By joining one of our trips, you’re signing up for a truly genuine experience of somewhere away from the beaten paths.
Most of our journeys are three to six days long, but you can choose anything from two days to eight days. The longer the trip, the better the opportunity to visit somewhere really remote. As a group we’ll carry everything we need for the duration of the trip, so that we can be flexible and self-sufficient.
What’s included in a guided journey?
- We organise and prepare all of the meals (including lunches, snacks, and hot drinks) and cater to any dietary requirements. We pride ourselves in providing really good quality, nutritious, tasty food.
- We supply high quality tents and cooking equipment on all journeys, and when required also supply alpine equipment like ice axes, crampons, helmets, harnesses, etc.
- You’ll be guided by a highly experienced and qualified guide (or two). Your guide will not only provide you with a safe and enjoyable trip, but will actively seek your input where possible regarding trip options; you will all form part of a team in which the guide is the most experienced member. Most of our guides are qualified through the NZ Mountain Guides Association; the remainder are Level 2 instructors with the NZ Outdoor Instructors Association. All guides have current first aid training to at least Pre-Hospital Emergency Care (PHEC) level.
- We all carry a share of group food, tents, and other equipment – you should allow at least a third of the space in your pack for this.
- You’ll be provided with detailed information before the trip about what to bring. When we first meet, your guide will go through your personal clothing and equipment to help fine-tune what actually comes on the trip, to find the right balance of having everything you need and nothing more. We have plenty of spare clothing and equipment available if you need to borrow something.
- Meeting locations and methods of transport vary depending on each trip, but in many cases we can provide complementary transport to the trip start. This will be confirmed by our lead guide when you sign up.
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!
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.
Where do the journeys go?
We undertake trips in a huge variety of places throughout the Southern Alps (we have a concession/permit for more than 50 locations). For those of you willing to do some real exploring, many of those locations have hardly been visited by anyone, even our guides.
When you book a guided journey with us, you’re signing up not for a particular location, but for a particular style and difficulty of trip over an agreed range of dates.
We’ll always have a ‘Plan A’ regarding where we go, but we’ll also have a few backup trip locations. Depending on the weather forecast a few days before the start, we may decide to go somewhere quite different if it avoids terrible weather. We want to provide you with a challenging trip, but also an enjoyable and safe one, so we need to be flexible. Fortunately, we have so many locations around the South Island / Te Wai Pounamu up our sleeve that we’re likely to find somewhere suitable for almost any weather forecast.
To give you an idea of the types of places we like to go, here are a few trips we’ve done over the last few years:
Mt Alexander
Traverse of Lyell Peak
Makarora Valley, across the Main Divide to Brewster Glacier
Opera and Libretto Ranges
Princess Bath and Mt Princess
Whitcombe River, Noisy Basin, and Misty Ridge
Butler Saddle
Traverse of the Toaroha Range
Hopkins to the Landsborough and back, twice across the Main Divide
Want to book a private journey?
Private trips are the best way to enjoy a journey tailored specifically to the style and difficulty level that YOU want.
If you’d like to book a private guided journey or instruction course with us, please refer to the table below for prices.
Some mobile devices do not show the heading row; the price columns are for (1) the base price for one person, and (2) the additional price for each extra person.
| Private Trip Length | Base Price (1 person) | Price per extra person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | NZ$ 1,710 | NZ$ 500 |
| 2 days | NZ$ 2,880 | NZ$ 1,000 |
| 3 days | NZ$ 4,050 | NZ$ 1,500 |
| 4 days | NZ$ 5,220 | NZ$ 2,000 |
| 5 days | NZ$ 6,390 | NZ$ 2,500 |
| 6 days | NZ$ 7,560 | NZ$ 3,000 |
| 7 days | NZ$ 8,730 | NZ$ 3,500 |
| 8 days | NZ$ 9,900 | NZ$ 4,000 |
Occasionally, depending on the requirements of your trip, we may need accommodation between our base and the start or end of the trip – such expenses will be additional to the costs shown in the above table. Please see our terms and conditions for more information.
We will be pleased to discuss the possibility of more than one guide on your trip (additional $1,100/day), or a porter to carry some weight (additional $550/day), or any other special requests. We can provide a quote for such requests at the time of your enquiry.
All dietary requirements can be catered for in our standard rates.
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.’
“Mountain Journeys is the absolute best. I have had two wonderful experiences with them – life-changing trips that I will never forget. I’ve always been a big tramper, but I wasn’t very confident with going off-track.
The guides on both trips were all extremely knowledgeable and a blast to spend time with. They made us feel comfortable and confident, while also teaching us new techniques and tips throughout the trips. I felt really safe and in good hands the entirety of both trips.
The Mountain Journeys team was extremely accommodating and even figured out a way to make all meals on a 5 day tramp fully vegan for me. In preparation of the trip, Rob sends a comprehensive packing list and sets expectations early. He was extremely organized. Overall, I learned a lot, got to explore new parts of NZ, and met some amazing people. Highly recommend, 10/10!”
-Julie Gursha
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“I’d highly recommend a trip with Mountain Journeys if you are wanting to use it as a springboard to getting out there, or even if you are experienced and want to do something more technical; Mountain Journeys can tailor a trip that is right for you.
I’m really looking forward to my next trip!”
-Andy Richards
If you’d like to gift someone a guided trip or credit towards an instruction course, we also have vouchers available for sale!
