- Adventure
- Ultimate Adventure Bucket List
Snowboard and Surf Through New Zealand
Adventure through snowy peaks and crystal-clear water on the same trip.
Leave it to Jeremy Jones to remind us of the ultimate bucket list destination: New Zealand. “It’s like the easiest country in the world to travel in; people are so nice,” he says. “Just go and hop in a motor home with your surfboard and snowboard. You don’t even want a set itinerary.”
The best advice, he says, is the simplest: Follow the snow and the waves.Start with Wanaka, Jones advises. “It’s the adventure capital of New Zealand” and the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park, which has backcountry ski areas and overnight huts. Nearby, Treble Cone and Cardrona are two of the country’s largest resorts, but Jones says he also loves the small ski clubs, such as Mount Cheeseman, where it’s easy to hike off-piste into virgin snowfields right from the lift.
Jeremy Jones became the king of big-mountain snowboarding by riding gigantic, drool-worthy lines in Alaska with the aid of a helicopter. Then he changed his career—and the sport—by taking a different strategy. Now, Jones uses mountaineering techniques and a splitboard to haul himself up some of the most remote peaks on the planet—filming it all for documentaries like Deeper, Further, and Higher, and inspiring a generation of backcountry snowboarders.
- Nat Geo Expeditions
