Arrowsmith NW approach
Quick reportHoldenT · Feb 1, 2026 · South Island
Quick report
- Weather
- windy, foggy, stormy, wet, cloudy
- Ride Type
- alpineSlopes, mellowSlopes
- Stayed Away
- steepSlopes
- Riding Quality
- ok
- Snow Conditions
- heavy, wet
- Avalanche Conditions
- avalancheConditionSlab
It’s hard to see in the pictures but we saw a fresh looking runout of a wet slab or wet loose avalanche, not sure because we couldn’t see anything but the runout due to the fog. Either way, looked like a category 1. We bailed on our objective of summiting via the main gully due to the stormy weather mixed with the obviously dangerous avy conditions. There also seemed to be a layer of thick ice below the snow, which made for very sketchy boot packing. 100% recommend ice axe and crampons.
Avalanche
- Trigger Type
- natural
- Avalanche Size
- 1
- Start Zone Aspect
- NW
- Vegetation Cover
- openSlope
- Start Zone Incline
- 40
- Avalanche Character
- wetSlab
- Number Of Avalanches
- 1
- Start Zone Elevation
- 1600
- Runout Zone Elevation
- 1500
- Avalanche Observation
- 12to24hrsAgo
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- alp
It’s hard to see in the pictures but we saw a fresh looking runout of a wet slab or wet loose avalanche, not sure because we couldn’t see anything but the runout due to the fog. Either way, looked like a category 1. We bailed on our objective of summiting via the main gully due to the stormy weather mixed with the obviously dangerous avy conditions. There also seemed to be a layer of thick ice below the snow, which made for very sketchy boot packing. 100% recommend ice axe and crampons.