were very appreciative.

It was a race against the sun as we traversed around the final mountains before Mount Olympus.

We hiked until dusk to finally get there. It was cool because I hadn’t been to the ski field in a decade. It was cool to see nothing had changed.

Day 2 of the Cragieburn Ski Traverse

The next morning we got on the rope tow at 8:00 A.M. and just put our heads down and kept following the ridge.

In the end there was very little riding but we did spot some rad terrain to come back for.

Pow and I made it to the Porter Heights car lot at around 5:30 with a bunch of wild Keas trying to dismantle his car so we hopped in and made our way towards Temple Basin ski field to attend the Temple Basin Splitboard Festival.

It was a brutal trip and unless the conditions are good I wouldn’t recommend doing the full Cragieburn Traverse. The area between Olympus didn’t have much good riding but this could be because of the season. I would say I wouldn’t do it again but I did the next year.

If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours within New Zealand check out this link