HELICOPTER ACCESSED SKI TOURING

The best way to experience incredible mountain wilderness & great skiing.

Experience the remoteness, spectacular scenery, and great skiing in the high mountains around Queenstown.

Included in the Helicopter Accessed Ski Touring Day Trips is two helicopter flights so we can access the best ski touring and split boarding terrain and then fly out from the bottom of a run at the end of the day.

This program gives us access to the best wilderness terrain in Queenstown, Glenorchy, and Wanaka. We promise you will be stoked by how awesome the Helicopter Accessed Ski Touring Day Trips are.

LOCATION

Queenstown, Wanaka, & Glenorchy backcountry areas.

MEETING POINT & TIME

8:00am pickup from your accomodation.

TRIP DURATION

Approximately 9 hours

BAD WEATHER POLICY

If we cannot operate the trip because of bad weather we will operate the trip on the next good weather day.

OUR DAY

Your professional guide arrives to pick you up at your accommodation. After a quick gear check and a discussion about the day, your guide will transport you to the helicopter staging area.

Before we fly, we will do a helicopter safety briefing and avalanche transceiver and safety briefing before heading into the backcountry. This is a good chance to brush up on your knowledge and skills about small party avalanche rescue. Throughout the day you will also be welcome to continue learning avalanche rescue skills and safe backcountry travel techniques.

It is normal to do 2 to 3 climbs and downhill powder runs exploring the backcountry. Queenstown Mountain Guides has the largest ski touring concession area in New Zealand. The areas we can visit include the Lake Hope area in the Remarkables range, Black Peak area near Wanaka, the Harris Mountains between Queenstown and Wanaka and the Buchannans mountain range near Mt Aspiring.

By this time you will have tired legs, but great memories of an incredible day of helicopter accessed skiing and boarding. We will call in the helicopter for a flight back out of the mountains.

HELICOPTER ACCESSED SKI TOURING

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1 to 4 people

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9 hours

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From $995

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June to October

BOOK A PRIVATE TRIP

INCLUSIONS

Guide fees
Avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe
Group Equipment
Flight into & out of mountains

EXCLUSIONS

Personal equipment & clothing
Ski touring skis, split board, or snow show hire
Lunch & snack food

TRIP NOTES

Experience required

As a minimum you should be an intermediate skier/boarder. You should be able to comfortably ski/ride blue runs at your local ski field and also have some experience skiing/riding black runs. Off piste skiing/riding experience is preferred but not essential.
You should be able to ski/ride with a light backpack. This is so you can carry avalanche safety equipment, warm clothing, and your own food and water for the day.
You should have a good level of aerobic fitness.
You do not need any previous ski touring or split boarding experience and you will be shown how to use the equipment at the start of the day.

What to bring

Food and snacks and enough water for the day. The amount of water you will require will depend on your personal hydration habits. As a guideline we recommend a minimum of 1 litre of water.
A pack large enough to carry avalanche equipment as well as your spare clothing, food, and water.
Warm clothing, windproof jacket and pants, warm gloves, sunglasses or goggles, and sunscreen.
Ski touring equipment, split boarding set up, or board and snow shoes. See below for equipment hire.
We highly recommend ski touring or split boarding crampons for ski touring in New Zealand. These are especially useful if youn are a split boarder.

Clothing & equipment

Skiing in the New Zealand mountains requires that you have high quality equipment and clothing due to the extremes of weather we experience. Please ensure you look carefully at our equipment checklist. At the start of the trip your guide will go through your equipment and make sure that you have everything that you need for the trip.

Queenstown Mountain guides provides participants avalanche rescue equipment as part of the cost of the trip.

The cost of renting ski touring and splitboarding equipment is not included in the trip costs. Ski touring equipment and split boards can be hired from Small Planet Outdoors, 17 Shotover St, Queenstown For snowboarders Queenstown Mountain Guides rents snow shoes for $20 per day that can be used as an alternative to a split board setup.

It is important that you keep as close as possible to the equipment checklist. The focus is on ensuring that you have the equipment you need, but also on keeping your pack as light as possible.