The Route

Te Ika-a-Māui – The North Island

In late June we’ll ride away from Cape Rēinga, the most northerly point of NZ and a long way from any snow-covered mountains. Traversing Northland we’ll swing into the suburbs of Auckland for our first ski. It might be beyond a stretch to call Snow Planet a snow resort, but it is New Zealand’s only indoor ski slope, on artificial snow!

1 skied, 24 to go!

Getting our cycling legs, to a large extent we’ll follow the Tour Aotearoa bikepacking route down toward Taupō then pick up the Pureora/Timber Trail and across to the volcano of Taranaki and the tiny club skifield of Manganui. Heading back east, we reach the imposing volcanic massif of Ruapehu to ski, and hopefully ski tour between the resorts of Whakapapa and Turoa and the Tukino clubfield.

5 skied, 20 to go!

On down the Remutaka cycle trail to Wellington, the capital of NZ, where we hope to view the Treaty of Waitangi, the 1840 agreement between the British crown and the Māori inhabitants.

Time to load our bikes onto a yacht and hopefully good conditions for the sail across Cook Strait to reach Nelson and Te Waipounamu. By now we’ll have covered some 2000km in a little over a month and winter will deepen as we head ever further south.

Te Waipounamu – The South Island

Gravel and asphalt roads will see us pick a route to Rainbow, Hanmer and Mt Lyford skifields, celebrating Laurence’s birthday en route and getting used to long climbs up access roads to earn our turns.

Heading over to the West Coast we loop around to Arthur’s Pass to ski Temple Basin. TB mirrors the beauty and madness of the Kiwi clubfield scene – a 500m ascent on foot to the ski area lodges and lifts.

Hopefully time will allow a few days R&R at the Mote family house at Castle Hill before, like dominoes, five skifields fall in quick succession. First Porters then hopefully a ski tour, the’ Craigieburn Haute Route,’ taking in Craigieburn, Broken River, Mt Cheeseman and Mt Olympus.

14 skied, 11 to go!

We leave the playground of the gods at Mt Olympus and weave through to Mt Hutt, the first of our big commercial fields on the South Island.

Riding into Mackenzie Country it’s a long climb up to Mt Dobson for a ski before heading to little Fox Peak where, after a day on the rope tows, we hope conditions will allow a ski tour across to Roundhill ski area with its picture perfect position above Lake Tekapo and the bulk of Aoraki, New Zealand’s highest peak, in the distance.

Skirting the alpine lakes of Tekapo, Pukaki and Ōhau, we reach comfortable Ōhau Lodge. After a ski at Ōhau we follow the Alps2Ocean trail down into Waitaki region and the tiny Awakino clubfield, needing to time it to the weekend only opening hours.

20 skied, 5 to go!

Now over two months into our Odyssey, we enter September and curve west into Central Otago. Heading back toward the main alpine divide, Naseby, the home of NZ Curling, will offer a chance to try this esoteric Winter Olympic sport.

Snow Farm, New Zealand’s only dedicated XC Ski area, will give us a chance to hop onto lightweight ski gear and go for a blast. Unfortunately, unlike Alpine Odyssey Australia, where I timed my arrival to take part in the Kangaroo Hoppet XC ski marathon, we’ll miss the Merino Muster marathon at Snow Farm by a week or so.

With just 4 resorts left, all big ones, a long descent to Cardrona village is immediately followed by an equally long ascent will see us skiing at Cardrona. Down, down we head again and around to Wānaka. Hopefully our timing will allow us to join Green Steam, a Protect Our Winters event, where we can join 100 or more other riders all carrying skis or snowboards, all riding up the access road to Treble Cone and a skin climb to the summit of the ski area. Hopefully!

From TC we plan to complete a 3-4 night ski tour, the Mahu Whenua Traverse, across from Treble Cone to Coronet Peak, our penultimate ski area. From there, near the end of a remarkable journey, we climb back on the bikes to ride to The Remarkables and our final runs, our final ski.

After the delights of Queenstown, we have just a few days and a few hundred kilometres to think back on the past 3 months of our winter journey. To Bluff, the most southerly town of NZ and then onto Slope Point, fittingly named given our journey and our skiing. This, the most southerly point of the South Island, is the endpoint of Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa.