Since Heliski Holiday is all about heliskiing, it’s time to highlight New Zealand Heliskiing.
Heli skiing in NZ takes place on the South Island and with just over 8500 Mountains, known as the Southern Alps, there are plenty of places to Heli Ski. The main divide,otherwise known as the Southern Alps, averages up to 12 meters of snow per season with 3 main companies operating a hand full of smaller operations.
Alpine Guides which Run Methven Heli ski and Mount Cook Heliski. https://www.mtcookheliski.co.nz/ https://www.methvenheli.co.nz/
South lakes Heli Ski which operates out of Wanaka and Queenstown https://www.southernlakesheliski.com/
Harris Mountain Heliski which operates out ofQueenstown and Wanaka and Mt Cook https://www.heliski.co.nz/
NewZealand has some fantastic snow covered mountains and many of them are only accessible by helicopter. Most New Zealand heliskiing operators have hundreds of thousands of hectares of ski terrain with hundreds of runs. The alpine terrain is incredibly diverse from easy rolling terrain for powder first timers to open steep bowls, gnarly chutes, and features to leap off.
Like in BC, the terrain skied will depend on the avalanche stability and also group’s ability. Having your own group manages ability so the group gets what they are looking for or having a private charter means the group has access to more challenging terrain.
Unlike BC, NZ heli operators offer daily and private charter packages only but are designed to meet ability levels from intermediate to expert. Here is a guide to how group ability levels are graded, provided by Powder Hounds:
Heli 1 - Intermediate Skier/Rider
You Ski/Board the blue runs, only sometimes go off piste, have little or no powder experience and Ski/Board up to 10 days per season.
Heli 2 - Intermediate-Advanced Skier/Rider
You Ski/Board the blue runs and some easier black runs, sometimes go off piste in good conditions, have some powder experience and Ski/ Board 10-20 days perseason.
Heli 3 - Advanced Skier/Rider
You mainly Ski/Board black runs, go off piste most of the time, have many days of powder experience and Ski/Board over 20 days per season.
Heli 4 - Expert Skier/Rider
You always Ski/Board black and double black runs, mostly Ski/Board offpiste, and are an accomplished powder and “all snow condition”Skier/Boarder. You Ski/Board 40 days plus per season.
Heliski season starts in July and runs until September. Operations are not Lodge based, you don’t stay on the mountain. The accommodation would be in towns of Methven, Mt Cook , Wanaka and Queenstown, all very short drives.
Like all heli ski destinations our expert services are free. But unlike BC heli ski operations we have not been there so ALL information provided is given to us by the operators in the case of a reservation. My colleague Jonathan stands by to assist Heliski Holiday with any inquiries.
Heli ski Holiday will not play favorites and will always so what is possible in the clients best interest while staying true to the heli ski operators of BC and Internationally.
