Not far from Queenstown is a place called Steep White. Its up by Mt Larkins and you can heli in from Queenstown or if your real keen hike/skin from Glenorchy. We went there recently for a Diaries Down Under trip. Expectations were pretty low due to the recent snow conditions and weather forecast but we were pleasantly surprised with how the trip went, the terrain, the hut and even the snow was amazingly good. Definitely recommend getting up there if you get the chance.
This is when we first landed. We had a buzz around to check the terrain close by and snow looked pretty good. The heli took off to go pick up the rest of our gear. Its rad when the heli leaves and you realise how far away from everything you are.
The sun setting on the hut. It gets super cold once the sun goes down and everything starts to freeze. The hut was so warm that as soon as you went in it was trackies and t-shirts
Snowshoes were a must although all the terrain is super close to the hut. I remember some of the other missions we have done, having to snowshoe for hours to get to terrain before you even start to climb it.
This is looking up at the peak above the hut. the snow up here was variable for us making it pretty scary however if you got this with good pow it would be so epic.
Mack and Hyne hanging in the hut. The hut times were super fun. Dan Kelly and his wife Christine Grant own and operate the hutt, they are super interesting to talk to about the area and anything else. They stay up in the hut while your there and talk care of the hut, heat, food and anything else you need. I don't think we were ever hungry, the food was real good, kinda different from the usual hut rations you eat when you rough it.
About to drop into a line with Heath and Vaughan shooting from the heli.
Kea's are unique to the South Island of New Zealand and despite always wrecking your stuff are pretty cool. They are the only mountain parrot in the world. They are super cheeky and curious and this trip they ate my bindings for two days straight. Here they are trying to get my gloves to.
This guy hung out and kept me company while I was hiking along this ridge.
This selfie shows the area well. Below me are a number of shoots then a big open field down to the hut(the hut is in the picture but hard to see, its on the right at the low point of the ridge running down from my hand)). Right in the middle of the shot are a number of shoots, they look small in the picture but they are actually really good. Below the hut is some rolly terrain that is super fun. There is also some good rolls and terrain to build jumps just over the ridge from the hut
nick brown snowboard
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