After a summer of work on the trails, I’m back from a couple of weeks surfing and relaxing in Mexico, and thinking about skiing.
I drove a friend to Cranbrook on Monday through a raging blizzard. On the way home I checked out the accumulation at Kootenay Pass and found 45cm. With snow in the forecast every day for the next week, things are coming together for a great base and an awesome winter.
Steve – 7 Summits Trail.
It’s become a ritual of sorts, skiing Old Glory Glory on Canada Day. With the 7 Summits trail providing such convenient access, it seemed sensible to ride our bikes, and the past couple of years we’ve ridden/pushed our bikes to the summit to maximise our vertical descent. The ride up with skis and boots on the back is bit of an effort, but Jordy Steve and I just took it slow and steady, 3.5 hrs from the pavement at Strawberry Pass to the summit.
Al in the Goat Chute.
We found Al and Nobber (sans bikes) relaxing at the top of the main (skiers left) chute, and we all skied it in perfect spring corn conditions. Here’s a video of Jordy.
After boot packing out of the chute, and riding off the summit, Steve peeled off for a Plewman-Oasis descent, while Jordy and I swooped back down the 7 Summits trail to the Pass. A great day.
Although it feels like summer in Rossland, I’m still (as of may 16th) finding great skiing. Andrew and I drove in till we hit snow at the 8.5km mark of the Bannock Burn access road into the Valhallas, slept in the back of my truck and made an alpine start on a clear hot day.
Dawn on the Prestleys South face.
Our objective was Mt Prestley (2732m), the highest one to the left in the pic above. We climbed the right-hand skyline ridge from the col to the summit. I skied a hidden chute off the peak down the middle of the sunny East face.
Summit Ridge – Andrew leading the way.
After ski-cramponing up the face and boot-packing the gulley to the col, the scramble up the ridge to the summit was steep and technical in places, but the views were stellar.
East Face Chute
I’d hauled my skis to the summit and wasn’t too stoked on the idea of down-climbing, so opted to try a dog-leg chute on the East face I’d eyed up on the climb. It was very steep and exposed, with large cliffs below. I made solid turns off the top and through the narrows, but despite being only 9.30am – it was rotting out in places as I diagnoled above the cliffs, making for some tense moments. I can’t imagine this line gets skied too often.
Prestleys South Face (one of those dots is Andrew).
Once back in the main gully we had great corn skiing for thousands of feet into the valley, and casually skated the road back to the truck.
Andrew- Dropping In.
After such lovely turns yesterday, I was keen to seek out some more powder while it lasted. We found good snow on the top 200m or so of the slopes leading into the Bananna chute on the north face of Old Glory. Below that it was funky crust, corn on 50’s Ski Movie Peak, and sticky snow on the trail bcak to the highway. A fun morning’s adventure. Here’s a vid of Andrew, just above the lower chute, and before the snow got funky. We skied the feature to the left of the lower chute.
Plewman and Old Glory from Elgood
It’s been cold and wet these last few days, but I woke early this morning to sunshine and a low snowline. It’s hard to find ski partners at 6am, so I headed out solo, up onto Elgood, and skied the North chutes (actually the spines as the chutes had all slid) in 25cm of cold dry powder snow. Back at home for breakfast.
Ross and Melly.
After 2 weeks of surf, sun and chilling out in Mexico, I’m back in the Kootanays, and skiing corn on Mt Brennan seemed a good idea. We crashed at Stan’s in Rettalack, planning on an early start. With ideal conditions, it was a popular plan, with at least 16 people on the mountain yesterday. Firm snow made for easy travelling (definitely the last day the road will be skiable), though a little challenging on the firm steeper sections. We summited at 10.30am, waited perhaps 45mins, and timed our descent perfectly. 6000ft of smooth silky corn skiing, ending back at Stan’s with beers in the sun. Here’s a short vid of Cam and Stan on the descent.
I’m just back from an awesome 8 day trip with Andrew and Jordy through the Jordan Range, in the Monashees north of Revelstoke. We scored incredible weather (not a moment of obscured visiblity), stable snow, powder on the north sides (our descents), and firmer snow for easy travelling everywhere else.
Looking into Frisby Creek - After dropping a canoe at our exit point on the Columbia River (most of which was still frozen over) and enjoying Joel and Vanessa’s hospitality in Revelstoke, we flew into Frisby Creek to begin the trip. Nothing like being dropped atop a 3000′ powder run on a perfect sunny morning.
Shred Peak - Frisby Creek is surrounded by the ski runs of your dreams in every direction. This was just one of them.
Heading out – It was difficult to leave such great skiing, but we had mountains to explore.
Andrew – Dropping into the north side of Schrund Peak.
Jordy – On the Big Eddy Glacier, with Frenchman’s Cap in the background.
Hazards – Peering into a sinkhole on the Big Eddy Glacier.
Dawn – the view of Schrund peak as I exited the Megamid in the morning.
Route Finding – trying to find a passage from the Big Eddy drainage onto the Park glacier.
Steep - Exposed skiing on less than perfect snow above the Park glacier.
Feline - We set up camp at the base of the Bourne glacier for a few nights, exploring and skiing Feline and Pyrite peaks.
Feline Summit - Ascending to the summit of Feline from the West required a bit of exposed scrambling above the icefalls of the Park glacier.
Jordy – Skiing the North face of Feline.
Andrew – Still finding powder on the North face of Feline after 6 days of sunshine.
Skiing out - it took us a day and half to ski out from the Bourne Glacier to our canoe on the Columbia River.
Powerlines – Wanting to avoid rotten snow at lower elevations, we waited until morning to ski the last 2500′ descent down the powerlines. Notice Downie inlet still frozen.
Across the Columbia – After scoffing the beers and treats we’d left with the canoe, we paddled across to the car we’d parked at the Downie Creek community.
Jordy, Andrew, and Stewart - the end.
Stewart – Ridgewalking on Qua.
Saturday was supposed to be a staff and friends day of catskiing at Wildhorse, but that was cancelled due to rain up to 1700m. However the sun was shining, and I figured we could find some decent snow at higher elevations, so took a snowmobile into Qua.
Andrea – Dropping in off Qua Ridge (North Face of Baldy in the background).
After some glorious Spring sunshine on the climb clouds rolled in just as we topped out on the ridgeline. It wasn’t the lightest of powder, but we had smooth soft turns down the steep East facing gully line. With weather coming in we were done by noon in time for a relaxing afternoon in Nelson.
Andrew atop Lightning Strike (with the line Jeff and I skied last week on the Muffin in the background).
I spent the last couple of days up at Kootenay Pass, skiing steep powder lines in the Twin Lakes area. We had a few sunny breaks in the afternoon yesterday, but it snowed all day today. It was certainly getting milder today, but the snow was still creamy and stable.
This is my first time using Windows Movie maker. It was easier than I imagined.
Post skiing deliciousness.
After a hard day of touring at the Pass I’ve a habit of grabbing a road-pop (they have Checkvar at the Silver Dollar Cold Beer and Wine) in Salmo. Today we also stopped by the Dragonfly cafe for a snack, and I got the Deadly chocolate brownie with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. What a way to cap off the day.
I received the following request from Matt Gunn. Whatever you think of the Canadian Avalanche Association’s avalanche hazard rating system (I’ve got some issues with it) here’s a chance to provide some feedback. Check it out.
“Hi there, I was wondering if you would be willing to post a plug for a survey the CAA is running on out-of-bounds skiing. We’re trying to drum up respondents for the survey and I believe your blog would reach our target group. This is our second year running the survey and any help attracting more respondents would be appreciated”.
Survey: http://www.outbounds.rem.sfu.ca/
