Kepler,Milford and Routeburn tracks. Which order?

depends, do you want to do the hardest first or last? kepler is the hardest, then the milford then the routeburn. problem is you cant stock up on food very much at milford sound without going to te anau. before tackling the routeburn... unless you can sort out getting the lodge at milford sound to hold food for you.. the kepler is the most likely to be impassable in bad weather...

My recommendation would be to walk the Kepler first, then the Milford, then the Routeburn... purely from a logistics point of view. The Kepler can be reached by walking from downtown Te Anau... 45 minutes along the lake front to the Control Gates. The Milford is the trickiest to get to as it involves boats and buses from Te Anau. Having finished the Milford you will then have a choice... either return to Te Anau to rest and resupply before returning to The Divide to start the Routeburn, or carry 7 days worth of food with you on the Milford and get the bus back to Te Anau to drop you off at The Divide and start the Routeburn the same day. Both options are easily doable, neither track is difficult. Doing both tracks together will be the cheaper option but will be harder to book as you will need to book all 5 hut nights in a row. http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/fiordland/eastern-fiordland/kepler-track/ http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/fiordland/northern-fiordland/milford-track/ http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/fiordland/northern-fiordland/routeburn-track/ http://www.tracknet.co.nz/

bear in mind you can only walk the milford track in one direction, either way if you are reprovisioning then a second trip to te anau is necessary plus you get teh advantage of getting a shower and some rest before the next track....

I am considering this trio of tracks next year. I would like to hit the tracks 29 April as soon as the off season starts. What sort of snow and ice conditions would one expect at the begining of May?

your guess is as good as mine,, all depends on what the weather does at the time, reasonable chance of it being snow free there, but if an early big winter storm blows through then there will be snow. it shouldnt stay icy for too long at that time of year....