Rossland Range Touring

Anticipating a busy day at the Resort, Cam and I headed into the Rossland Range this morning for some turns in the sun. With a long moderate approach through the the quiet and empty forest, and easy travel conditions, it’s easy to get lost in your thoughts.

The final steep head-wall was wind effected in places, but very aspect dependent, and we were able to find creamy powder turns in gladed trees for the descent (my camera batteries were dead by then). There’s been significant avalanche activity on steep North facing alpine slopes, with some impressive debris piles, but nothing was moving today.  Doodling through the forest back down to the highway was fast and consistent, with great coverage considering the local snowpack is only just over a meter.

Kootenay Pass – TR.

Getting the great skiing is usually about timing. Andrew, Brian, and I toured into one of our favorite back-country stashes just as the last of the warm wet weather was leaving us, setting us up for two cold clear days of perfect powder skiing. Many of the steep north and north-east facing alpine slopes had slid recently, but the cold temps seemed to consolidated things, and we were pleasantly surprised with the stability. Surface conditions were boot-deep easy skiing powder on all aspects. Here are just a few of my snaps.

Red Mountain Conditions Update – Dec 21st.

Raining in Rossland. Wet snow at the base, snowing hard at the top. About 15cm of creamy new snow on the mountain. Very few skiers. Powder skiing on the top half (until the cliffs on the Slides), but getting heavy towards the bottom (better where it’s been skied). Finished up at noon – soaked but satisfied. Still pouring rain in town.

Snow Report Fiction

Given that a favorable snow report brings in business, there’s obviously a temptation for a all ski resorts to be a little careless with the truth. We still laugh about Red’s 50cm powder day that wasn’t, though to be fair I can also recall a few days when 10cm of fresh snow went unrecorded. Today I woke up a little later than usual, to a misty morning and about 1.5cm of wet snow in town. I was pleasantly surprised that the snow report advertised 8cm overnight, and had to rush to make first chair. Unfortunately it was damp and misty to the top, with no more than 2cm of heavy wet snow.  Guest Services suggested that wind might have piled snow up against their recording stick, but I just laughed and headed home for a more substantial breakfast.

Celebration

We skiers spend so much of our life up in the snowy mountains. It’s our gym, our cafe, and our church. Two friends of mine were married ten years ago in a treed glade adjacent to the ski-hill, and yesterday a bunch of us gathered in the same spot, had a few drinks around a fire, and celebrated their time together, and this wonderful life we share.

Last Chair.

The forecast was calling for a dusting, and there looked to be only a couple of cm on my truck, but it was snowing and the the snow report was advertising 13cm. It was  high density snow, but made for effortless powder carving, and with no crowds and the visibility getting better by the hour, I skied all day.

Above the Clouds.

The Kootenay Sea.

I don’t need a reason to go skiing. I go unless there’s a good reason not to. It was dark and damp in town this morning, and not very inspiring, but Jordy and I (and not too many others) spent the day ripping around the mountain, finding lots of left-overs from yesterday’s powder, and enjoying spectacular views and sunshine.

Orchards – if you look closely you can just see the summit of Red Mountain.

Searching for the perfect resort skis.

Last Season – Dynastar Huge Troubles with Marker Dukes

Another powder day at Red today, the best conditions so far this season. It was a little on the  heavy side (a few face shots that splatted onto my goggles), but not so warm as to get sticky, and deep enough (boot to knee) to slow you down on the steeps.  I brought out my rock skis for opening day, but when the skiing is this good, I want to be on my Huge Troubles. When I was shopping for skis I knew I wanted some that would float through anything (110mm under foot), smear effortlessly when I need them to (neutral camber), and yet carve like a GS ski in firmer conditions (damp wood core with lots of side-cut), and they do it all.  I initially mounted them with Marker Dukes, figuring I’d use them for occasional side-country touring, but found the Dukes were impossibly heavy, a misery to tour with (I’m used to Dynafits), were actually difficult to get in and out of, and raised me too high off the skis. So I sold the Dukes, mounted some light and simple Salomon z12s, and couldn’t be happier.

Red Mountain Conditions Update – Dec 15th.

The snow report advertised 15cm in 24hrs. On my first run down Captain Jack’s it felt (though it could have been my legs) like only 5cm of fluff on top of the skied-out base. But the temperature was climbing quickly, a stiff wind was blowing from the south, and the snow seemed to consolidate into consistent, smooth, carvable powder within a run or two. It was another quiet early season day, untracked lines till noon (saving my energy),  still finding plenty of knee deep turns in protected lower glades. It’s now dumping again, with 10-15cm forecast overnight, so tomorrow should be another good one.

Checking out the conditions.

The East Ridge of Mt Roberts – Viewed from the Mine Works above the T-Bar.

Feeling stiff and tired from opening day,  a relaxing walk in the mountains seemed like a good idea. I skinned up Mt Roberts, intending to pick a line in one of the North chutes, but they all appeared wind scoured.  In contrast the glades leading into the East ridge  looked  soft and inviting, so I figured I’d see how far I could get. I had be careful through the rock bands but I had great turns in the open terrain until about half way down the ridge, but then it got really thin and woody in the trees.  Eventually it got ridiculously bushy, and had to take my skis off and boot pack down for a 200m or so until I hit the summer road, on which I was able to ski  to the Old Cascade Hwy, and then skinned back up to the T-bar. A great little solo morning  adventure.  I had a look at the snow-pack on my way up Roberts  – 135cm of snow, with a well bridged weakness (facets under a deteriorating crust ) down 35cm.  The (NOAA) forecast is calling for 8-16 inches of snow in the mountains between Monday night and Wednesday. Bring it on.

Red Mountain Opening Day

Cam – Short Squaw (Booty’s).

I love opening day. No matter the conditions, it just feels great to be back skiing my favorite lines with my friends. Red opened earlier than originally advertised, Howard (the owner) was greeting skiers and handing out hot chocolates to the early morning lift -lineup, and (despite some challenging conditions) there were no terrain closures on the mountain. From my perspective, a good start to the year for the resort. Although it hasn’t snowed for the past couple of weeks, the coverage from a snowy November remains pretty decent, and we were able to ski all our favorite lines. The cold temps this past week have faceted the snow down to the ground in shallow areas (rock skis are recommended) , and there are some unpredictable crusts towards the bottom, but I was making powder turns from first chair to last, taking airs, and skiing steep lines till my legs were quivering. It certainly wasn’t busy, but the regulars were all out having fun and drinking beers in Rafters afterwards. All in all a great day.