Join the club and ski New Zealand

THE days of solitary powder runs and old school lifts are getting harder and harder to come by, unless you embark on a private tour like this one.

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LIKE its mountains, the roads that lead to New Zealand's peaks are not to be underestimated. They tend to be alarmingly narrow with deadly drops on one side. What's more, locals simply accept this as a fact of life and expect everyone else to do the same.

 The trouble is, we can't, and that's why we were ever so thankful Black Diamond Safaris' guide and local, Symon "Festa" Dent was behind the wheel of the custom-built four-wheel-drive transporting our group up the "road" to Craigieburn ski field, leaving us to wonder what on earth lay in store at the top instead of stressing about how to keep the wheels on the ground.

Private runs
Craigieburn is a club field one of several non-commercial ski fields peppered across the South Island of New Zealand. These club and private fields are renowned for wild terrain, excellent snow, tricky but efficient rope tows instead of multimillion-dollar lifts, and basic lodges where visitors bring all their own food and linen, all of which creates a cosy like-minded camaraderie not found in the big commercial fields.

And so, we must confess, as expert skiers we thought ourselves too good to join what appeared to be a ski tour group. But those in the know convinced us that being guided through these far-flung parts was a wise option and by the end of our four-day sojourn we were more than happy to have swallowed our pride and signed up with Black Diamond Safaris.

Without them it's highly likely we would have ended up only on the main runs and never ventured into some of the spectacular back country surrounding us. Local knowledge is almost essential for anyone visiting these ski fields, and it's also important to know they're really only geared for intermediate to advanced skiers. There is no substitute for guides who know every route and whose radios tune into ski patrol channels to reveal which slopes are about to open or avalanche for that matter.

But back to Craigieburn. We parked amid the regular cars (no luxury vehicles in this carpark) and buckled on the simple but ingenious waist harness and clamp (called a nutcracker) system that attaches to the basic rope tows. Mastering this apparatus that skiers literally have to attach with split-second perfection to the fast-moving ropes brings its own sweet sense of reward.

Craigieburn is renowned as one of the best club fields for good skiers and this is immediately obvious from the base: steep slopes rise in all directions serviced by one tricky little rope tow. Up above are more glorious slopes with hike-to options to the skiers' lift, which beckoned us over in the afternoon. Mid-slope is a warming hut with basic but hearty food.

That afternoon, Symon led our group down the long steep bowl off Craigieburn's flanks, which was followed with a long slow trek back up the road to the carpark. It pays to be fit for a club field. This is anything but a commercial ski field experience, with plenty of walking (if you choose), but the simplicity of it all, coupled with the excellent terrain, made us enthusiastic for more.

That night we were taken back to our base for the next few nights, Glenthorne Station, a working sheep farm with a bunch of cosy cabins. Gorgeous meals are served in the central homestead.

Moving on
The following day it was Mt Olympus's turn to impress. We bumped up another rough road to find more impressive terrain with ridges bearing names such as Little Alaska, thanks to short but perilously steep fall lines. Symon, though, had other ideas. He hiked us up and out of bounds above the slopes to the Sphinx and we skied out along the top of the ridge before descending Mt Olympus ski field's farthest reaches. Lunch in the rustic club-built lodge followed, where despite our food-induced sleepiness we all voted to finish the day with another leg-burning hike up to the Sphinx to this time drop over the back into the completely wild fields beyond.

Our decision was royally rewarded. Four of us spread out across three mountain sides for an unforgettable ski down the wide, rolling valley. The snow line finished at a shale slope, forcing us to take off our skis and gingerly tread across the loose scree to the valley bottom.

Night fell and the moon rose as we walked out along the road. Although loving every minute, there were audible sighs of relief when our truck's lights loomed in the blackness, signalling the end of our arduous adventure and the promise of food and warmth back at Glenthorne Station.

Day three dawned and it was off to Broken River, Craigieburn's neighbour. As of last year, visitors no longer have to make the hour-long walk from the carpark through beech forest to reach the lifts. We were among the first to experience the luxury of riding the goods lift to the lodge area, but even from there it was another 15-minute trek up the stairways around the lodges to the rope tows.

Broken River, like Craigieburn, is another steep area but smaller and even more rustic. Its base lodge is large and fitted out with barbecue and every other cooking device for self-catering. Keas native mountain parrots abound, dancing across the deck and delighting visitors. It's the perfect place to end a three-day whirlwind introduction to the club fields.

Club fields are easy enough to visit yourself, but do require a good degree of self-reliance and a lot of research for a first-timer.

The benefits are that they are cheaper and offer the simple lodge-based experience of yesteryear, rather than the slick pseudo city-style holiday offered by virtually every major commercial ski resort the world over.

Symon and Heather Dent at BDS, however, will smooth the way and by the end of the trip they'll feel more like friends than ski guides.

More: blackdiamondsafaris.co.nz

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