Your pilot has 1,100 square miles and seven mountain ranges to choose from to find you fresh tracks near Queenstown.
Your pilot has 1,100 square miles and seven mountain ranges to choose from to find you fresh tracks near Queenstown.
SOUTHERN ALPS
RECOMMENDED BY Mark Sedon
Mark Sedon has a friendly warning for anyone who’s considering a heli-ski adventure in the Southern Alps: “If you do it, you may be ruined for life. Once you have a taste, it’s a powerful drug that you’ll want more of. One day is never enough … but it’s better than none.”
The Southern Alps run 270 miles along the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Mount Cook is the highest point in the Alps at 12,316 feet, and a number of other peaks eclipse the three-thousand-meter point. Farther south, the mountains are somewhat shorter, topping out near nine thousand feet. They are quite dramatic, however, having been cut through with jagged fjords. (The best known fjord is Milford Sound, the South Island’s most renowned attraction and the finishing point of one of the world’s most celebrated hiking trails, the Milford Track.) Queenstown is the center for outdoor adventure travelers on the South Island, somewhat akin to Bend in central Oregon or Jackson in the Grand Tetons.
There are several ski resorts in the Queenstown area, yet heli-skiing opens up an amazing variety of terrain—more than 1,100 square miles, in seven different ranges. “I was working at one of the resorts fifteen years ago,” Mark recalled, “and I got a chance to go heli-skiing. Suddenly, I was touching down on sides of the mountains I used to have to climb to, or could only gaze up at. Now that I’m a guide, I have the lucky job of flying around to choose the runs that look safe … and fun. We fly into the Harris Mountains, the Richardsons, the Remarkables, and the Buchanans—sometimes even north to Mount Cook. Each range has its own characteristics. Closer to the big lakes, the hills are quite steep. If you go farther west, toward the Tasman Sea, there’s more glacial terrain. We go where the snow is good. Many times, people are intrigued when we set out. Queenstown is only at an elevation of one thousand feet, and there isn’t much snow around. People are playing golf in the valley. When you get up to six thousand or seven thousand feet, however, having enough snow is not a problem. It’s quite a culture shock.”
Mark described a typical day heli-skiing out of the Queenstown area. “The morning starts at eight A.M. We’ll drive everyone up to a staging area where the helicopter will pick us up; most are sheep paddocks. After an avalanche and helicopter safety briefing, we load up and the first helicopter takes off. We operate smaller helicopters—European AS355 twin-engine Squirrels and AS350 Squirrels—and have a ratio of four or five clients to each guide. We can land in some small spots! How steep a line we’ll choose will depend on the snow. If it’s stable, we’ll go for the ‘movie’ lines. If we feel it’s uncertain, we’ll take lower-angle runs. Though we’ll generally have a few groups at a time, you won’t see any other skiers on your runs—there’s just so much terrain. We’ll all connect at lunchtime. We’ll make some tables out of snow and have a nice buffet lunch—oftentimes, in the sunshine. After a few more runs, the helicopter will take you back to the valley floor.
“We have more than four hundred runs on two hundred different peaks to choose from, and conditions will dictate where we go on a given day. If the weather is ideal, I love to go west to one of two glaciers—Tyndall or Headling. You start at an elevation of about eight thousand feet, and you get a run of three thousand vertical feet, past crevasses and ice seracs. The snow at the top can be affected by the wind, but as you drop down, you’re in boot- to knee-deep powder. Another favorite is up north in the Buchanans, a spot called Galactic Bypass. It’s a big, high run near the edge of Aspiring National Park. You’re looking out at some of the biggest mountains in the area. On an especially clear day, you can even make out the ocean—it’s only twenty or thirty kilometers away. On the way back to town, we may ski a run called Malifies. The summit is two thousand meters. Down below is the Matukituki Valley—rich green farmlands dotted with sheep, deer, and the Matukituki River, which flows into Lake Wanaka. We stop about a thousand meters above the valley and are picked up. As the helicopter zooms off above the sheep, it’s a very New Zealand moment.”
As mentioned above, the Squirrels don’t need a lot of room to touch down. This can open up some interesting terrain, as Mark explained. “Last winter, I had a professional skier and a helicopter pilot skiing with me. In front of us, there was a sharp mountaintop. As we’re approaching the peak, I heard the skier say to the pilot, ‘We’re not going to land on that, are we?’ The pilot replied, ‘Hell no.’ We proceeded to land right at the top. They didn’t have much to say but their smiles showed their thoughts.
“I think they were impressed.”
MARK SEDON has been a full-time, internationally qualified (IFMGA) climbing and ski guide for twelve years. He has guided over a dozen Himalayan expeditions including summiting Mount Everest. Mark has also guided six expeditions to date to Antarctica including two ski expeditions. He’s guided in Europe, Alaska, South America, Indonesia, and extensively in New Zealand. He also has led several Northern Hemisphere winter ski experiences in places like Utah (four winters), Canada (one), Japan (one) and Austria (two). He is a respected avalanche forecaster and teaches courses to students varying in experience from beginner to experienced guides. He is an approachable, enthusiastic guide who is driven to deliver good-quality, enjoyable skiing that’s safe. Mark wrote and supplied photos for his book, Classic Rock Climbing in New Zealand, and co-wrote Adventure Consultant’s Climbers Guide. He now operates Kiwi Ski Guide (www.kiwiskiguide.com) in addition to his work with Harris Mountains Heli-Ski in New Zealand and Kashmir Heli Ski in Gulmarg, India.
If You Go
Getting There: Visitors fly into Queenstown, which is served by Air New Zealand (800-262-1234; www.airnewzealand.com) via Auckland and Christchurch.
Season: The heli-ski season in the Southern Alps generally runs from July through September. Nearby areas (Coronet and The Remarkables) are open June through October.
Lift Tickets: A day of heli-skiing out of Queenstown with Harris Mountain Heli-Ski (www.heliski.co.nz) begins at $845 (NZ).
Level of Difficulty: Skiers/riders should be of at least intermediate ability. Guides can take you to terrain that’s as challenging as you wish to bite off.
Accommodations: Destination Queenstown (+64 3 441 0700; www.queenstown-nz.co.nz) lists lodging options in the Southern Alps’s hub town.
