About
Alpinism & Ski
Alpinism & Ski guiding company has been taking clients into
the mountains since the Millennium year, providing safe and adventurous
guided mountain experiences and offering high quality mountaineering
courses in NZ.
Gary (Gaz) has been the leading assessor and trainer
of professional guides in both New Zealand and for quite a while
in Iceland too. He has literally 'written the book*'
on key elements of mountain instruction. His sought-after instruction
skills reflect more than a quarter of a century in the guiding industry,
starting as a glacier guide on Fox Glacier on the West Coast through
to a few years as chief guide at Aoraki/Mt Cook before starting
Alpinism & Ski as New Zealand's leading boutique mountain guiding
company based in Wanaka. His work with clients as diverse Australasia's
elite special forces, the New Zealand Mountain Guides Association
and Icelandic Mountain and Glacier Guides speaks for itself. If
he can help them, think what he can do for you!
Gary Dickson is a NZMGA/IFMGA internationally qualified
mountain guide since 1995 and was President of the NZMGA from May
2010 until Oct 2016. He is Alpinism and Ski's only guide now, also
holds a Diploma in Parks and Recreation Management and is a team
leader of the Wanaka Land Search and Rescue Alpine Cliff Rescue
team. His expertise is highly respected on an international level
too, like in Iceland where he gave glacier guiding instruction and
helped them get their mountain guides association on the way, or
in Switzerland guiding with the International School of Mountaineering
from 1997-2015. He has been on TVNZ because of his involvement with
the High Country SAR (search and rescue) documentary series done
in 2010 and in 2020 got rewarded with the Queens Service Order.
Originally from Switzerland, Iris has extensive experience in the
tourism industry and with a commercial and administrative background
runs the Alpinism & Ski base operations and accommodation side
of the business. Her mountaineering experience enables her to offer
sound and practical advice. Since Covid, she is concentrating on
her art with Alpin
Iris Art also visible on Insta.
Alpinism & Ski operations started in September 2000 with a
ski touring trip in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Extending
the alpinism activities to the Northern Hemisphere with guided ascents
and mountaineering instruction courses in the Swiss, French and
Italian Alps during June, July and August each year was a natural
thing to do with the obvious Swiss connection. Covid in 2020 changed
this.
During those last couple of decades, the team has built a small,
high quality global enterprise providing a professional mountain
guiding and instructional service to keen climbers, aspiring mountaineers
and future mountain guides, ski tourers and hikers.
* Gary's Mountaineering Techniques Jan.2012 edition
is available as a small booklet. Email
us for copies
Alpinism adventures 2022? could be backcountry ski touring late
Winter or Spring and summer mountaineering towards the end of the
year and 2023
simply call or e-mail
us with your inquiry
Given the nature of the business it is very obvious
that sustainability and environment friendly ways of operating are
a must and keenly pursued. The team is proud of what they achieved
so far with projects of improvement still and always on-going at
the Alpinism and Ski base in Wanaka as well as in the mountains,
more on our blog here.
We are looking forward to share our paradise with
you.