The next two days 100 mph winds hit the mountains and barraged the Two Thumbs range. Ryan Nicols and I decided to do the Two Thumbs Range traverse from Roundhill to Dobson which was about 12 miles and 8,000 feet of vertical gain.
Sadly the upper rope tow at Roundhill wasn’t open yet so we toured up tussock from the parking lot.
Once we finally made it to the ridge we were stoked on the views but not on the snow. It was bulletproof ice, the wind had stripped away all that beautiful powder.
If and when the snow finally fell I was excited to head back to Round Hill. From the top of the T bar it gave amazing access to the backcountry.
From the ridge we had an amazing view down towards Lake Tekapo and the biggest peaks of the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
Looking towards the source of Lake Tekapo I was hoping to explore the Godley Valley. From the maps I could tell there was some great ski touring opportunities.
We were hoping to take a bunch of runs on the Two Thumb Range ski traverse but conditions were quite firm. Instead we just made the most out of the views.
It was a beautiful clear day as we kept moving on the Two Thumbs Range Traverse. Every direction offered amazing backcountry ski touring as we boot packed towards Mount Dobson.
instead of doing a ski tour we turned it into a mountaineering mission climbing along the ridges.
Looking deeper into the Two Thumbs Range we saw Mount Misery. This mountain was between Roundhill ski resort and Fox Peak. If they finally opened the road to Fox I was hoping to tag this line on a ski traverse.
As we covered the ground we would occasionally look back towards the Round Hill backcountry. We had made a good pace and were making the most out of bad skiing conditions.
Traversing the ridges made more sense as it allowed for good views and learning new terrain.
We knew it was a bad snow season but I was shocked when I finally got a view of how bad it was in the middle of the Two Thumbs Range.
It was crushing a crushing day without really taking 2 many breaks we kept moving from 8 a.m. until a little after 5 p.m. Once we made it towards Mount Dobson we were racing the sunset.
It had been much more challenging that I had expected but it was good to know what was between the resorts. If the snow finally did come we knew where to go. The Two Thumbs Range ski traverse had opened our eyes to knew possibilities.
It was time to head back to Fairlie and wait for the next storm to fall. Life in town was laid back as it was a Kiwi farm village.
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