The Fox Glacier & Franz Joseph glacier alpine ski touring & snowboarding trips are based from the high mountain huts on the west coast glacier neves - Pioneer Hut, Centennial Hut, Almer Hut. All three of these huts offer incredible glacier skiing with views all the way to the ocean.
The Mt Cook area with the Tasman & Murchison glaciers offer some of the Southern Alps most spectacular powder and spring skiing, with incredible views of New Zealand's highest mountains, and long glacier ski runs.
The Tasman Glacier skiing area is one of our favourite areas with a variety of terrain from gentle corn runs on the neve through to steep and deep powder runs for expert skiers. Our hut-based trips make use of the high mountain hut system in the Tasman Glacier skiing region. The three main huts in this area are Kelman and Tasman Saddle hut on the Tasman Glacier, and Murchison hut on the Murchison Glacier. We have the option of being based at one hut or doing a multi-day ski traverse between huts. For the even more adventurous we can fly into more remote areas and use lightweight tent camps for our base camp.
The high neves of the Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers offer a variety of skiing for all levels. For intermediate skiers there are spectacular gentle neve runs, for stronger skiers there is the option of finding steep skiing. It is possible to ski off the summits of the mountains at the head of the Fox and Franz when conditions are right. We can start the trip at Centennial hut or Pioneer hut depending on your goals for the trip. A ski traverse of the Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers is also possible. On the final day we usually ski down the Fox Glacier to Chancellor Hut. This is a spectacular and classic glacial ski run underneath some of New Zealand's highest mountains.
We use a helicopter to access the high mountain huts. Flying in enables us to bring in a good supply of food so we can enjoy relaxing with a good meal after a big day of riding.
Other related trips
6 Day Ski Mountaineering & Backcountry Avalanche Course
Client review
"My wife and I just finished a 5-day ski touring trip on the Fox Glacier with Mike and QMG and absolutely loved it. Mike worked diligently to coordinate the location of the trip, helicopters, and huts to make sure we got the most out of our 5 day trip on the Glacier. We had lots of fresh and tasty food including bacon and eggs every morning, fruit, Thai curry, pad Thai, and Mexican. The daily ski tours were awesome and included skiing and climbing various summits and high cols. Mike genuinely wanted us to have a great and safe experience and took the time to explain and teach us about the intricacies of skiing and climbing in NZ. All that said, it felt like Mike was not only our guide for the 5-day trip, but our guide for our entire trip to New Zealand. He offered us suggestions on more skiing and hiking in NZ after our Fox Glacier trip, and even had some topo maps and weather reports printed off for us to go by. Special thanks to Mike and Marina for the great bed and breakfast after the trip as well! 5 stars. We highly recommend Queenstown Mountain Guides." C Beyer - Canada