Ski Touring in the Rockies

I just got back from two days of ski touring out in the beautiful Canadian Rockies. John, my friend from Banff, and I were supposed to head out to Roger's Pass in the Selkirks, but high freezing levels had us alter our plans. John invited me out to Banff to do some touring since things seemed to be getting a bit more stable out there. I thought it would be as good of an opportunity as ever to check out that neck of the woods.

While I was excited about skiing in such a beautiful and historical area, I was also a bit apprehensive about the skiing. The Canadian Rockies are known for being big, burly, very cold and windy, and have a notorious reputation for a shallow and dangerous snowpack. Yeah! Sounds like fun! John has lived in Banff for the past three years and is used to tip toeing around the area. He's conservative in his avalanche decision making, like me, and is a good guy to go touring with. On my drive out I was wondering where all the snow was, wondering what the heck we were going to ski. John assured me that he knew some spots, so we headed off to Kananaskis, an area south of Banff, full of dramatic peaks and broad glacial valleys.

Our destination was Tent Ridge. John had skied there several times in the past week, so he was feeling confident about its stability. Here's a view of the peak with our ascent route (in green) and the two laps we took down the main bowl (in red).



It was a nice mellow skin up through the trees and then the pitch picked up as we approached gained the ridge. Here's John enjoying the last bit of skinning before we had to boot pack up the rest of the ridge. Welcome to the Rockies. Snow on one side. Wind scoured rocks on the other.



John enjoying some sun on the way up.



Me on top, enjoying my first Canadian Rockies summit.



John and Joshua enjoying the views from on top of Tent Ridge.



Summit Video



This was John's third time skiing this line in the last 7 days, and one of those times, one of the people he was skiing with fell heavily and repeatedly on this slope. They also cut a cornice on it, and we did the same as well. So, we felt good about the stability. This was a fantastic line to ski. Fast, fall line skiing, with about 4 inches of powder on top of a firm layer. Not deep like the Kootenays, but still fun! Here's John dropping in.



John snapped this video of me skiing down the bowl (some language not okay for the kids on this one).



We headed up for a second lap off the shoulder of the ridge, and then headed on down through the trees back to the car. Skiing trees in the Rockies is not like skiing trees in the Kootenays. Because the snowpack is so low, everything you can think of is waiting to bite your ankles or provide a dramatic stop to your downhill progress. Definitely some of the spiciest tree skiing I've ever done. It was a relief to get back to the car in one piece. Can you say survival skiing?!

That night we cooked up some mean tacos with rice and beans. Unfortunately, it left us both with really nasty gas the next day as we headed up to check out an area that John had never been to around the Wapta Icefields. The day was bluebird, warm, and beautiful. We new the snowpack would be a little different up here. Even more shallow and faceted than in K-Country. We headed up into the alpine via fairly mellow terrain, with our objective to get up to Crowfoot Pass, which is the obvious pass in the photo.



The views were incredible the whole day and it was fantastic to be surrounded by such big mountains and huge glaciers. The geology and glaciology are just so incredible in the Rockies. We had to skin across some flats and then a frozen lake, a first for me, to begin gaining the pass. But the Crowfoot Glacier was there to keep us motivated for the mile long skin across it.



We skinned up through steep trees to gain the alpine and the views just kept getting better. John getting up to treeline.





Since the sun was out in full effect today, we didn't want to expose ourselves to any of the solar induced avalanches that we knew would be happening. From a safe spot, we got the pleasure of watching three small avalanches cascade down 1000 feet off of the cliff walls in front of us. John caught the first two on camera.





The terrain that looked mellow from the road, ended up being a bit convoluted once we got up into the alpine. And with the amount of faceted snow that we were finding, I wasn't okay with commiting us to the terrain that would need to be navigated to get to the pass. So after a fairly mellow 1000 foot climb, we ate some lunch and called it a day, skiing down very mellow 20 degree-ish slopes, then steeper trees and back across the lake to the car.

John minutes away from our high point.



Me with Bow Peak and Crowfoot Pass in the background at our lunch spot.



We had a great laugh on our way down as John demonstrated his skill in doing 100 turns in 100 feet. Look at him go!



Here's his twenty turns compared to my four turns.



All in all a great trip with John, and great to do some skiing in a new mountain range...but I'm glad to be back the deeper snowpack of the Kootenays :)

West Ymir + Pipline Chute + Hummer B

Today turned out to be one of those days that started modestly but ended surprisingly good. This weekend being the last weekend of operation for Whitewater, I thought that I'd try and do some backcountry stuff that is easily accessible from the lifts since they won't be around to give me their 1300 feet of vertical boost for much longer. After a quick inbounds lap to taste the freshly fallen powder, and to remind ourselves why we don't like skiing moguls, Steve and I headed up into the alpine and took a lap into West Ymir Bowl. The visibility was poo and it was like skiing blinded for the first half of the run, but the snow was still decent.

There are some fun inbounds chutes that lie above Catch Basin, but they require some skinning to get to. So we went for a lap in one of them, called Pipeline Chute. Here's me in it.



During lunch at the lodge we talked to some guys who had skied Hummer A and B that morning. They are two steep, but amazing couloirs, or chutes, that sit between Prospector's Bowl and West Ymir. I've looked at them many times and always wanted to ski them, but never thought much about hitting them up until today. We went up to take a look and they were big, steep, and impressive-just how they look from below. They were made all the more imposing by the fact that we couldn't see all the way down them because we were socked in by the clouds. After checking them out we decided to ski Hummer B. The entrance was spicy and super steep, but it then opened up into 40 to 40+ degree terrain where you could make nice jump turns down the long couloir. Here Steve descends into the beast.



After 500 feet or so of steep couloir goodness, it opens up into a steep open bowl where we just ripped big turns down the boot to knee deep powder. Amazing! Hummer B has to be one of the best lines I've skied around here. Here's me opening 'er up in the bowl.



And a video of Steve skiing the upper part of the bowl once we exited the chute. A-freaking-mazing run!

Ymir Peak

Be forewarned: This is a long blog post with lots of photos and video!!

Everybody who goes to Whitewater Ski Resort gazes up from the lodge to gorgeous Ymir Peak (pronounced why-mir). Although, not in bounds at the ski resort, Ymir is the King of the area. Ever since I moved to Nelson I've wanted to ski it. However, skiing Ymir takes you into fairly complex and big avalanche terrain. There had been a few opportunities to ski the peak earlier in the season, when stability was good, but I wasn't able to find a touring partner for those windows. Well, I convinced Steve to skip school today, because conditions were setting up great for a descent of Ymir. Fortunately for both of us my arguments proved persuasive.

Last Sunday was Whitewater's last day of full time operation. They are closed this week and will reopen this weekend for the last two days of the season. Normally, you could catch a ride up the lift and cut out about 1300 vertical feet of skinning. However, I'm much happier that this window presented itself when the resort was closed so we could really climb the peak without mechanical assistance. Steve and I pulled up to the parking lot just before 10:30 and began skinning up through the ski resort at 10:35am. Steve, in the parking lot, pointing at today's objective.



Here's a view of Ymir Peak. Our ascent route is in black. Descent route is in red.



Although neither one of us were feeling particularly quick today, we made good time and had the first 1350 vertical out of 2600 finished in the first 45 minutes. We gave ourselves three hours to summit, but it only took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Steve and I on the way up.



A view of the peak on the way up. We followed the steep corniced ridge/face leading up to the summit.



Steve skinning up the steep face.



Steve cresting the ridge.



Joshua almost at the summit.



Joshua on top.



Summit shot.



Summit Video.



We were going to ski directly off of the summit, but to get to Popcorn Ledge, the ramp above the cliffs in the route photo above, you have to go around the backside of the peak. Unfortunately, this side of the peak was totally wind hammered and gutted. We threw the skis on our backs and down climbed about 100-150 feet to where we could strap our skis on.

Steve down climbing.



Since neither one of us had been on this side of the peak, we weren't exactly sure where to drop off of Popcorn Ledge into the bowl below. There are several large cliff bands that you could get sucked into if you chose poorly. However, we found our way through fine. Here's me looking down at Steve's tracks from Popcorn Ledge down to the bowl just before I dropped in. The pitch was nice and steep and we had great boot deep powder the whole way down the bowl.



Joshua skiing from Popcorn Ledge down into Ymir Bowl.



Steve in Ymir Bowl. Popcorn Ledge is behind him.



Steve letting the skis run.



Me in Ymir Bowl.



A look back at some of our tracks.



Joshua enjoying the wide open run down.



Steve skiing lower down the bowl.



A look back at our descent route from the bottom of the bowl.



Skiing down Ymir offers a fantastic 2500+ vertical descent. We hit it just right. It stayed cloudy for the ascent, keeping the sun from loosening up some of the avalanche slopes we had to cross and from turning the snow into mush. The sun then came out for our descent giving us great light for our photos, but didn't have enough time to loosen things up before we were back at the car. I'm really glad to have ticked this one off the list for the season. A fantastic day!

First time in the Backcountry

I took France up for her first experience going backcountry snowboarding today. After a bit of avalanche beacon practice, we headed to a fun, mellow open glade area underneath Evening Ridge. We had a bit of sun and a bit of snow, but the views were still lovely. France's snowshoes were acting up a bit on the way up, but we still had a nice ride back down to the car and she got her first taste of the backcountry.

France hiking up.



France ready for her first taste of the backcountry.

Another deep March day

Well, here we are at March 30th, well on our way to spring and it just snowed a foot of cold, light, dry snow overnight. I love living in Nelson. And I love how this March just keeps on giving. We had plans to get up into the alpine again today but with a foot of new, we weren't ready to hop on the big open stuff. So we headed for the steep and fantastic tree lines in Acidopolis. The players today were Tim, Steve, Eric, and myself, and the playing field was the deep white. Our first run down we all had huge smiles as we destroyed the white goodness.

Timmy in deep.



Joshua enjoying another March powder day.



Steve not missing Ontario.



We headed back up for a second run, and Tim had to head back to the resort to ski with his lady. One of Steve's skins was acting up beyond repair so he headed back with Tim as well. Eric and I were off for another lap down a nearby line and found more deep snow and some great pillows to huck.

Eric laying it down.




Eric midflight.



We finished up the day with a nice 1700 foot line down the side of White Queen. All in deep, untracked, beautiful powder. Just another sucky day in the Kootenays.

Is it really late March??

Wow. Let me say this has been an amazing March. It has snowed and snowed and then snowed some more. Well, guess what? Today it snowed! Steve and I headed up for some touring in the alpine today and were definitely rewarded. We first headed for a lap in West Ymir bowl. I haven't been spending much time in the alpine lately because of questionable stability, but it was nice to be out in some bigger terrain today, even though the visibility was not great. We had nice boot deep powder all the way down the untracked bowl. On our second lap we headed for Prospector's Bowl. A nice bowl with fun chutes to get into it and then big avalanche paths to ski on your way out. The powder was fast and fun the whole way down. Here's me practicing some of my best poses for my next horror movie audition.



After Prospector's we thought we'd take another lap down West Ymir Bowl again. Wow, that was a good decision. It had been dumping snow the whole day and so by the time we got around to dropping into this run it had really filled in. What was boot deep powder in the morning was now knee deep in the afternoon. The run was epic. Deep and blower the whole way down. Here I am enjoying it.



Steve opening it up in the lower half of the bowl.

Cat Skiing...Again!!

Today I got the chance to go cat skiing for the second time! And, thanks to my hook up through France, it was free! Again! First off let me say that I love free stuff. Secondly, I love skiing powder. Free + Powder = A great day. It snowed 4 inches last night, bringing the weekly snow total up to 13 or 14 inches or so. With a recipe like that it's bound to be a good day. The pow was light, dry, and fast which made for great skiing. However, it wasn't bonding spectacularly with recent sun crusts and I ended up triggering a small avalanche on our 3rd run of the day while skiing some trees. The avi broke about 12-15 feet wide, ran about 65 feet and was about 14 inches deep. Fortunately it broke right at my feet. The guides released multiple avalanches through ski cutting today, all of which were running fast. They did a good job of managing the hazard while still finding great, safe lines for us to ski. Another great day!

Looking down the first run of the day.



Looking down the third run of the day.



Our tail guide ripping down one of the runs.



Some of the sucky views.