While some first descents get lots of attention, others often trickle by unnoticed. Because of that, I just wanted to give props to these potential first ski descents by Italian Fredrico Varingo, who is reported by Aspiring Guides of New Zealand to have made first descents of both Mount Cook and Mount Tasman this past […]
New Zealand
I put together this little video for the Black Diamond Journal, from the first half of my recent trip to New Zealand in October. Nothing too outrageous as far as ski footage goes (unlike this one), but it’s got a catchy beat and reminds me of the beautiful mountains of the South Island.
Just when you thought you had all your bases covered. Good, quality ski equipment…check. Reliable ski partner…check. Promising weather forecast…check. Low avalanche danger…check. Raptor danger…check?! This sign was found in the French Ridge Hut on the way to Mount Aspiring, NZ.
Randosteve skins below Drummund Peak. Here are some more pictures from New Zealand.
Well, after some fun time enjoying the southern hemisphere spring ski season in New Zealand, I arrived back in Jackson Saturday night, slept wicked hard for 10 hours, then jumped right into the northern hemisphere winter with some pretty darn good skiing on Teton Pass for Halloween. Soft powder snow never felt so good and […]
Ben Starkey rides in front of Bristol Top, near the Pioneer Hut, NZ. Click photo for trip report. Yeah BOY!!! Another trip report from down here skiing in New Zealand around the Pioneer Hut and Fox Glacier zone, is now up on the BD Journal site. Click HERE to check it out…and once again, thanks […]
Scott Fennell skins above the Centennial Hut. Just back from Aspiring. Pretty good adventure, but no summit. There is a trip report from the Centennial Hut with some great photos by Scott Fennell posted over on the Black Diamond Journal. Click HERE to check it out. Please feel free to leave comments on this post or […]
View of the Northwest Ridge of Mount Aspiring. The crux of the descent will be how icy the route is. Photo courtesy MatthewTurley.com I’ve been hanging out here in Wanaka for a few days. There have been a few fine spells here and there, and we managed to get out for a skin up the […]
View of Mount Tasman from the outhouse of the Pioneer Hut. Click photo for larger image. Just a quick update from down here in New Zealand. I’m just out from the Pioneer Hut and laying over in the town of Fox, before heading further south for some weather days in Wanaka. As you can see […]
Pioneer Hut from Von Bulow. My finger is feeling a bit better and it looks like there is another high pressure system rolling in for a few days, so I’m catching a heli ride and heading back up into the mountains and the Pioneer Hut on Monday…New Zealand time. The Pioneer Hut sits in the […]
I’m dealing with a little adversity right now. I cut my finger badly on the first day in the mountains and after five days of skiing under sunny skies, my wound is still throbbing and bleeding. Therefore, I decided to fly out solo today to have it looked at, cleaned, bandaged and given a rest […]
After about 24 hrs of travel and four plane rides today, I will be in Christchurch, New Zealand…two days later. It’s a nineteen hour time difference between Jackson (MST) and Christchurch (NZDT), and my longest leg is from Los Angeles to Auckland…which looks to be about a 13 hour flight. OUCH! Hopefully a coupe sleep-aids […]
It’s pretty hard to avoid there being high avalanche danger in New Zealand when it snows 13 feet in 10 days. Like with most trips, local or abroad, I’ve started to eyeball the conditions and weather forecasts for New Zealand. (Launch day is tomorrow!) MetService.com seems to be the best website for weather and Avalanche.net.nz […]
The Linda Glacier ski descent route on Aoraki/Mount Cook follows the red line, but goes into the “Gun Barrels” (blue line) instead of the Summit Rocks section. Photo courtesy Alpinism and Ski. In honor of heading to New Zealand in a couple weeks, I figured I’d post this video of Bruce Grant skiing Aoraki/Mount Cook […]
Yeah baby! I’m pretty psyched to say that I’m headed to New Zealand to ski for the entire month of October. Before I go any further, I’d like to specifically thank Black Diamond and Arc’teryx Equipment for helping me make this happen. Without their support, I wouldn’t be able to experience a lot of things […]
We quickly had a gear explosion and repacked for quick afternoon outing to sample the goods. A short couloir on Mt Abel at the head of the Glacier (dubbed Hole #1) caught my eye and we made our way to the top for some bonafide NZ ‘kung-fu’ turns. Once in the hut we made do […]
After a few days we started to get antsy waiting for the weather to break, so we picked out a nice gully to ski. A 1000′ of hiking up scree brought us to the snow line which proved to be unconsolidated from the rain and warmer temps. I remember thinking to myself ‘this sucks’ as […]
I was fired up upon leaving for this trip. I was in prime physical shape from a summer of trail running and ultra-marathon training, as well as always having the skifluenza bug. I drove down to Park City to meet up with Andrew McLean. After some final gear organizing and final tweaks to my new […]
I can’t wait…I’m headed to New Zealand in a couple weeks to do some steep skiing, as well as attempt a coveted first descent from the summit of Mount Cook. The skiing in this area is amazing and huts, financed by the New Zealand Alpine Club litter the park on a first come, first serve […]