Blah blah blah

Day 3 was like Day 2, which was like Day 4. Sunshine, powder, blah blah blah.

There's a new sheriff in town

Dillon the photographer skied with us on the 25th. In addition to being a really nice guy, he did a great job, especially considering the previous day was his first day on the job, and first time on skis in ~8 years (normally a snowboarder).

"Try to keep your skis on the ground this time!" -Andrew P.

I really can't figure out blogger's photolayout crap... it sucks!

Well anyway, here's a picture of another cat, and us at the bottom of the Vertebrae Glacier run, looking back up at something.

Skiing in the Cascades

March 24





I don't recall much from this day. It was snowing wet and heavy. 30cm overnight, another 20cm during the day, snow level possibly rising to 2000m, "but it's a little colder up here" (lodge is at 1600m). Not many pictures were taken, so here is one of Bill on a later day, planning what to do with his death cookie.

We skied a lot of sticky snow in the trees, and it was actually really fun - just like home. Once we started setting off avalanches in the trees, we moved to a lower elevation, lower angle, burned over area. It was also fun, I wish more pictures had been taken.

The snow level ended up rising to about 1700m.

I overheard someone in one of the groups (from Calgary) say that was the heaviest snow they had ever skied in their life. Wha!?

Kickin' it and a new toque

Am I more excited about the sunshine and powder, or the new toque?

Greg, Bill and I showed up at Kicking Horse Resort on the late morning of the 23rd, and bought single ride lift rickets. We ran into Vinnie and the rest of the crew at the bottom, but parted ways again at the top.

We skied 500ft down the back side and skinned back up. Then we climbed over a peak, and up alongside a permanently closed area that they were currently bombing (exciting! explosions going off nearby!). We skied a semi-tracked couloir down an imposing face - the only easy way down. After all was said and done, it was 2pm. Still one hour before we had to be at the airport, and so I went and bought a new hat downtown.

Shortly before 3pm we arrived at the airport, only to find out everything had been moved up an hour due to impending bad weather. So we were an hour late. Oops. Bill, Greg and I watched a DVD of helicopter safety in a corner, while the other good people finished up outside. Being last, we were of course on the last flight. When it took off, the weather looked like this:

And only got worse. We landed short of the lodge, and had to take a cat for half an hour to get there. But then I had my beer. And dinner. And I had a nice new hat.

It's better over there...

Well I don't know if cat skiing is what it's all about, but certainly skiing in the high alpine in the BC Rockies and Selkirks is.

Day 1: a one ride lift ticket at Kicking Horse, and a little touring up there before catching the flight to Chatter, which is running an hour early due to an impending storm. The chopper can't fly all the way due to the weather, so it lands near enormous piles of avy debris, and we take a half hour cat ride to get to the lodge.
Day 2: The snow at Chatter is classic "Cascade Glonch". At the bottom of one of our runs it's even raining. Everywhere else (as high as we can get), it's thick mank. It snowed 40cm overnight and is dumping heavily and even the steep treed runs are sliding. Andrew (our guide) says they might "call it" - but we manage to find safe terrain and ski a full day.
Day 3-5: Ah, there we go. The snow dries out overnight, and everything above the rain line (300 ft above the lodge) is dry powder again. It's hard to believe that actually happens, since it never happens in the Cascades. But seeing is believing. The weather clears and we are treated to three fantastic mostly blue-bird days.
Day 6: Back from Chatter, 5 of us stay at the terrible Rogers Pass Best Western, and tour up to Saphire Col on an absolutely gorgeous day. Who says it has to be all steeps? I kind of like these 3000ft rolling runs down glaciers with amazing views. Tons of folks out on this Wednesday.
Day 7: 3 of us left now - we aim for the Forever Young couloir, but the winds have kicked up and there are big streamers coming off the ridgelines. Yesterday's powder is now a mixed bag of powder and windcrust. Wednesday's tracks are gone. Forever Young has almost continuous wind drift filling it. We settle for another long glacier run from near Youngs Peak, with a couple of nice steep sluffy pitches.
Day 8: the drive back to soggy foggy puget sound.

Now I need to find out how I can move to the BC interior and support myself (only half-joking...)

Sinister Spring Escape

Lefty has it dialed this week. It probably is all about cat skiing powder at Chatter Creek while suckaz are stuck in western Washington offices on some of the first brilliant days of spring.

EFFYOO!!!

Worthy effort

Toasted with potato chips!

It's Not Aboot Skiing a New Route.

Twice in the last week, I've attempted big ski descents. Both times I've been denied, for various reasons. Nevertheless, these days of Herculean effort were spent with good friends and offered very rewarding skiing and scenery. It's nice to "send," but really that's just the icing on the cake.

Is it the internet?

This great lyric by Kool Keith summarizes why websites are not the answer:

Forget the internet.
A website? That's no way to step right.
I ain't sitting by no computer.
I'm going to Bermuda.

Bermuda Skiing is what it's all about. But for those of us who haven't found a way to ski every day, sometimes having a website where we can revisit our best times in the hills is what it's all about.

The epic week.

An example of what it might be all about was the week of February 24th to March 2nd.





Indeed, it was so epic, that this past Saturday March 10th whenever I referred to "last Thursday", I of course meant Thursday March 1st, and not March 8th. It's like March 8th didn't even exist when taken in context with that week (apologies to March 8th - I'm sure you had some redeeming qualities)

Somewhere in that week, I had my deepest day of lift skiing ever. Maybe not what it's all about, but damn good anyway.

As always, safety equipment is essential, as this photo demonstrates.