The Auckland Section of the New Zealand Alpine Club run a range of winter courses in the North Island. Details listed below, these follow the NZAC Snowcraft and Mountaineering Pathway. The courses are available to be booked by club members through email and the sections Whatsapp Community.

The details for the Winter Courses including updated course cost, dates and process for registration is announced in February each year. Expressions of interest open from April 1st with confirmation of acceptance onto the course by end of April.

If you have missed the dates above, you can complete this form to be notified as soon as the following years course is announced. Please note, active club members will be prioritised when shortlisting for courses.

Basic Snowcraft

The Basic Snowcraft course takes place over 6 weekends all at Ruapehu. This course is an ideal introduction into mountaineering and into the Auckland NZAC section. The course is designed to leave you feeling self-sufficient and able to plan trips and stay safe whilst climbing grade 1 non-glaciated peaks across New Zealand.

Note - Interest in this course grows each year and you are unlikely to get onto this course without becoming an active club member beforehand. Find out more details about how to join the club here.

The elements of the course are:

  • Theory day - Whole day in Auckland

  • Skills weekend 1

  • Skills weekend 2

  • Avalanche awareness

  • Post course trip 1

  • Post course trip 2

Minimum requirements for the course are:

  • Have some experience in backcountry tramping.

  • Have the fitness required to enjoy multiple full days in the mountain environment.

  • Be enthusiastic to learn new skills in New Zealand’s alpine environment.

Intermediate Snowcraft

The Intermediate Snowcraft course takes place over 5 weekends and some week days depending on the 4 day Backcountry Avalanche course dates (Held in Arthurs Pass). The course is designed to leave you feeling self-sufficient and able to plan trips and stay safe whilst climbing grade 2 non-glaciated peaks across New Zealand.

The elements of the course are:

  • Theory night - One evening in Auckland

  • Skills weekend

  • Practical weekend (Ruapehu)

  • Backcountry avalanche (Arthurs Pass)

  • Post course North Island trip (Ruapehu)

  • Post course South Island trip (Location and objective set based on participants skill and confidence level)

Minimum requirements for the course are:

  • Completed Basic Snowcraft course and/or similar.

  • Be able to lead climb and belay a lead climber outdoors (Grade 16 at a minimum).

  • Have implemented the skills from Basic Snowcraft course in personal trips. This is a minimum of 6 days (6 hours alpine travel as a minimum) with clear objectives and either leading or co-leading the trip/objective.

  • Has an alpine log book with the experience above listed clearly.

Participants are encouraged to treat this as a minimum level of experience, the higher the level of confidence in the areas listed above the better the course outcomes. This course is demanding and if not confident in these basic skills it will be hard to retain the information taught on the course.

additional courses

Additional courses are run across New Zealand by the National team. Details for these courses can be found here.