Some people hibernate in winter, but for mountain guides it can be the busiest time of year. Three guides tell Wilderness what got them into winter guiding, and why they love it.
Elke Braun-Elwert, Alpine Recreation (featured)
When Twizel’s Elke Braun-Elwert was asked at school what she wanted to do for a living, she knew the answer: mountain guiding. “My father was a mountain guide, so I grew up exposed to it,” she says. “But Dad told me I had to go to university first and get an education. He wanted me to have something to fall back on in case I injured myself.”
Braun-Elwert’s father owned the guiding company Alpine Recreation. He saw the benefit of having an instructing or teaching background, which is not necessarily taught in traditional guiding courses. “He recommended I become a ski instructor first and then a mountain guide, which was quite common in Europe at the time,” she says. “Now it’s more common that people go through ski patrol then into mountain guiding. Ski patrol gives you a strong background in avalanche risk management.”
Braun-Elwert spent several years in Switzerland ski instructing during university summer breaks. This gave her a strong skiing and instructing background. “Dad was still keen for me to explore other options and perhaps get a normal job,” she says. “Mountain guiding is a hard way to earn money, and a lot of guides have some form of alternative employment or a second job.”
She worked as a software tester and only became a mountain guide after her father died in 2008. “He was just 59, and I hit a fork in the road. Either I pursue this because I’ve always wanted to, or I give up on that dream and stay in a 9 to 5 job,” she says. “It’s been tough and challenging, but I can’t imagine doing anything else now.”
Braun-Elwert gets a lot of joy from helping people experience activities they might not have done without her. “That direct connection with people is a real motivator, and I like that you get feedback straight away,” she says. “People appreciate learning a new skill, or that you keep them safe in the mountains or show them some amazing terrain. Guiding helps me feel like I’m making a difference to someone’s life.”
Tarn Pilkington, Southern Lakes Heliski
Tarn Pilkington is the chief guide at Southern Lakes Heliski in Queenstown, and is about to embark on his twentieth winter on the slopes. “After I left Lincoln University, my first job was as a guide at Fox Glacier,” he says. “That job led me into ski patrolling and then into my guiding qualification. It’s a career that requires a significant amount of time and experience. Most people take a minimum of five years to get the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations qualification.”
As well as guiding, Pilkington delivers the safety aspects of heli-skiing. “Because we use a helicopter for access, we have a vast amount of terrain available and can explore extensive backcountry areas,” he says. “My role is to guide people safely so they can enjoy these remote, special places, and give them an experience they otherwise couldn’t have.”
Pilkington has guided around the world, and for the last 20 years has specialised in Antarctica, where he usually spends around four to six weeks every year. “It’s a really unique place. It’s remote and has incredible wildlife and mountainous terrain,” he says. “Out of all the places I’ve worked, I probably return there the most because I get a lot out of it. Taking people on adventures there is a real privilege.”
Pilkington gets five solid months of work every winter, but is also employed year-round as an alpine activities and safety specialist. “I mix it up. My secret to enjoying work is variety. Over three decades I’ve done mountain guiding, film and TV work and trips to Antarctica,” he says. “Exploring the different facets and opportunities is what keeps me in the industry, although my speciality is always outdoors and mountain-based. It’s a wonderful vocation, pretty unique, and has taken me around the world.”
Alpine Recreation general manager Axel Reiser was a ski instructor in Europe before he was charmed by New Zealand’s backcountry. “Initially I came to study for three years, but I ended up staying because of the wilderness,” he says. “I grew up in an area where being by yourself in the mountains was almost impossible. The mountains here are less crowded and there’s a lot more freedom.”
Reiser splits his time between Christchurch and Tekapo, where he guides multi-day ski tours. “It’s cross-country skiing in the backcountry. Most of our tours are five days because it gives us enough time to have one or two weather days and still get to where we want to go,” he says. “We walk or fly into a hut which becomes our base, then ski out from there. Everything is taken in, and we kit the huts out with equipment and food to make our guests’ packs as light as possible. It can be quite a logistical exercise to ski tour by yourself, so we organise everything.”
Axel Reiser, Alpine Recreation
“We’re always on the hunt for new locations,” he says, “but my favourite place is Caroline Hut in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. It’s the only operator-owned hut in the park, and it’s such a special, unique place. It’s advanced and quite steep terrain, which isn’t for everybody. There are a lot of exciting runs you can do from the hut, and it’s at 1800m so there’s good skiing there until late November, which makes for a long season. It’s also relatively easy to access on foot, and most of the time we’re the only people there.”
Reiser loves the job, even though it’s demanding. “The days are long because you’re working from the time you make coffee in the morning to tidying the hut in the evening,” he says. “It’s also psychologically demanding as I have to make safety assessments and decisions about snow stability. But you can’t look at it from that perspective. We love it and that’s why we do it. Combining a very technical sport with endurance and a relaxing way of climbing a mountain is quite special, especially when sharing it with guests in a unique place.”
“Traditionally, skiing is an activity where conviviality and having a group experience is important,” says Reiser. “Ski tour clients come to have a good time and to find good skiing, so I have a lot of choice of what to do as a guide.
“I cater for different skill levels and experiences, and then we sit together in a hut, eat a good meal and have a good time.”
