CLOCKWISE FROM MAIN: A phalanx of
snowmobiles careening o'er virgin snow in
the foothills of Aoraki; a Glacier Southern
Lakes chopper disgorges passengers near the
snowmobile trailhead
A
hh Queenstown, perhaps the
most renowned winter
playground in the southern
hemisphere. I say this as an
Aussie, too. There’s a lot to be said for
Australian Alpine regions — our
backcountry route development in recent
years, for instance, has been superb. But,
really, there’s nothing in Australia that
compares to the upjutting jagged
magnificence of Aoraki (Mt Cook) or Mt
Aspiring. The geological age of our lands
is far too old. Which is great, but for a
host of other reasons which we won’t
delve into at this juncture. Our Alpine
regions, atop the Great Dividing Range,
home to bushrangers and hideouts of
yore, are too ancient and time-worn to
compete, in pure ski-freak eye-candy
parlance, with the precocious,
comparatively youthful, peaks of New
Zealand.
“There’s nothing in
Australia that
compares to the
upjutting jagged
magnificence of
Aoraki (Mt Cook)
or Mt Aspiring.”
Outdoor \ 35