Are you looking for an opportunity to go off the beaten track on an authentic journey with a small group of like-minded people?
Our small group guided trips could be the solution.
Our guides have the know-how to visit places most trampers and hikers will never see.
How does it work?
We’ll set aside a block of dates for the trip, agree on the trip duration and the ideal level of difficulty, and designate a meeting place. The actual trip location will be determined only a few days before meeting, once the weather forecast is known. We can almost always find an interesting place to go no matter what the weather is doing to the Southern Alps.
Our Chief Guide will carefully review everyone’s experience and abilities, to help ensure a good match with the difficulty of the trip. There will always be faster and slower members of the group, but our processes help reduce the variation on each trip.
You, your guide, and the other participants will all form part of a team in which the guide is the most experienced member.
Our core trip philosophy is to be flexible, so we can take advantage of opportunities as they arise, and respond to how you as a group are feeling. This means we can modify the route at short notice or make certain days longer or shorter, especially if that allows us to camp in a scenic place during fine weather.
This flexibility means we don’t have stashes of gear in the hills. As a group we’ll all carry a share of group food, tents, and other equipment we need to be self-sufficient for the entire trip.
Upcoming Journeys
4-day “Moderate-Hard” Journey
27-30 December 2026
Meeting place: Christchurch
Guide: Rob Frost (+TBC if more than 4 participants)
Cost: $2,895/person
Maximum number of participants: 6
Take advantage of the Christmas break by joining this adventurous yet achievable trip. We’ll aim for a mix of tussock tops and forested valleys, with at least one night (perhaps all three nights!) spent camping out in our high quality tents.
A four day trip will allow us to get somewhere far away from any roads. Our Plan A will be to visit the wonderful ranges inland from Hokitika on the West Coast, but we have a few great backup options near Lewis Pass, Arthurs Pass, and Lake Ohau depending on the weather.
Fill out the Booking Form at the base of this page if you’re interested, or get in touch with Rob on +6421 022 11126 or rob@mountainjourneys.co.nz if you’d like to learn more.
“Very Hard” Transalpine Journey, 8-9 days
19-28 February 2027
Meeting place: TBC (Christchurch, West Coast, Mackenzie, or Wanaka)
Guides: Rob Frost & Ryan Colley
Cost: $5,950/person
Maximum number of participants: 5
We’re not going to beat around the bush: Plan A for this trip is to visit Ivory Lake Hut. This iconic, remote location needs no introduction and features on many peoples’ “bucket lists” of places they must visit.
There is no easy way in to or out from Ivory Lake. Our tentative plan is to approach up the Hokitika and Whitcombe Rivers and exit via the Tuke and Mikonui catchments, but we may exit using the famous Waitaha River.
Usually we only run “Very Hard” trips on demand, for people who’ve already been on a trip with us. For this trip we’re inviting anyone with good fitness, competence on uneven/slippery terrain, and a willingness to put in one or two very long days if necessary. You don’t need prior experience with alpine equipment.
A third staff member will join this trip as a porter. In other words, they’re coming along to carry a really heavy pack so that everyone else’s pack can be a little lighter. This means at the start of the trip you’ll have a pack weight more like what you’d expect on a five day trip. It’s still going to be very honest, hard yakka, and isn’t that different to a trip with mates – there’s usually someone big and strong who doesn’t mind taking a little more!
Fill out the Booking Form at the base of this page if you’re interested, or get in touch with Rob on +6421 022 11126 or rob@mountainjourneys.co.nz if you’d like to learn more.
Trip Difficulty Levels
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. Some of these trips don’t have such long days but require very good confidence, agility, and balance to safely pass through the terrain.
The philosophy behind our journeys is that we go to remote places that are a little bit different to what people commonly do, and we do it all on foot. So none of our trips can be described as ‘easy.’
Booking Form for Guided Group Journeys
