A Typical Week in British Columbia Powder Paradise

Last time I checked in, I was recollecting the previous high pressure cycle in BC, and how it was ending with some storms which were creating a sensitive snow pack. The last week has brought some great weather and skiing thanks to last Monday's 40-50cm of cold smoke. I couldn't believe it on the first run Monday, when I dropped in to some incredibly fast deep powder, choking on snow flakes every turn.


Needless to say, the avalanche danger was High that day and has stayed heightened for quite a few days. Lucky for us at Valhalla Mountain Touring there are tons of 1000-1500 vertical foot gladed shots right out our door. We spent Monday and Tuesday skiing lap after lap of deep fast snow, smiling all the way, and dropping into the lodge for a hot drink and soup every now and again.

Wednesday dawned clear, with beautiful fresh snow every where, and tons of fresh avalanche debris on the usual suspect slopes. No need for rocket scientists when the snowpack is like this-we just tracked down safe terrain, keeping our slope angles mellow in the big wide open spaces, our tracks away from big scary slopes and ripped around the steep trees. Lucky for me, I have about 25 square miles of terrain to find the perfect places to go no matter what the weather and snow. As you can see here, we took advantage of the blue bird days to sneak in and around the big alpine terrain of Shannon Lake:


We finished off the week exploring the amazing powder in the alpine areas, having a blast, and skiing fresh tracks everyday. The week even ended last night with a little bit of a show from Mother Nature...the first appearance of the Norther Lights for the season. At 9pm, after another great meal, we all stood around staring at the waves of green in the night sky, tired and happy from another great week in this British Columbia Powder Paradise.

This week I am going to expound on one of my new theories...consuming one calorie for every vertical foot skied!