Leaving from the Cheeseman parking lot head up the main groomer until arriving up on the ridge. From here make your way north over to the summit of Mount Cockayne and spot your line down the northeast face. This chute is a great descent but we experienced it in ice so wait until the sun softened up the slopes. Throw a few rocks into the line and once they leave a dent then that’s a sign that it will hold your edges during a turn. Riding down this is a nice chute which goes all the way into the valley just Southeast of Mount Wall.

Once down in the valley start making your way up the northern stream but make sure to stay in the basin before starting to climb the face. The slopes ramp up quick so for us it was easier to just switch over to crampons. The face itself has numerous different chutes to choose from so it is easy to spread out. There are no bad options when it comes to what line you want to ride so once on top just strap in and make some steep turns back down into the basin.

Once you’ve descended to around 1100 meters it is a bit of a challenge getting back up to the road. More likely than not there won’t be snow but just head south clawing your way up the hill for 20 minutes. Soon enough you will be back on the road and walking up to the parking lot. If Mount Cheeseman is still open make sure to head into the lodge and buy a coffee where you can sit at a table and checking out your tracks from earlier in the day.

For more pictures and the full story check out this link https://www.whereiskylemiller.com/new-zealand/mount-wall/