Goat Chutes

Andrew’s birthday was a great excuse for a gathering of Rossland ski-bums (10 people and 2 dogs) on Old Glory. An independent minded bunch, we ascended the peak via 5 seperate routes, but came together for some fine Spring powder skiing in the Goat Chutes.

Late Afternoon Skiing

These shots epitomize the ski-traverse experience to me. We’d spent most of the day, day 9, climbing 6,000 ft out of Bigmouth creek and over the top of a couple of high alpine passes close to the summit of Northeast Mountain. The descent of a broad gentle icefield on it’s north-west flank, with views across [...]

Crossing Mountain Creek

On so many of these trips through the mountains I find myself hauling around gear that doesn’t get used: crampons, ice-axe, harness, rope, avalanche transceiver,  probe, goggles, and I’m all for leaving them behind in the interests of light and fast travel (we actually decided to leave the climbing gear with a friend when we [...]

Destructable Dynafits

It took me a long time to become convinced of the merits of Dynafit bindings. They might be ok for weight weenies puttering about on easy angled terrain, guides or intermediates, but how could such an insubstantial device withstand the hard use of backcountry skiing in the Kootenays. I finally bought a pair of Dynafit [...]

Skiing Mt Sir Sandford

Though secondary to completing the full Northern Selkirks traverse, the possibility of skiing Mt Sir Sandford had become an important objective. The day before, with perfect weather and snow conditions, we pushed all the way from Bachelor Pass to Great Cairn cabin, skiing well past sunset, in order to set up for a realistic chance [...]

Northern Selkirks Traverse

So now it’s done, the Northern Selkirks Traverse. Andrew, Trevor, Dan and I pushed through every challenge for 10 days, 200km, and over 12,000 meters of vertical, through rugged and remote glaciated mountains, to ski from Roger’s Pass to Mica Creek. Every day was an epic adventure, and I’ll be trying to convey something of [...]