Parts 1 & 2 covered both Africa and Australia. Next stop NZed.

This segment will be mostly a scenic photoshow highlighting some of the world-class ski terrain I observed this summer while exploring the Southern Alps. I ended up with very few action photos, but there are a few here worth having a look at.

The enchantments of Middle Earth certainly lived up to their expectations, land of snowy summits, deep greens, and crystal clear blue waters.

Some views of NZed’s high ones, Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook from the west.

Snow was sparse in NZed this winter, yet nevertheless I got out into it, climbed, toured, and found good snow.

I returned from a hike in the forest to find a Parrot perched on my split!

The little guy tried to rip my rack straps off and tried to chew on one of my pucks!

Later some kiwis would warn me that these wild alpine parrots (Keas) will attack any piece of gear you leave lying around. Rad.

Terrain continued…

They say NZ ecology is all about the native birds. I agree. Standing on the beach here is a yellow eyed penguin.

After beach camping and looking for penguins I returned to the snow.

Then back to the coast to take in the extraordinary sights.

And after each session of deep green and blue immersion, back to the mountains for colder campsites and more turns.

Mt. Cook from the southeast.




Caroline Face/East Face, Mt. Cook

Couldn’t help but to throw down for some heli accessed deep pow turns and terrain explorations in the heart of the Alps.

Tasman from the east

Followed by more waterside camping and general relaxation in the sun and forests.

And just a bit more snow before I needed to fly back to Alaska.

Mt. Aspiring

I had Aspirations to ride one of the monster west facing super couloirs off the Remarkables. I approached from the resort boundary and looked for something doable from above, in my quest I got lost, socked in by heavy cloud cover. I tried to wait it out for a window, to no avail. As evening set in I picked my way down a fun easterly dog leg route instead.

It’s probably not a good idea to take your dog ski touring in some parts of NZ these days. The 1080 poison issue is a big deal in New Zealand. As a wildlife management professional, I decided to educate myself on the ins-and-outs of 1080 and it seems to me that NZDOC is trying to do the right thing to save the native birds, against pretty much insurmountable odds.

I was lucky to score some good powder on this trip. I also rode lots of ice, windboard, sastrugi, and corn. Over the years I have often heard from folks that NZ isn’t worth the bother for ski trips. These folks need to broaden their horizons and realize there is more to riding than just finding perfect easy to access snow. For the hearty and adventurous there are lifetimes of wonderful splitboarding and climbing in NZed.

At this point I had nearly completed my circumnavigation of the eastern southern hemisphere with my splitboard. I began in Alaska and from there traveled to Frankfurt, stopped in Dubai and took a quick swim in the Indian Ocean, went from there to Johanesburg, made the most out what snow I could find in southern Africa, stopped over in Singapore and went for a hike in the jungle, before arriving in Australia to make powder turns guided by Dreamtime, and finally to NZ and the Southern Alps. Before I jumped on the extended air journey from Aukland to LAX and on to Anchorage I took a few days on the beach to wind down from these two months of seeing the world. If you have made it this far, thanks for viewing. Whenever possible I always like to end a good mountain trip with a wind down on a warm beach. I’ll leave you all with that.

SS Spring 2015.