Popular back-country tracks in the Wakatipu are in varying degrees of readiness for the 2011-12 Great Walk season, which opened on Tuesday.
The Routeburn Track was partly closed due to snow remaining on the alpine section and the risk of avalanche, Department of Conservation (Doc) Queenstown regional visitor centre supervisor Claire Manners said on Friday.
The 8km to 9km section between the Routeburn Falls hut and Mackenzie hut was being assessed frequently by staff in the field to determine when it could be opened, Miss Manners said.
"More than likely a helicopter airlift will be offered from Lake Harris up to the Harris Saddle, as traditionally that's the section the risk of avalanche remains the longest."
Asked when the airlift offer would begin, Miss Manners said the condition of the area would be assessed again this week and it depended on when the avalanche risk subsided on other sections of the Great Walk.
Miss Manners said the Greenstone and Caples Tracks were in good condition with damage repaired after windfall debris. However, the Rees-Dart Track still featured "quite a bit of snow around the Rees Saddle and avalanche risk is present".
The removable Snowy Creek bridge was yet to be reinstalled for the summer.
Miss Manners said, anecdotally, over-the-counter bookings for huts were at the same steady level as this time last year, although online bookings were "a bit slower this year".
Visitor centre staff answered about 100,000 inquiries from trampers last season, about the same as in the previous season.
Doc Wakatipu found 30% of the 11,000 trampers who hiked the Routeburn Track were New Zealanders at the end of the 2010-11 season, about the same level as in the 2009-10 season.
Up to 35% of the 3500 trampers on the Greenstone and Caples Tracks and 30% of the 2100 trampers on the Rees-Dart Track were domestic last season, both figures slightly up on the previous season.
• About a dozen mostly positive comments have been lodged so far in response to Doc Wakatipu's call for feedback on its proposal to introduce a hut booking system for the Rees-Dart Track due to its increasing popularity with trampers.
Doc proposed last week to manage the risk and the visitor experience by adding all three huts on the Rees-Dart circuit to the department's national visitor booking system from January 3 to February 28 each year, beginning in January 2013.
Feedback on the proposal closes on January 13, 2012.
