Tag Archives: mountain guiding NZ

Mountain Guiding

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Gaz and Phil are back from a great Fiordland Mountain adventure that went to Turners Biv at the head of Leader Creek( off Tutoko river valley below Mt Tutoko).

They flew in by Heli with Milford Helicopters, and then did a small excursion up toward Mt Madeline Glacier.

They then walked out down the rugged and not well traveled or marked leader creek exit route.

Amazing weather( which you need for such trips into the middle of the Darren mountains, Fiordland)

Awesome panorarmic veiw from up by the Madeline Glacier( spot Phil in red on round rock knob 1/3 in from left of pic)

from left: Mt Tutoko, Mt Madeline, Mt Syme

Mountain guiding @ Tasman Saddle

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Matt arrived from Aussie for what was planned as an Aspiring climb. The weather and conditions dictated that that was not a good plan, so Matt and Gary went North and flew into Tasman Saddle Hut and spent 5 days in that area. They took snow shoes which was great for dealing with the soft snow conditions.

A very uncommon sight was the red dust from interior Australia on the snow. Amazing how it can travel the 3000km over the Tasman Ocean to the southern alps….

The red Aussie dust on the Tasman Glacier

Matt on snow shoes – Aoraki Mt Cook in the back ground. Tasman Saddle area.

Alpine climbing – Mt Aspiring NZ

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Gary and John have finished off a project they started in March. In March they started their preparation for an attempt on Mt Aspiring with some local rock climbing and a traverse of the Remarkables in Queenstown.  So on Friday they flew into to Bevan Col with Aspiring helicopters and traveled in “glacier mode” across to Colin Todd Hut ( 1800m). Next morning after a 3.30am wake up they climbed the ‘kangaroo patch’ and buttress route  to the summit ( 3033m). Yeehaa. Well done John!

John and Gaz on the summit – alpine climbing at its best in NZ 🙂

Big peak, big country – the big alpine snow and ice peaks of the Southern Alps,

Mountain guiding Aspiring region NZ

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Late March, Mountain guide Gaz did  a trip into the Aspiring region with a client from Alpine Guides.  Glacier conditions where pretty reasonable – a result of the many storms during the summer putting down little bits of snow which has kept the glaciers in reasonable nick making for good mountain guiding conditions.

Mt Aspiring aerial image

Mt Aspiring – Aspiring climbing region, NZ

2016 classic mountaineering west coast nz

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January 2016, Ascents trip to the West coast, based at Centenial Hut. Great weather and we had the whole of the 8000ha of the Franz neve to ourselves! and the end of the week , a fantastic traverse of the Remarkables, above Queenstown….

Anthony on the summit of Single Cone, the third peak on the Remarkables traverse

Ant climbing on Mt Aurora, Franz Josef glacier, West coast nz

Ant climbing on Mt Aurora, Franz Josef glacier, West coast NZ

Private mountain guiding in New Zealand

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Guided mountaineering inNZ

Simon enjoying the climb

2014 ended with Gary taking Simon  from the UK on for a guided climb of Mt Cook. Simon and his wife Jacki had planned eight days based at the Alpinism & Ski studio with the plan for Gary and him to ultimately go for the ascent our New Zealand’s highest peak.

A training ‘exercise’ was a day out on the Remarkables for the classic and beautiful alpine traverse of Single and Double Cones. Stunning views, great rock formation, excellent climbing and just simply an awesome day out.

The team had some ‘weather issues’, and we all enjoyed a wine tour in the area too. But they finally were able to fly to Plateau hut and stood on the summit of Aoraki -Mt Cook (on his shoulder only of course:-) just a day before Christmas. Meanwhile at the base in Wanaka, preparations were going on for a xmas roast and welcome back for the blokes as well as some packing up and we saw our wonderful visitors off on further travels towards the Westcoast.

Mountain guide Gaz’ report on returning was that this had been the most complicated route finding through the Linda glacier he’d ever done. Our Private Mountain Guiding in New Zealand trips in the future will not likely include Mt Cook-Aoraki any more, as it is increasingly hard to climb and guides willing to do it not many around! Some more photos of this last Cook climb:

Mountain guiding in New Zealand

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Mountaineer Matt from Australia came back for a Pure Alpinism week in the Southern Alps and we were very happy to have IFMGA mountain guide Nico available as chief Gaz was booked already. Matt and Nico flew from Mt Cook village to Murchison hut, their base for the first few days of guided mountaineering in NZ.

Guided mountaineering in NZ

In the air and on the way to guided alpinism adventures

The adventures started with very nice weather but the next front was on them mid week and bunk bashing aka being hut bound happened, providing time to rest and read. The team relocated from Murchison hut to Tasman Saddle hut towards the end of the week and sun and blue skies were back again to finish off in style. Thanks Matt for the use of your photos and your feedback in the guestbook too!

Mountain Guiding in New Zealand

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The summer mountain guiding season in the Southern Alps of New Zealand is rapidly coming closer. Mid November sees our first Mt Cook-Aoraki ascents trip for chief guide Gaz. Instruction courses will again be part of his schedule and next month starts with a guides training week.

Closer to home, from our base or yours while in Wanaka, guided trekking excursions are again available with Iris and the native and exotic flora has started its display of budding and flowering with daily new magic popping out:

Flora & fauna in NZ

Fragrant broom, seen in flower in Wanaka during September!

Kowhai, native plant of NZ

Kowhai, always one of the first in Spring

flora & fauna of NZ

Vegetable sheep, native plants of NZ

Mountain Guiding in New Zealand from Wanaka

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Start a guided mountaineering adventure in Wanaka

views of Wanaka town, lake and mountains

No better place than Wanaka to start an Alpinism adventure in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The small town on the edge of lake Wanaka is only a short drive from Mt Aspiring National Park, a fabulous playground. It is very well situated to go either East to Mt Cook or West to Fox Glacier depending on weather conditions.

Chief guide Gaz is off this afternoon for a few days of mountain guiding in the Southern Alps of NZ with a Swiss couple. The weather forecast looks great and details of this alpinism adventure will follow.