Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Ski traverse of the Southern Alps, New Zealand

Now here is an epic winter adventure - the length of the Southern Alps by skis. Wowa go Eric


The Mounatin Scene reports

A QUEENSTOWN adventurer has become the first person to ski the length of the Southern Alps.

Erik Bradshaw, 43, skied 800km along the spine of South Island from St Arnaud, Nelson Lakes, to Fiordland.

The arduous journey took the businessman almost three months.

“Without doubt this is the hardest thing I have ever done,” Bradshaw says.

“Sometimes it was miserable; in a small tent coated in ice being flattened by a storm and knowing you’re a long way from home.

“But other times it was breathtakingly beautiful with towering snow-capped mountains, blue skies and amazing snow.”

Bradshaw survived skiing and climbing for 12 hours a day and camping in sub-zero temperatures at night.

This is only the second winter traverse of the Southern Alps, after Graeme Dingle and Jill Tremain in 1971. It is the first time on skis.

To complete the journey, Bradshaw had to make the best use of his Kiwi ingenuity – inventing new ski equipment.

This included a unique exoskeleton binding of carbon fibre and Titanium that fitted over a normal walking boot to transform it into a ski
boot with crampons.

Read the full story at the Mountain Scene .....