8 Alpine Access guides, 4 Arc’teryx crew and 20 guests were shuttled up to Charlotte Pass on Friday morning, excited to participate in the annual Arc’teryx backcountry weekend. Presented with a gorgeous sunny day and a challenging weekend weather forecast, the Alpine Access guides announced the plan for the afternoon – an expedition across the Snowy River and up to the Main Range. Our guides’ extensive experience in sniffing out the best lines resulted in a push out to the mighty Mt Carruthers, where everyone dropped one of the most iconic runs on the Main Range in soft spring corn, right down to Club Lake. The home journey got us to the Snowy crossing on dusk and a torchlight walk back to Charlotte Pass village.

With forecast wind and snow late on Saturday, an early start saw another push out across the Snowy where the beautiful face of Mt Northcote offered up more Spring corn and a return to the Charlotte Pass village just as the storm arrived.

Evenings were spent nestled in at Southern Alps lodge, with great conversation, a hearty 3 course meal, and a local schnapps tasting challenge! There was also a gore-tex repair session with Evan from Terra Rosa.

By Sunday morning we had a good 7cm blanketing everything in white, and providing enough cover to skin around Charlotte Pass valley where previously we had to hike. The challenge was on to find the windblown pockets of goodness. It was a weary bunch that took the shuttle back to the real world that afternoon, with Charlotte Pass and the Main Range delivering in spades.