A Little Adventure

Yesterday was an exploratory/adventure kind of day. Perusing over some maps, I thought that an area to the northwest of the summit of White Queen would hold some potential for good skiing. However, sometimes maps just don't match up with what ends up in front of you. Me, Tim, Steve and John (who decided to ditch Rossland and stay in Nelson) were the lucky participants. We made quick time to the summit of the Queen in under an hour and then dropped into unknown terrain. Mellow open slopes led us into what we thought would be moderate tree skiing, but turned out to be 45 degree + slopes and couloirs. We traversed/side stepped over to mellower forested terrain and proceeded to ski great snow for about another 500 vertical before being confronted with another band of steep chutes and cliffs that were not apparent on the map. More traversing ensued before finding a suitable exit through the maze. Because of poor visibility we thought there was a ridge to our left that would take us back towards White Queen. Little did we know this ridge had a summit on it. When we finally gained the ridge we were much farther out than we had anticipated and had to descend several hundred feet before beginning the climb up the ridge we had originally wanted to hit.

Upon gaining the ridge, John and I decided to go for a lap down the treed face we had just broken trail up, while Tim and Steve headed back for the Queen and the parking lot. John and I ended up dropping in too far skiers left, missing the beautiful glades that we had wanted to ski, and ending up in tight, flat trees. Then we had to break a new trail to get back up to the ridge. Needless to say, it made for a long, but fun day, with more touring than skiing. However, we were rewarded with a fantastic powder run down the south face of White Queen, which surprisingly was only sun crusted in a few small locations.

The clouds broke a few times throughout the day and it became apparent to us the amazing potential that the place had for fantastic skiing. However, because of the openness and steepness of many of the lines, snow stability would need to be very good, which is not the case right now. I'll be back.

Steve descending into unknown territory.



Joshua and John on the summit of White Queen at the end of the day.