Glacier Creek

On my way to the top.
I got to check out and ski a new (for me) zone out of Glacier Creek yesterday. After an early start and a long drive, the road was clear to 25km, and Mike and I sledded (on dirt and snow) into the base from there.

Mike – Checking out the Seracs.
After a substantial climb, Mike hung out at foot of the glacier while I pushed up to the top in about 20cm of new snow. It wasn’t quite real powder skiing, but nice smooth turns for this time of year.

There are plenty of reasons to return.
From the foot of the glacier down it was fun spring skiing, a 5000′ descent in all. Experiencing Mike’s sweet sled access set-up has me more motivated than ever to acquire my own sled for next winter.

Stewart – Looking back at my line (the ramp).

Skiing with Family

There’s still coverage to the bottom of Red.
With my younger brother in town for a visit, Cam and I figured we should take him for a quick lap of skiing on Red. At about 11am it was still a little firm at the top, but sweet corn skiing most of the way down.

Cam skiing the top of the Cliff.

Bostock Pass Base Camp

Cam – Trenching In.

I’m just back from 7 days snow camping and skiing in the vicinity of Bostock Pass in the Northern Selkirks. We slogged in from the Bostock trailhead in a raging blizzard and at least 80cm of new snow.

Andrew.

For the first couple of days it was knee to waist deep on all aspects.

Snow Camping.

With constant heavy snowfall and low temperatures it was a challenge keeping warm and dry. We slept in tents and used a Megamid as a cooking shelter.

Ascending Mt Corbin.

As the weather cleared we were able to ascend the nearby peaks and ski some of the glaciers and alpine bowls.

Jordy – Skiing the North Corbin Glacier with the Fang in the background.

There’s something hypnotic about linking together dozens of perfect powder turns down a huge expanse of snow, and being a relative novelty for a bunch of Rosslanders, we tracked all the big classic lines within reach.

Jordy – Casualty Creek.

And we couldn’t resist hitting some of the tempting puffy pillow lines along the way.

Back to Civilization

I took plenty of photos, and have a few stories, which I’ll share as I find the time, but for the moment I’m going to enjoy the warmth of Spring and a  few comforts of home.

Post Season

Andrew.

It’s still snowing, and were still skiing deep powder.  The reality that this snowy weather isn’t going to let up anytime soon has finally sunk in, so we’ve abandoned our traversing plans, and instead are going spend a week skiing sick powder from a base camp in the Northern Selkirks.

Andrew -Spines.

Cam.

Closing Day at Red

Sparky, entertaining the crowd at the summit.

It snowed and we skied powder right up to the end of the 2009/10 season at Red.  I know that by April too many other people are  focused on golfing, biking, and gardening to justify extending the season, but it does seem to me a tragedy that the mountain is closing with perfect coverage and weeks of powder still in the forecast.  As is custom, the local ski bums congregated at the summit after last chair, and we partied in the blizzard.

Lugers .

Stewart – Airing into the powder.

April is the new February

Jeff – Getting Deep at Kootenay Pass today.

I had one of my better days for the season at Red yesterday. The coverage and snow surface conditions (soft and silky smooth all day) were exceptional, and I managed 18 laps on Motherlode. Today at Kootenay Pass we were skiing in epic mid-winter conditions.

April Fools

Gnarly.

The problem with the multitude of weather and avalanche forecasts available these days, is that it’s easy to come up with reasons not to head into the mountains.  Suffice to say that I’ve not yet departed on my planned ski traverse. Instead I’m skiing powder close to home. Yesterday Kieth, Jordy and I wandered a little further than usual at Kootenay Pass, and between the squalls scored some great turns on some new lines.

Endless Lines.

Chutes.

Kieth – On top of the world.

Jordy – Dropping in to the run of the day.