Studying the maps and the weather forecast a plan came together to do a backcountry ski tour on the Routeburn Track. We would base ourselves out of the Routeburn Falls hut and find lines on one of the most famous hiking trails in New Zealand. After leaving Adams place Wiggles and I made our way from Frankton to Queenstown.
From Queenstown we loaded our mountaineering gear into the shuttle and we off for a backcountry ski tour on the Routeburn Track……. after drinking Starbucks and riding the Moa.
The Routeburn track is one of New Zealands great walks and while it is crowded with people in the summer we had the place to ourselves, one of the many benefits of ski touring in the spring.
The first night we hiked the 6kms to the 48 bunk Routeburn Falls hut and enjoyed the view for the rest of the day.
Day 2 ski touring on the Routeburn Track
The next morning we got up with the sun and started heading into the alpine and checking out our options.
About 30cms had fallen in the highlands and made the Tussock bashing a bit interesting.
We had hoped that Harris Lake was frozen or possibly there was an easy route across the shoreline.
We decided to follow the main trail over to Harris saddle then climb to the summit of Conical Hill. It would give the snow a day to stabilize and we could check out Xenius from a good vantage point.
In the end we decided to focus our attention on Xenius the next day and found that we could cross the outsource.
Day 3 Climbing Xenius Peak off the Routeburn Track
The next morning we got up to and crossed the outsource early in the morning.
We were able to skirt across the shoreline and made our way up the open slopes to where the terrain got complex, of course I didn’t take any photos while climbing but I did when I made it to the summit.
and what took us 4 hours to climb took us 10 minutes to ride.
Then over the next few hours we lapped the lower slopes taking in the views and corn.
Soon enough we were off Xenius and past the shoreline which was by far the crux of the trip.
Day 4 The Exit
The next day we hiked the 6kms to the road head then hiked 10kms on the road before hitching a ride to Glenarchy where we hitched another ride to Queenstown/Frankton in our snowboard pants and full ski gear as people heckled us.
Thank you for reading and If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours within New Zealand check out this link