Profile of Freddy

So how old do you have to be to go Ski Touring?

Going Touring with your kids is cool!

New standards of "cool" were set by the Rees Family who joined us for a couple of Ski Tours this week on the Pisa and backcountry TC.    Guided by NZMGA Ski Guide,  Geoff Small, Dad and his boys 16 & 14 really set the pace.  Even their 12 year old sister has got the bug!    Go team Rees!!  **Update... little sister is actually only 10 years old - even more of a star **

More for the Weather Geeks

Was there any doubt that we're in the Roaring 40's?

According to the weather guru's ie., our guides - the weird Easterly flow of an La Nina weather pattern has "left the building" and the windbag El Nino is moving in for the summer.   

It's dumping down with snow on the west coast, which is great to fill in all those crevasses ready for the summer climbing season and prime ski touring months of September & October.    But over this side of the divide we've been getting some extraordinarily strong wind - gusts up to 140km/hr!!    Whit decided, wisely not to get the kite out for kite-skiing this week!

If you are weather geeks like us and you'd like to understand more about the El Nino & La Nina weather effects - here's the link to our NZ long term weather forecasters - NIWA.

Spring has sprung!

4.30pm - September 1st

9.30am - September 3rd

Pictures courtesy of Whare Kea Chalet at 1700m.

How's this for the first few days of spring?!  Over 50cm of fresh new snow to help keep our toes tickling with ski fever.

Woohoo!!!

A new Winter Olympic Sport?

Just couldn't help myself with this one!

Avalanche Awareness Course - the latest!

aka Winter Backcountry Awareness Course with Aspiring Guides

Our 4 day course is all about teaching you the smart way to access the NZ backcountry.  Avalanche awareness, terrain selection, transceiver searching and avalanche recovery are all part of this.  But in addition, we teach you how to survive in the backcountry with skills like navigation and building emergency shelters.   Our Black Peak Hut is a unique location for this.  Located at 1800m far from any commercial ski field you are in the true NZ Backcountry  (not just ducking the ropes at a ski field).  

Check out the photos from our latest course just back on Monday. 

More from Summit to Sea

A picture is worth a thousand words, so 14 pictures should be pretty damn good!