Pisa Range Ski Touring

Pisa Range Tour

A taste of winter backcountry

Join us for a unique opportunity to go beyond the ski area boundary into the backcountry,

with the security of your own qualified guide.

This is the easy way to cruise over rolling hills and experience what the backcountry touring buzz is about. This may even be your chance to experience your first turns down a virgin snow slope. Ooooh!

Your Guide will provide a relaxed way to learn the basics of snowboard, telemark,

alpine or nordic touring. Tourers preferring to use only snowshoes and poles are most

welcome.

Kirtle Burn hut is a DOC hut and has 7 bunks. We spend two nights here in the Pisa

Range Conservation Area. Awake high in the mountains, ready for more!

We don’t need any technical gear such as axes and crampons, but we do need to carry

our personal clothes and a sleeping bag to the hut. We will aim to tour with a light

day pack each day.

"I stand spellbound. Below me is a snow slope of such absolute purity I expect to wake from this dream at any moment. But - the cold mountain air I inhale and the glare of the snow are more than real. I pause before pushing off, to allow my overloaded senses to become accustomed to the surroundings. So much adrenaline. It is a handicap to good technique and I want to sign this slope perfectly, with tracks that do justice to the surroundings.

My guide beckons from below, and I push off into the fall-line. Such snow, gossamer, engulfing my boots, there is no resistance and it is as if I'm floating through a cloud. The sensation is exquisite and I don't want it to end."

You will come away with -

an exhilarating backcountry touring experience
an introduction to avalanche transceivers
practice using avalanche transceivers
techniques using updated touring gear
improved transition time - downhill to uphill

ITINERARY -

DAY 1 -

Meet our guide in Wanaka. Check equipment and make final preparations. Drive one hour to Pisa Conservation area. From here we “sign in” to the Conservation area, and tour 3 hours to Kirtle Burn Hut. Afternoons can be spent skiing local bowls, or having a lesson sharpening your downhill skills.

DAY 2 -

Day tour to the spectacular summit plateau and Column Rocks, with majestic views of Mount Aspiring and the Southern Alps. The gentle rolling terrain is great for learners, with some steeper bowls for the more advanced.

DAY 3 -

A gentle ski downhill track leads back to the Roaring Meg Valley, and a short uphill back to the main trail head. For the more adventurous, a longer route down the wilder Prince Burn is available.

A moderate to high level of fitness is required for this trip, and it is suitable for beginner to advanced skiers/boarders. Participants need to carry a backpack approximately 8-10 kg to the hut on the first day.

Initially the trip will be structured around instruction of techniques whilst acclimatising you to the mountain environment. Most days will involve 8 hours of activity. Some aspects of the mountains may seem foreign at the outset, but your guide is there to help ease you through these new challenges.

Photos courtesy Aspiring Guides

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