AbstractIn 1963 the Geography Department of the University of Canterbury established a project for the study of micro-climate and erosion processes in a small valley in one of the intermontane basins of the Southern Alps, New Zealand. The area selected is considered to be representative of a wide area of the Southern Alps, showing a variety of types of vegetation cover and a marked aspect contrast between the opposing valley sides. Details of the equipment installed for both aspects of the study are given, together with some results of measurements made so far. Relationships between runoff, rainfall and sediment yields are briefly discussed, and the importance of needle ice as an agent of erosion is noted. A summary of the total amount of sediment yielded by the various plots is given, and of the amount of surface lowering represented by these figures. Some details of the energy exchange in a mountain environment are discussed, and the effect of a snow cover on net radiation and soil temperatures is described.