Otago: Best foot forward

Snowshoeing at Crown Range, Queenstown. Photo / Andrew Louis

Reaching the peak is easy when you have snowshoes, discovers Andrew Louis.

The bitterly cold wind blows powdery snow around my feet and floats across the ground like a snake. I am fully dressed in my protective ski gear, but when the wind hits the only exposed skin - my face - it stings.

It could be an episode of Man vs Wild, but instead of Bear Grylls I am being led up the snow-covered Crown Range by Beyonce. No, not the pop singer with the big hair and even bigger voice, but an ex-military Swedish guide - real name Bjorn - from Guided Snowshoe Walks, with a thick beard and an even thicker Swedish accent.

Our day starts at the crack of dawn. We're treated to a brilliant sunrise over Lake Wanaka. Beyonce picks us up from the lobby at nearby Matakauri Lodge.

The plan is to take a helicopter up to some remote high-country location, snowshoe for a few hours then return by helicopter before lunchtime. Man vs Wild meets The Amazing Race. But as we get closer to the airport, the weather report is not so good and the helicopter is cancelled.

Plan B is to drive to the Crown Range, go for a short snowshoe trek and then back before lunch.

We arrive at the highest point on the Crown Range at a carpark just off the main road. A thick blanket of snow and ice covers the ground. The weather is bad even at ground level, let alone higher up.

Snowshoe technology has improved. Gone are the days of attaching a tennis racquet to each foot. Modern-day snowshoes combine a rectangular plastic frame with a metal claw at the front.

Strapping on the snowshoes is easy enough: three rubber straps over your boot and one around the heel. I'm glad I'm wearing waterproof hiking boots and not sneakers like the others, as their feet soon become wet and then cold.

I imagined snowshoeing to be awkward and heavy going, but found the shoes stable and lightweight. Walking in them is natural and no different from walking normally.

Our first hurdle, literally, is a fence with a wooden step. The shoes are long and hinged at the toe, making it hard to climb the slippery steps sideways. Gingerly, we edge our way over.

Visibility is poor, but I'm focusing only on the ground directly in front of me. The slope is gentle and the snow depth varies between ankle-deep and halfway up my shin. We stop several times to catch our breath and Beyonce describes the views hidden behind the clouds.

After 40 minutes of zig-zagging up, we reach the top. We take a few photos to evidence our bravery before descending, which is a lot faster.

Fifty metres from the gate, I remove the snowshoes to compare the difference in walking without them. I definitely slide around more and it takes extra effort to move around. The walking poles help to keep your balance as well as testing the snow depth. If the snow was really deep, I probably wouldn't be able to move at all.

Someone in our group described the stormy conditions as hell on Earth, but I loved it because it was extreme and wild.

The writer travelled courtesy of Matakauri Lodge.