FAQs

Most trips start in Wānaka and you will need accommodation in town the night before the trip. We will ask where you are staying so your guide can meet you at your accommodation on the morning of the trip or at one of our meeting points (below).

For some trips we may schedule a phone or video call a few days before or a catch up in person the evening before to run through the plan, any equipment questions and there will be the opportunity for questions.

For some trips, for example the Remarkables or based out of Mount Cook, it is possible to arrange to meet you guide there.

We will email you an equipment list of the required equipment prior to the start of the trip. If you have any questions about equipment, please get in touch by email or phone. If you don’t have items on the list, let us know and we can advise if we can provide it or it can be hired or brought locally. All required technical and safety equipment is provided for trips and courses though ifyou have your own, bring it along an let us know.

Limited hire splitboard equipment is available in Wanaka and needs to be arranged in advance. Equipment can be hired from MT Outdoors in Wanaka, Snowboard Workshop in Queenstown or couriered from SplitN2 in Christchurch. If hiring snowboard equipment, make sure that you have splitboard crampons as these are required for all splitboard trips.

We can run private trips on request and schedule group courses and tours weekly during winter. Group tours require minimum numbers to run and in the event of it not filling up you will be asked to top-up to a private rate or given the option to reschedule. This allows us to keep our pricing fair and reasonable.

New Zealand’s mountain weather is highly maritime influenced and it is possible to experience unsettled periods of weather that may affect the itinerary or objectives of a trip. If this is the case, your guide will be able to suggest alternative venues or activities.

Trips and courses run in the Treble Cone backcountry need a lift ticket for access. If you don’t have a Treble Cone Season ticket, day touring tickets can brought from the ticket office at the base of the ski field on the day.

There is a small domestic airport in Wānaka and the closest international airport is in Queenstown, which is 1 to 1.5 hours drive away.

Ritchies offer bus shuttles from Queenstown airport to Wānaka. Private transfers are available through Wānaka Transfers or Yello.

Alternatively, depending on flights and deals, it may be more cost effective to hire a car, drive yourself to Wānaka and self-drive during the trip.

Our services do not include insurance for your personal circumstances that may prevent you from carrying out a booked trip (including but not limited to travel, injury, medical and family emergencies).

In the event that you need to cancel your trip, we reserve a right to charge a cancellation fee (see Terms and Conditions. We highly recommend purchasing travel cancellation insurance in case you have to cancel your trip at short notice for unforeseen circumstances. Please contact your travel agent or insurance company for more information on this.

For New Zealand residents the New Zealand Alpine Club offers good value trip trip cancellation insurance.

We are very used to working around the NZ weather and have lots of options up our sleeves. If Treble Cone is open, we are able to run a successful course there regardless of the weather. If the road or lifts are closed then we can also relocate the course to Cardrona which usually is a bit more protected from the westerlies or another venue.