Winter 2012 has truly kicked off down here in the beautiful Southern Lakes region. The average current snow base is 1m+ with coverage extending to the full length of our runs in most areas. In other words, things are looking good! Our guides have been keeping their eyes on the weather forecasts and are predicting a continuation of the regular snowfalls we’ve seen so far this year.
With great snow coverage across our vast terrain, we’ve already been out there for our first taster of 2012 powder! A week ago we headed off for our first heli ski adventure of the season, into the Wanaka backcountry for an Air New Zealand film shoot with ex pro snowboarder Hayley Holt and Australian model and celebrity Lara Bingle (of “Where the bloody hell are you?!” fame). We landed on Triple Peak, Wanaka and were greeted with 50cm of champagne powder. A great start, we’re sure you’ll agree!
Here’s to winter 2012, may it be a very snowy one with lots of powder turns and high fives! Our awesome team of guides are looking forward to showing our clients, old and new, the time of their lives! Haven’t booked yet? Check out the heli ski day packages we offer in Queenstown, Wanaka and Mount Cook… and get in touch with our friendly team.
Big smiles after a day of early season powder! Hayley Holt, HMH guide Dean Staples (9 times Everest summiter) and Lara Bingle.
Wanaka based Harris Mountains Heli Ski guide Whitney Thurlow has been hard at work in his role as chief guide for Aspiring Guides, all summer long down here in New Zealand. He’s looking forward to a trip to Peru in May where he’ll be exploring the mountains and kite surfing.
Whitney climbing and guiding on Mount Aspiring, Wanaka
Here’s our latest video, filmed before the huge storm which topped up our terrain with lots of awesome fresh deep powder. The last few days have been absolutely epic and the weather is looking fantastic throughout the weekend too, so if you were thinking about joining us for a heli ski or snowboarding day, now is the time. Conditions are currently awesome!
Another fantastic day out heli skiing and heli boarding in the beautiful North Harris Mountains powder and terrain. Enjoy our latest video! Lots more great untracked snow and terrain out there to explore. It’s the Season of Powder in New Zealand and August is prime time. Come join us, we promise you’ll have the time of your life.
Last week Wanaka big mountain skier Fraser McDougall joined us for an adrenaline filled heli ski day to remember. Fraser is a North Face, Oakley, Icebreaker and Volkl athlete. He regularly travels all over the world to ski, a recent highlight being his trip to Alaska with The North Face – keep up to date with Fraser’s ski adventures on his blog. He was very excited to join us for a day of heli skiing in his own epic backyard in Wanaka last week! Check out the fantastic video he made of his day with us below.
The powder has been never ending, our clients have been having the most incredible experiences ever! The weekend snow storms deposited 30cm+ of fresh goodness across our extensive terrain and we enjoyed more silky deep powder snow on Monday.
Here are a few shots from 25th July, skiing from the Mototapu Ridge, Wanaka. Share your photos with us and the world on our Facebook page!
A very stoked client getting waist deep.
HMH Guides… don’t these guys just have the best job in the world?
We’re pretty sure life doesn’t get more fun than this!
HMH Chief Guide, Dean Staples… Mount Everest climber and heli ski guide extraordinaire!
The Season of Powder in New Zealand continues! Last week was simply mind blowing. Fresh powder all over our terrain, the longest runs we can remember skiing all the way to the valley floors, lots of sunshine, delicious lunches and very happy clients. It really doesn’t get better than this! We got 30cm+ fresh snow over the weekend, topping up the already fantastic conditions.
Check out our video from 22nd July, skiing and snowboarding in the awesome North Buchanans range near Wanaka. If you have been heli skiing or snowboarding with us recently, we’d love to check out our videos and photos too! Please ‘like’ our Facebook page and share your photos, videos and experiences on our wall.
Check out our latest video filmed on 20th July, heli skiing and snowboarding on the Motatapu Ridge near Wanaka. We have super fun terrain suitable for every level of ability from intermediate through to expert. As we always say… if you can ski, you can heli ski! Our guides have decades of experience and will take you to the best snow and terrain suited to your ability level.
We’re now one week into the heli ski season, and wow what a week it’s been! 2m+ of fresh powder all over our terrain throughout Wanaka, Queenstown and Mount Cook, bluebird sunshine days, perfect and deep snow, stoked guides, lots of fun flying in helicopters, amazing lunches, high fives, very very excited and happy clients (lots of whom couldn’t stop themselves and came back for more day after day of epic pow turns). This is why everyone says heli skiing and snowboarding with us is “the best day of their lives!” – we love nothing more than to share our beautiful mountain playground of varied terrain and great snow with you!
Check out our latest video, filmed on 17th July in the incredible North Buchanans range near Wanaka. Enjoy!
If you have been out with us in the last week, we’d love to see your photos and videos too. Please share your powder love on the HMH Facebook page!
Welcome to the 2011 winter season…. and so far, we’re calling it the season of powder! Mother nature held off and held off, but last week she dumped like no other season we can remember. Conditions went from zero to all time in a matter of a few days, with 2m+ of fresh snow falling throughout our extensive terrain.
Since our heli ski season opened last week, we’ve had a succession of incredible bluebird powder days with clients making repeat bookings and coming back for more! With such epiiic coverage our guides and clients have been able to ski to the valley floor. Two of our guides, Roachy and Russell skied to the valley floor from the Motatapu Ridge near Wanaka, for the first time in over 30 years!
If you are thinking of heli skiing or snowboarding with us this season, don’t miss out – the time is now! E-mail us or call our team on +64 (0)3 442 6722. Check out our range of heli ski package options in our 3 locations – Queenstown, Wanaka and Mount Cook – on our Packages & Prices page. For daily updates, snow reports and powder alerts, check out our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter!
For a taste of the action, check out this video shot on 16th July in the North Harris Mountains. The video opens with the journey over the Crown Range from Queenstown to Wanaka, completely covered in snow!
Travelling over the Crown Range between Queenstown and Wanaka for a day of epic heli skiing, look at all that snow!
Untouched deep powder, just the way we like it!
One of our awesome guides, Chris Cochrane – this guy will lead you to the best terrain and snow!
