Free Skiing in Selwyn

Words by Ollie Hunt

Canterbury’s Club Ski Fields, or the “clubbies”, are some of the most unique ski areas in the world. Nestled in Selwyn, on the Craigieburn Range and on the Main Divide, they are distinctly different from the large commercial operations. They’re more difficult to get to, they have less people, and when you get there you often need to use a nutcracker and rope tow to get up the mountain - there are no chairlifts at the clubbies.

While these fields have some slightly different challenges compared to the large commercial fields, the challenges are well worth it when you get there. No 5.30am rush to get a carpark, very few queues, and snow that stays fresh for days rather than being tracked out before you’ve finished your breakfast latte - there is a lot to like. Add in hot tubs, saunas and on-mountain accommodation, and you can see the fields have much more to offer than just awesome skiing.

Renowned for the lifestyle and atmosphere, the clubbies also contribute to a lesser known but well respected export: The New Zealand Big Mountain Skier. With skills honed on the ungroomed slopes of the clubbies and through the series of competitions held there too, a significant proportion of the kiwis, who represent New Zealand on the Freeride World Tour (FWT), hail from the clubbies - and have a lot to thank the competitions at the clubbies for. 

I grew up skiing with my whānau at Broken River and took to the joy of skiing like water off a duck's back.  Initially, my interest in skiing was focused on one ski area.  However, growing up it was hard not to see the selection of ski areas on highway 73. Combine this with the growth of free skiing in NZ in early 2000s, I can see how I came to roam the ski areas and joined the free ski competitions on offer. 

Here’s my recount of those days starting out:

Back in 2009, after talking my Dad into buying me a pair of twin tips at the CSA ski sale, we saw a poster at Broken River advertising a Big Mountain session with Tom Dunbar. Fourteen at the time, and not really knowing what it was, I jumped for it - and while I was the youngest and smallest in the eight person program, I loved it.

It is probably worth mentioning that at this point (2008/2009) big mountain skiing was not particularly common - and nor was any type of skiing with the exception of racing. This coaching session was also the first time I saw a pair of Rockered skis - Tom’s 4FRNT Hojis.

Tom Dunbar - one of the top big mountain skiers in New Zealand or the world in the mid 2000s.

After completing the course, I happened to be at Mt Olympus on the Olympus day of the original ‘Chill Series’ Freeride World Qualifiers (Day one was held at Craigieburn Valley). This was an event that was a qualifier for the world tour, but thanks to Stu Waddel there was a category for under 18s too - and after a brief chat with Stu I scored an entry.

Having only competed in the Chill ‘Gromfests’ at Porter's terrain park, this was a complete new world - where cliffs replaced jumps, and there were no rails to be seen.  I was the youngest at 14 - and pretty scared too, but I hiked to the top of Little Alaska for both runs and ended up taking home 3rd place.

Neil Williman - who later competed on the FWT and now commentates it, took out the competition with a ridiculous line on his second run - at 4:43 in the video below, it is one of the most high consequence lines I’ve ever seen skied in person - the video not quite doing the terrain justice - nor the atmosphere at the bottom of the run.