I was back at Whitewater again yesterday. The inbounds lines off the Summit chair looked well tracked, but Jordy and I found fresh lines in Ymir bowl. The snowpack is still very thin on ridgelines and around outcrops, but it’s mid-winter powder skiing in the gullies. At upper elevations there’s a supportive crust between [...]
Cam, Caro and I put in a skinning track up Jumbo this morning, a beautiful climb in the sun and an opportunity to check if it was ski-able (not yet). The run down Long Squaw (Rino’s) was significantly better than when I did it 2 weeks ago. It’s a little bit crusty and grabby [...]
With a significant storm dumping snow throughout the region last night, I figured skiing the open lines at Whitewater ski resort would provide the best conditions around. We left 15cm of new snow on the ground in Rossland, but found twice that on the road up to Whitewater. Andrew and Meghan had to be [...]
Through two seasons of use I’m convinced that Dynafit bindings are a reliable high performance binding, but they’re not indestructible. It took a long time and a few reminders but Salewa USA (Dynafit’s North American distributors) were very helpful and friendly on the phone and sent me all the replacement parts and spares I needed [...]
Roger’s Pass is going off. There’s a couple of meters of snow in the alpine, and Andrew and I made the most of 3 days of perfect sunshine and bomber stability by skiing some mid-winter lines.
It was the first time I’ve stayed at Wheeler hut, and it’s a great spot to base from, a real [...]
Dallas - taking his turn in the front.
Winter hasn’t really kicked in here in the Southern Kootenays, but we were hoping to find some early season turns at higher elevations at Kootenay Pass. It wasn’t looking too promising at the Pass itself, with barely enough snow to cover the undergrowth in the forest, and lots [...]
I finally received my warrantied Dynafit touring bindings, mounted them on my rock skis and so figured it was time to check out the conditions on the ski hill. Michelle and I skinned up compacted snow on South-side Road, then broke a trail up Southern Belle in the sunshine. There’s about 10 - 15 cm [...]
Now that I’ve got the Cure looping in my consciousness ……. The snow seems to be hanging around this time, enough to pack the bike away, but not enough to start skiing. So I’m keeping occupied running the trails with ski poles, preparing my gear for the season ahead, and watching the weather. I’m going [...]
Still no snow, so today I figured some more recreational chainsawing on the Rabbit Hole would be a productive way to work out. This particular line has been a project of mine for 3 years now, and I’ve finally connected it all the way through. With so much standing dead in the forest I [...]
Yesterday I made a solo hike into my favorite ’secret’ back-country hut, carrying my chainsaw. I felled a couple of dead snags, cut them into rounds and stacked them ready for a few toasty warm ski trips this winter. Much easier than doing the same after a long day of skiing, wading around in deep [...]
