Hi, I’m Rob Frost.
I’ve been making journeys to remote corners of the Southern Alps / Ka Tiritiri o te Moana since I was a teenager. These amazing mountains provide scope for some of the most rewarding adventures in the world. I have always enjoyed leading others on journeys in the mountains and teaching people new skills, empowering them to do things they may not have thought possible. I also love working with other guides and instructors who have a wealth of experience and enthusiasm – you’ll see a few of them on many of our trips!
My wife Josie and I, with our young son, live in Lyttelton, from where I manage Mountain Journeys. I’ve previously worked for many years as a geotechnical engineer, as a glacier guide on the West Coast, and wrote the award-winning mountaineering guidebook for Aoraki/Mt Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks. I look forward to hearing from you and talking about how we can create an enjoyable, safe, challenging, and memorable experience for you.
“Rob was made to be a guide in the backcountry. Just as importantly, he has a deep love of our wild places, and a real desire to share this with others. I couldn’t recommend him highly enough.”
-Robbie Burton
“Rob is utterly accomplished in the outdoors. He is responsive to group dynamics, a flexible thinker, and has great taste in music! He loves his work – every step he takes tells you that, and you can’t help but be influenced by his passion. A perfect guide and companion in the hills.”
-Suze Lord
“It was great to push the boundaries of our comfort zone knowing that Rob had all the experience to keep us safe in such a challenging environment. His depth of knowledge and experience is huge and I’m sure some of the things we asked him were ridiculous but he answered all of our rookie questions in a way that made them seem sensible. He’s simply an all round likeable guy with a great sense of humour. His attention to detail during the planning phase of our trip made me feel very well cared for and this continued throughout the whole weekend. Oh and the food was awesome!”
-Alison Cook
“I went on a trip with Mountain Journeys and had an amazing time. Rob is an experienced professional guide with endless knowledge of New Zealand’s backcountry. He was considered and safe in his judgement calls while creating an exciting adventure that catered well to our particular group.”
-Tora Hamblett
FAQs
How fit do I need to be?
You need to have a reasonably active lifestyle to enjoy our trips – they are mostly a big step up from other types of guided tramping trips. However, for most of the locations we visit, you don’t need to be really fit. The important thing is the ability to walk on uneven ground. If you are only used to well-maintained tramping tracks, it could be that your ability on uneven ground has yet to be tested. In that case you could join one of the shorter, ‘moderate’ grade journeys and see how you find it.
What do the difficulty ratings mean?
Moderate
On Moderate trips, we’ll be walking around eight hours per day. The terrain we’re walking on could be uneven, but if so we’ll have plenty of time to travel over it. There should only be one big uphill and downhill section on the trip. Snow sections should be mostly gentle – some of these trips will be ok to come on even if you haven’t used crampons and an ice axe before. A moderate trip is best for you if your ability to move off-track hasn’t been tested.
Hard
On Hard trips, at least half of the days could involve walking for more than ten hours. We’ll often need to move at a moderate pace over uneven terrain, and there will be some unavoidable sections with lots of exposure (air under our feet) and/or some moderately steep snow. There’s likely to be quite a lot of uphill and downhill throughout the trip.
Very Hard
Very Hard trips usually involve very long days – sometimes more than twelve hours; we’ve been known to go for 15 hours a couple of times! We’ll need to move quickly over really awkward/uneven terrain and on big climbs and descents. These trips are only for people who’ve already done at least one guided trip or multi-day instruction course with Mountain Journeys, so we know in advance that you’ve got the required experience and ability.
How big will the guided groups be?
Most of our trips have a group size of four to six participants with one to two guides. More challenging trips will be limited to smaller groups. We are also able to customise plans to suit couples or individuals.
What equipment and food is provided by Mountain Journeys on each trip?
We supply all meals on all journeys, and easily cater to any dietary needs or preferences.
Low FODMAP, nightshade allergies, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, low carb, or just plenty of food… you name it, we’ll provide it. You won’t find Backcountry Meals or simple pasta dishes with dehy vegetables on our trips. We plan our food meticulously to give you highly nutritious, balanced, and tasty meals. This comprises a mixture of organic meals we make and dehydrate ourselves, alongside a selection of meals from two great New Zealand companies: Radix Nutrition and Local Dehy.
We provide world class tents to enable comfortable, reliable shelter on any journey. We also have a range of equipment available for our customers to hire, including packs, boots, rain jackets, and alpine equipment, but you are welcome to use your own if you prefer. We don’t usually hire out other clothing or sleeping bags and mattresses, however this could be possible in some circumstances. Our customers have access to discounts on a selected range of excellent New Zealand made clothing by Earth Sea Sky – this is what Rob uses!
What is the Main Divide?
The Main Divide is the ‘spine’ of the Southern Alps, separating the watersheds that drain east to the Pacific Ocean from those that drain west to the Tasman Sea. The two sides of the Divide have very different characteristics due to both the underlying geology and the prevailing westerly weather. The west side of the Divide has steep valleys with thick, wet bush, and schist bedrock, while the east side usually comprises wide open valleys of shingle, open beech forest, and interbedded sandstone and mudstone bedrock.
Most of New Zealand’s highest peaks lie on or very close to the Main Divide. Some of the more difficult trips available through Mountain Journeys actually cross the Main Divide, enabling participants to experience the very different types of terrain on each side.
What will I need to carry?
We travel self-sufficiently on all of our guided trips, which means that as a group we have enough tents, food, and cooking equipment to survive comfortably away from any huts or other facilities. All of this equipment and food is divided up and carried by all members of the group, in addition to your personal clothing and equipment. If you follow our advice and don’t take unnecessary or heavy items, then your pack should be a maximum of about 14kg for shorter trips and 17-18kg for longer trips.
Where do we start and finish?
Trips begin and end at our base in Christchurch, unless otherwise stated. Some of our trips will be based out of an alternate base in Wanaka or Queenstown, which will be clearly shown in the description for those trips. We can easily provide free pick ups from your accommodation or the relevant airport before the trip.
We’ll first spend up to two hours at our base, checking through your clothing and equipment, distributing and packing group gear, and going through a final briefing of what the trip will involve. We’ll then drive to the start of the trip – you can either use your own vehicle for this, or you’re welcome to grab a spot in our vehicle if the group is small enough.
After the trip, you’re welcome to drive directly home or to your accommodation, or we can provide a free drop-off wherever is most convenient for you.
What if the weather forecast is bad?
While every trip will have a ‘Plan A’ regarding our destination, we are always at the mercy of Hughie the weather god. Trips will run no matter what the weather forecast says, but we may have to use an alternate route or even go to an entirely different part of the South Island in order to get the type of trip we want in safe and enjoyable conditions. Fortunately, it’s very rare for all of the Southern Alps to get bad weather at the same time, and we’ve got so many potential places to go, that we can make good trips happen no matter what the weather is doing.
What do I need to bring?
“I went along on a couple of ”hard” Mountain Journeys trips and they were amazing. Some organised backpacking trips can sometimes feel like you’re being herded from one spot to another—Mountain Journeys is nothing like that.
The tramps go completely off the beaten track. The guides involved us in the decision making process, and would talk through different options with everyone. I learnt a ton from hearing the decision-making musings of Rob and the other guides. They’re enthusiastic, encouraging, really know their stuff, and they were all really supportive of people asking questions.
On the food: I’m vegetarian and the food was really good! Truly, I can’t recommend Mountain Journeys more!”
-Caitlin Fitchett
“From the start Rob was amazing on giving us advice on what to bring and answer any questions. Rob made sure to walk us through the plan and the weather conditions and addressed any concerns we might have a couple of days before the trip.
The trip itself was an amazing experience that exceeded my expectations and I gained such a wealth of information. The knowledge and experience that Rob has is astounding and you can see he’s very eager to share this with his clients.
The food gets a special mention because I haven’t had such luxurious, tasty, filling, and somehow lightweight meals in the mountains before.
I would highly recommend Mountain Journeys to anyone who wants an adventure off the beaten track with a guide that is knowledgeable, experienced, and committed to giving his clients the best experiences.”
-Maarten Lammens