Last August Will, Jarred, Sam Baker, John Blair and I (George) went on a week-long trip of the South Island club fields.
This was the fourth South Island trip that we have done and the first one in winter. The Southern Alps of New Zealand is one of my favourite places in the world and getting right up into them on the club fields was one of the best ways to experience them.
The club fields are an experience within themselves. To begin with, you have to get there which generally involves a sketchy 4wd followed by a good hike with all your gear. After spending a week at the club fields you quickly realise that it is more about the social aspect of it than skiing. This is especially so when you get bluebird weather as we did and it is icy until 10 am.
The walk into one of the ski fields.
They have a pretty rudimental lift that carries your stuff up to the hut luckily. These ski clubs are really institutions within themselves and being from the North Island we felt lucky to be welcomed along to these iconic NZ ski fields.
The rope tows on the club fields get you so far, but if you want to get anywhere decent you really need to do a bit of hiking.
You can't really beat a bluebird day up the mountain. We were lucky enough to get five of them in a row, which didn't do much for the snow but made for an epic time.
The cladding was being replaced on this hut which provided the perfect platform to have beers on whilst watching the sun go down.
The boys.