Meet The Skiers Writing History in New Zealand

Smoothy is a known quantity. The Kiwi garnered attention for his performances on the Freeride World Tour (FWT) with one run, in Andorra, standing apart from the rest. As Smoothy rode above a portion of the Andorran venue that didn't look skiable, one commentator exclaimed, "Where are you going?" But Smoothy didn't flinch. He bounced gracefully from snow pad to snow pad, and like a magician, landed upright before charging to the next portion of his line. When the competition concluded, the judges handed him first place.

Today, he continues to navigate the mountains, but freeride-ready venues are no longer Smoothy's muse. Instead, the Kiwi has his eyes on the jagged, mercurial peaks of his home island, where success isn't measured in cliff drops, backflips, and high scores—new lines in highly consequential terrain are the prize.

Unlike Smoothy, Rowntree isn't a ski movie or FWT star. He's a ski patroller at The Remarkables and an IFMGA guide who jokingly calls himself a "dark horse." As Smoothy began to take steep skiing more seriously, he searched for a reliable partner from whom he could learn additional technical mountaineering skills. Rowntree needed someone ready to step into the high-altitude void with him. The two clicked.

With an initial rock climbing trip behind them, Rowntree and Smoothy set out to the Caroline Face alongside skier Joe Collinson in October 2021. The team climbed the East Ridge before rappelling into the Face from the Porter Col. Their line, which traverses laterally across the mountain through blistering exposure, looks improbable, if not impossible. Since Rowntree, Smoothy, and Collinson's descent, the ever-imposing Caroline Face hasn't been skied again.

For Rowntree and Smoothy, it was a seminal moment. They'd proven to themselves and each other that they had the skill set to tackle formidable big mountain lines. Rowntree said the joint Caroline Face descent was a "vision unlock." Smoothy realized that "regular skiing," as he referred to it, no longer held the same allure. From then on, they've stayed busy.

While alpine climbers have traversed New Zealand's tallest peaks for over a century (Aoraki/Mt. Cook was first climbed in 1894), prospective ski mountaineers often face uncharted territory. Descending a mountain on foot isn't the same as identifying an aesthetic, skiable line. "It's looking at the mountains [in] a completely different way, really," said Kiwi and veteran IFMGA guide Mark Sedon. Despite hosting flashes of brilliance, the island nation's upper reaches haven't historically drawn consistent ski activity, whereas, in Chamonix, Sedon explained that you'll be skiing a difficult route, and another skier will blow past you.

Thanks in part to the efforts of skiers like Rowntree, Smoothy, and others, that's begun to change, but question marks remain when they set out to ski a new line. Information and photos can be difficult to find. A small general mountain population in New Zealand doesn't help.

"As far as New Zealanders go, there's probably only less than four or five others who are out there chasing these first descents like these guys are—if that," said Sedon. The terra incognita is such that Smoothy, in preparation for some of his ski descents, has spent hours surfing the internet for beta—and asking local alpine climbers for photos that might provide valuable insight. He doesn't always find what he's looking for. "I think that's really special in an age of over-saturation in the media… And then it also really pisses me off sometimes," said Smoothy.

Still, Rowntree and Smoothy have made immense strides. This Austral spring, the pair etched numerous, never-been-skied-before lines down New Zealand's peaks, taking advantage of the untapped potential. A few shine bright in their shared memories. Smoothy fondly remembers a first descent via Douglas Peak's East Face they completed alongside Christina "Lusti" Lustenberger, a fellow ski mountaineer. The 10,095-foot mountain is traditionally an ice climbing venue, and the team worried that descending it might involve more rappelling than skiing, resulting in a contrived line. Instead, they found a mostly unobstructed snow ramp that was actually fun to ski.

Rowntree described the pair's adventure to Mt. Dampier, which, to your average skier—myself included—sounded like it might qualify as a more hellacious version of type two fun. They reached the top of the peak around 6:30 p.m. with hours—and a considerable distance—to go before the journey was done. From the summit, they abseiled and plunged into the remote western side of the Southern Alps' spiny backbone as day shifted to night. They wound through steep, overhanging glaciers. Then, the two skiers needed to get back on the eastern side of the divide. It ended up being an audacious 14 or 15-hour day that required grit, determination, and considerable ski mountaineering know-how.

These efforts, in combination with additional lines skied by the likes of Lusti and Chamonix's Guillaume "Gee" Pierrel, have meant that the past few months have been one of the busiest stretches of steep skiing New Zealand has ever seen. "It's almost a discovery of, you know, we're in 2024, and there are things here that haven't been done that are doable," said Sedon.

In October, Lusti and Gee notched an impressive first ski descent on the flanks of Aoraki/Mt. Cook called Hunter's Moon. When I asked them what inspired the trip to New Zealand, they made note of Rowntree and Smoothy. "These guys have been really pushing their sport," Lusti said. "I think a lot of attention has been brought to this area because of them."

Smoothy, amidst this flurry of activity, has been actively chronicling his push to climb and ski all 24 of New Zealand's 3,000-meter mountains. He's dubbed it the XXIV project and, since the descent of the Caroline Face, has already notched almost every peak he set out to ski (Rowntree is trailing him by a few peaks). But Smoothy explained that he doesn't want the film and objective to only be an exercise in peak ticking. Instead, he hopes it's an homage to his favorite place in the world—New Zealand, of course—and an examination of himself as a person and steep skier. A drive to put oneself in life-threatening situations again and again is an intense, personal thing. The XXIV project is aimed, in part, at mining that fertile ground.

For all the vital considerations of risk, consequence, and personhood that the mountains inspire, though, Smoothy and Rowntree treat themselves with a certain lightness. "What we're doing is f**king ridiculous and pointless—and super wonderful because of that," said Smoothy. "We have a lot of fun just being ridiculous out there." While we spoke, neither skier wasted an opportunity to deliver a wisecrack or mine for a laugh. When I, an American, asked Smoothy about the Caroline Face, he first told me the Face's height in metric. Then, he kindly translated it into imperial: "It's like 7,000 pineapples or whatever you guys use."