Going on my first overnight ski-touring mission was a daunting prospect. I’d never camped in the snow before and I’d only done a handful of day tours in the local backcountry surrounding Wanaka, New Zealand. But when the call came, I dropped all commitments and quickly assembled the gear I would need for three days ski touring in the Southern Alps.
We left the base of the Remarkables ski field and skinned up the side of the piste as passing punters looked on inquisitively as to why we weren’t using the lifts. As we reached the top of the chairlift, the cloud that had closed in around the mountain earlier that morning showed no sign of lifting. We knew that there was a chance of cloud due to the easterly flow that had developed, but we didn’t think it would be this bad.
Despite the total whiteout we dropped out the back of the ski boundary into the great white unknown.