Originally Posted by dragman
...there are no establishments that specialise in mountain training...
hmmmm, that might not be a completely
accurate statement there
dragman. As a former NZ mountain (slab-wing) driver, NZWF-based, it is hard for me to imagine anyone being
more "specialised" than those pilots that are
in the mountains from the moment their wheels/skids leave the ground! Pilots in the NZWF/NZQN/NZTZ (not to mention NZMC and the West Coast) area probably spend 95%+ of their airborne time in the mountains and have been heard to mention how "naked" they feel without mountains/valleys in immediate proximity.
Whilst the fling-wing trainers in the area probably market themselves less as mountain specialists than helicopter trainers, as others have mentioned the mountain training is a
required part of the NZ syllabus. Some "specialisation"
must be assumed. Operators of the likes of Southern Lakes, Over theTop and Wanaka Helicopters amongst numerous others spring straight to mind, as do pilots like Billy Black, Hannibal Hayes, the Hollows boys, Simon Spencer-Bower and many others (I could write page after page!) -specialist mountain helicopter pilots all.
The Wakatipu Aero Club in NZQN offers the only specialist mountain flying course offered in the country (to the best of my knowledge) and whilst that course is designed and operated around slab-wing pilots, the techniques of safely and competently operating in the mountains are the same -with the addition of those activities unique to helicopter operations.