The last time I had been in New Zealand was 9 years prior and although I brought a Splitboard I would say I had only used it a handful of times and once in the Remarkables Backcountry but this time around it would be my only method of snow sliding. I wanted to see how much my perception of the Island had changed and if I could immerse myself into the Splitboard culture.
I sent out a Facebook post asking if anyone was in or near the Queenstown area and would be willing to show me the ropes and I got a response from Adam Flemming who runs the Splitboardnz site. The minute I arrived he was waiting at the airport and was kind enough to provide shelter, beta and both Adam and his fiance Jaime were great touring partners. The day after I arrived were were off to the snow heading up to the Remarkables Backcountry outside of the Ski Resort.
It had just recently snowed and it was exciting to basically learn the Southern Alps from scratch as it was completely different from the Cascade Range.
From the moment I set eyes on the Southern Alps I was blown away by its beauty as the tree line is so low and the mountains get steep fast.
It wasn’t long until we left the groomers of the resort and were off into the Remarkables backcountry. You could tell there was a bunch of wind transportation up high but with a bit of searching we knew we could find good snow.
It had been 2 months since the last time I had broken trail and while I feared I would be a bit stiff it came back to me immediately. Soon we were putting in switchbacks and heading towards the high ridge.
From the moment I made it to the top of our first line I could tell it was wind loaded and ready to slab. It was obvious that the spot had the best snow around so I carefully made a ski cut which released a meter deep slab. Once it popped off I made my way through the debris and rode the powder off the side to back to our skin track.
With the snow being quite good we decided to head up for another lap and take in the view of the Remarkables backcountry before heading back to Adams place.
It was a great introduction to the Southern Alps and potential backcountry in New Zealand. Though the avalanche was completely expected I quickly realized how hostile the winds can be in a mountain range without shelter from trees.
Thank you for reading and If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours within New Zealand check out this link