High Pressure Harvesting

Looking down at the Pass from Video Peak

From my last post you might think that all it does is snow up here in the Selkirks of British

Columbia. Well, usually it does and for most of January it sure did. Alas, last week the snow hose shifted its focus, and squinty eyes and sun burned noses returned to the mountains of BC.

With my father in law, the original owner of my backcountry ski lodge Valhalla Mountain Touring, in place as the hut keeper, I knew I needed to get out of my neck of the woods and go play in the big peaks of Rogers Pass. A quick 2.5 hour drive from home (not including the snowmachine ride to my truck and the half-hour ferry ride inland), Rogers Pass is the number one place I go to play when I have some time off. If you haven't been, its time to change that, as it is host to some of the best road-accessed ski touring in the world, hands down.

However, my "time off" didn't last very long, as a client of mine got in touch from snow starved Alta, Utah wanting to connect and ski in Rogers Pass as well. Being that I am a mountain guide for a living, I couldn't say no, especially since I know I can drop the hammer with Andrew (my client) and never lose him. He has the luxury of retiring at an early age and ski touring out of his front door in Alta, and is notorious for skiing 7 to 8,000 vertical feet every day he heads out. A day of work with him is like showing a good friend who is keen and fit a good time in the hills, with no compromising the objectives that I want to ski. But then again, my job is always about going out and showing great people a great time in the hills!

Working our way back to the top of Video Peak for more perfect pow

We met for the first day of high pressure and skinned up at the front door of the Glacier Park Lodge, the lone hotel in the middle of the pass. For $100 a night, two people can share a room, with world-class ski touring everywhere you look. With temperatures still cool, 20 cms of fresh, non-wind affected snow everywhere and bomber stability, we set out to ski until we ran out of daylight. We headed up Video Peak first, one of the easiest access summits in the park, but still 4,300 feet of uphill to get the summit, and a 35 to 40 degree 1000-foot headwall that you must negotiate to tag the peak. I dug a quick pit to confirm what I knew about the snowpack: no persistent weak layers and no slab on with any storm snow weaknesses. Before we knew it, we were eating lunch on top and staring down a 2,000-foot run of perfect boot-top pow. It was so nice, we had to do it twice. We then busted over to the thigh-burning 2,500-foot 8812 bowl for a lap, and finally found a nice 1,000-foot treed pillow gully to take us home, 9,500 feet for the first day at the pass in the bag!

With the warm, high pressure settling in, I knew we had to act on the second day to ski any solar aspects, as they were going to get cooked by the sun. This was a no-brainer for what objective to choose — Rogers Peak. With 6,300 feet straight up from the highway to the summit in one push, and a 1000-foot, 45-degree headwall, it is in my mind one of the crown jewels of ski objectives in the pass. Glaciers, old growth, moraines, steepness, knife-edge summit ridge, this line has it all. For the icing on the cake, I decided we should link it into the Tupper Traverse, another uber classic of the pass, that involves skiing around the rock sentinel of Mt Tupper, and exiting via a 4,000-foot avalanche path down to the highway. Halfway through the day we caught up to some friends of mine, five to be exact, and we all spent the day together and I convinced them to ski out the Tupper as well. We cruised along, skied the headwall in amazing snow and enjoyed the epic long descent back to the car. All told, 7,800 feet of up and 8,500 feet of down.

Don't slip...skiing down the knife edge summit of Rogers Peak

Andrew moves over to the headwall of Rogers

Tracks laid down on the headwall

2 grand behind us on the Tupper traverse exit.

2 grand in front of us on the tupper traverse exit.

Day 3 and it was time to explore the other side of the highway for some shadier options. If Rogers is the crown jewel of the north side of the pass, then Young's Peak is the gem of the south side, with 5,500 feet of gain up to the summit via the famous run known as the '7 Steps of Paradise'. How can you go wrong with a run name like that? So once again we rocketed up, ate lunch on the summit and skied another epic glacier run of a few thousand feet to the valley bottom. Of course while on the summit we looked across the valley to another amazing summit and run, Castor Peak and the glacier below. So, with another 4,000 feet of uphill, we hit the peak and enjoyed another massive run in sweet snow back to the car, with another 9,500 feet in the bag for day 3.

Looking out at the Sapphire Col zone

Summit of Youngs Peak

Skiing down the 7 steps of Paradise on Youngs

Skiing down from Castor Peak

Climbing down from the summit of Castor

Day 4 came along and no one was tiring so I planned to bring Andrew up another new valley for him. This time we went up Loop Brook to the Lily Glacier and ascended 5,000 feet to the Dome and the summit of the Rampart. We did a few laps of the 2,000-foot glacier and then opted out of skiing down the Dome glacier, as we could see it was wall to wall tracks from the weekend traffic, and where we were had plenty of untouched lines. So once again, another huge powder run to end the day and 8,500 feet of skiing under our legs.

Summit of the Rampart

Inversion in the Pass

Our last day came, and the weather started to return to normal with no more inversion and some moderate winds in the alpine. The highways crew was targeting all of their new guns on the avalanche paths in the clear calm weather, so many zones of the park were shut down. We decided to return to the Video Peak area of Day 1, but put a few variations on the first day's theme. I was keen to ski a line I had done before, the north face of Video, but a little bit of slab from the winds, and a cold, dark look down the super committing 45-degree convex role to drop in, made me hesitate. Instead we took another run down in the powder on the SE face that we did on the first day, and went for a new summit, 8812. Wrapping around the back from Bruins pass, we entered a much more remote, glaciated basin, that no one had skied in yet. The summit is guarded by a short 50-degree headwall requiring a few minutes of boot packing. Five meters from the top, while booting up, I triggered a shallow hard slab that tried hard to wash me down the face, but luckily I was near the top and hung tight. Andrew was tucked behind a rock, safe and sound, so no worries there. I guess my instincts were right to not drop in on Video... I wouldn't have buried myself in a slide, but losing a ski that far away from home in the backcountry is not something you want to deal with. We clicked in and skied a beautiful line down the north glacier for 2,000 feet, climbed back up to Bruins pass and skied the last 4,000 feet back to the hotel and my commute back to Valhalla Mountain Touring.

Summit of 8812

Last run down from Bruins Pass

In five days we skied a tally of runs that has taken me a bunch of years to accumulate. Timing and partners is everything in the mountains, and Andrew and I managed to put it together for an unbelievable ski trip to Rogers Pass.

Deep powder week

Well, it has been the driest winter in about 20 years, so 'they' say. Despite that, every single group that has been here this season (VMT) has skied untracked powder, I am not making that up. Sometimes it was settled out, and at the end of the day a bit moist, but there was always a place for every guest to get some untracked. 2 weeks ago was the deluge that my soul needed. 80cms in 6 days, and 4 of those days were the standard, ultra-light, champagne, make UT snow look heavy kind of days. Here is a link to a video from the group that came in that week.

Enjoy!

http://gallery.me.com/seanstaniforth#100081

Let the ski season begin!

Feeling cold? check
Legs burning? check
Lungs aching? check
Big smile on Benny's face (and mine!)? check
Up in the wilds of British Columbia with no one around for miles? check

It must be the start of ski season at Valhalla Mountain Touring. Jasmin and I came up and opened the lodge the other day, and now we are trying to transfer our strong climbing arms to our weak skiing legs! Oh, how the transition hurts!

Right now the snow is about 120-140cm deep with all the alder and brush covering up really nicely right now. but don't take my word for it...here's some footage from today's quick get in shape tour. 3,000' vertical never hurt so bad/good.

March Powder

Just a quick post with some photos from a week ago. March has meant the return to snowstorms on quite a regular basis. Someone the other day mentioned to Dale that in the Columbia Basin, the snow pack is estimated at 70% of normal. Well, we both agreed that with 2-3m on the ground here right now it is pretty much an average winter. Just goes to show you the magic of the Valhallas...the snow just keeps coming.

Speaking of the snow, check out these shots...

Chris, another satisfied customer!

Storm shots...Graham getting some.

Marta getting some pow before heading back east

We even got some sun...and powder in Shannon.

Storm Diaries

While the coast has been getting rain of biblical proportions, the interior of British Columbia has been getting pounded by METERS of snow. We have had avalanches run that have not run in anyone's living memory. Up at Valhalla Mountain Touring, we have been braving the weather in the safe tree skiing right out our door, and not stepping any further away. Making ski decisions in times like this in the backcountry is easy, avoid anything even remotely close to avalanche terrain at all costs! The clear weather is here, so now we will get to see what kind of damage mother nature has caused.

Here is a bit of a video diary from last week, enjoy!



You can check out the rest of my posts at evanstevens.blogspot.com

Snowed In

I can't really say that I have been snowed in before at Valhalla Mountain Touring. We have so much safe tree skiing close to home, that even when the avalanche danger is High, we can still get out and have fun safely. But the pineapple express has something to say about that right now. Just a few hours to the west, the coast is getting pummeled, and people are building arks, leading their animals 2x2 to safety. At just under 6,000' feet of elevation, we are weathering out the storm as all snow, and with night falling, we should just squeak it out as all frozen precip.

However, since we finished our ski day yesterday, it has snowed almost 45cm in about 18 hours. Strong winds have been afoot as well. Waking up this morning with the warm temps and big dose of 'Sierra Cement', we knew we were in for some interesting times. But when you are at a ski lodge in the backcountry, what else are you going to do, post to your blog? So being the good troopers that we are, we set out, at an exceedingly slow pace, but eventually made it up 1200' vertical to the top of some glades right above the lodge. I don't think we could have done it with out puppy power though. My 1 year old mutt has been genetically engineered (read cross breeding) with long legs and big webbed paws, and he has lots of energy to burn. So with our old skin track just barely visible, I gotta give Benny credit for breaking about 60% of the track. At least someone earned their kibble.

On the way down, it was point 'em straight and lean back, and leap frog each other's tracks. And that was on 30 degree slopes. Anything steeper would have been too sketchy! At least it has been an amazing last 2 weeks of non stop cold smoke, and now we have a super fat mid-winter snowpack. The cold front is coming, and we should get some nice fluff laid down on top of the heavy stuff. I guess right now we have too much of a good thing. It's like eating a few too many nachos, time to sit on the couch and digest...

Here are some shots from the last stint of cold smoke to keep you psyched! Thanks to backcountry.com's Tommy Chandler for the shots!

Getting deep at VMT

It might sound like a joke, but lately the snow has been coming in by the foot, not by inches. The storm hose is pointed right on British Columbia, and the cold smoke just keeps piling up at Valhalla Mountain Touring. We are in full swing here, with the 3rd straight week of operations, and this week has a bunch of friends from UT and CO up here to ski the pow. But instead of ranting and raving, and storytelling, I will let the pictures from the last 2 days do the talking.

Get up here! We still have some spaces for this winter!

All photos by backcountry.com's Tommy Chandler.

Me checking out the snow as the season starts, keeping it safe

Jasmin testing out the snow on yet another storm day.


Lindsay Yaw asks for the snorkel.


Me trying to get above the snow, but that is hard to do right now!

Jonn Webb taste testing the snow.

Cold, cold smoke

The arctic air mass has taken over British Columbia. I know what you're thinking. It's Canada, you all live in igloos and it is cold all the time. But alas, no, SW BC is actually quite mild in the winter, and that is what makes skiing here so great-it's not frigidly cold! Right now it is so, so, so bitterly cold here that we can't even really ski on shady slopes. The snow is so cold that your wax just doesn't work.

It has made for some interesting plan changes for me this week. Originally I was supposed to be skiing in Roger's Pass. We did two days there, and it was literally some of the coldest outdoor recreation I have ever taken part in. We skinned up to treeline one day, only to met by 25km/hr winds at -24 degrees Celsius. For you math majors out there, that equals a -40 degree celsius wind chill (and -40 is where farenheit and celsius are the same!). This artic front also brought with it heinously strong winds, jacking all the snow at treeline and in the alpine.

We decided to pull the plug and head a bit south to the family's lodge in the Valhallas. A bit of protection from the wind and slightly warmer temps tempted us and Valhalla Mountain Touring has delivered yet again. We have just spent the last 2 days tracking out the cold powder, first a bit in the trees, and then today in the blazing sun. I gotta tell ya, it might be freezing cold out, but that is the bet time ever to ski the pow in full sun, the snow just stays as cold smoke all day long!

So, a video here to keep you psyched, and some photos from today as well...

Benny and Jas racing for the freshies!

Richard heading towards sunny powder on Rugged Peak

My Karhu Storm's getting psyched for 2 grand of cold smoke.

Richard steals some of Benny's powder

Utah in the Spring - does it get any better?

So I have a temporary leave of absence from my ski season...I finished up in British Columbia at Valhalla Mountain Touring with an unbelievable 2 weeks of late season powder skiing, and uber clients that wanted to ski 7 to 8 grand a day. I got home to Salt Lake City where the cold smoke continued to pile up, so with my wife Jasmin working hard to finish up her thesis for grad school, I phoned up some lungs with legs for a quick morning tour last Thursday up Mill Creek Canyon. Tom, Paul, Ashley and I met up early for a pseudo dawn patrol and broke trail in the boot top fluff for a few laps in West Porter Fork. 5 hours and 7,500' feet later, we were all smiles, all wondering if this was our last shot at the soft white stuff for a while.



I got home, ate some lunch and packed up the car to head down to Indian Creek for a few days of rock climbing in the sun. It was a little bit of burning upon re-entry into climbing, as I hadn't touched rock since Christmas, but in Indian Creek, technique trumps strength, so I faired pretty well, having lived down in the desert for a few years of my life. I broke in the arms, and the new evolv shoes, got a little sunburned and a lot pumped.

Pulling down on Slice and Dice at the Creek, photo by Rich Wheater

Overall, could I ask for a more perfect few days? Utah in the spring is a blast. One day I am skiing perfect pow, and the next climbing the best cracks in the world in a t-shirt. Life is good, but my spring will be short lived...

Next week, the ski season continues for me. As it would seem from everyone else who posts to this blog, it is time for the seasonal migration to the big mountain motherlode: Alaska. I am happy to report though, that my trip should bring it down to Earth for lots of you folks. No helicopters, film crews and big budgets. We're talking cheap hotels, cheaper rental cars, bag lunches, winter camping and fully human powered endeavors on the peaks of Thompson Pass in Valdez, Alaska. The first week I will be showing a couple of folks the goods, while the next two will be spent training the next round of aspiring ski mountaineering guides, as I teach a Ski Mountaineering Guides Course for the American Mountain Guides Association. Stay tuned...here's a shot to tease you for the next post:


As always you can track my new and old adventures at evanstevens.blogspot.com

Winding Down at the Lodge

Well, the last full week of the season has come to an end. Mother nature was really working for us lately, with January like conditions. All week the temps were cooler than normal, with partly cloudy skies and 5cms of new snow everyday. By yesterday, we were getting cold smoke face shots-it was too good to be true.

For me, the week was a good one. It is my last full group that I am guiding here at the lodge this season, and with the way the snowpack has been here lately (really scary!) the fact that we skied 45,000 vertical feet this week in all corners of our terrain safely means that the season was a full on success. We also checked out a few new runs that I had never skied before, opening up some soon to be classic areas to ski for years to come.

Monday was also my 30th birthday, which for me, and many others is a milestone in itself. Any hints of feeling like I was getting old though, were fully washed, I should say snowed, away this last week though by my new hero Pierre. Pierre is a guest who joined us from Reno, NV and he skied more than anyone else this last week. He was also the oldest member of the group, as he turns 69 this year, and he had at least 10 years on everyone in the group. Everyday he toured for 7 grand and the only thing stopping him was the sunset! A true inspiration for us all - you are only as old as you feel, and I hope I feel like Pierre when I am 69!

It was a snowy week, but here are a few shots from the last few days...

Pierre working the powder above Shannon Lake

The group looks for their lines under the cliffs of Mt. Vingolf

Perfect powder under the spires above Shannon Lake

Now I have just a few guests for 5 more days at Valhalla Mountain Touring, and then I get to hang out in the sun in Utah for 2 weeks, and hopefully remember how to rock climb!

Alas, ski season is far from over...April 20th I fly to Valdez, AK for a week of guiding and 12 days of training potential ski guides as I work a course for the American Mountain Guides Association. I will be sure to keep posting through all of these trips. Valdez is an amazing ski venue, and you do NOT need a helicopter to appreciate it! The roadside skiing of Thompson Pass is unrivaled - check back in to see for yourselves!

Homefront Explorations

Well, I finally have some time off. Not much, just 9 days, but man does it feel good not to be guiding for a few days. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job, you see what I get up to! But 33 days in a row is alot of work, even if it is my dream job. I think I tallied something close to 200,000' vertical feet in that stint of works-that's a lot of steeps, glades, bowls, pow and chutes so I am definitely not complaining!

I came home to Jasmin (my wife) who I have been missing lots lately...hopefully she will just be my assistant guide next season, so we won't be apart too much. My first day off I spent watching her take second in the Powderkeg Ski Race, way to go! (you can track her adventures at rockclimberjasmin.blogspot.com!) My other week off treat was getting really sick. Funny how I have seen every sickness come in from all corners of the continent with each new week of guests at Valhalla Mountain Touring and my body holds on to its health until it knows it doesn't have to anymore. Work is done? Okay, lets get sick!

So I fought the sickness and went ahead with our planned 3 day yurt trip up to the Blind Hollow Yurt near Logan Canyon, UT. Tommy from backcountry.com organized the trip to get some photos to work with, and just to get far away from his desk for a few days of 'field' work. We scored it just right with 3 days of cold smoke and Tommy got some killer shots, as you will see at the end of the post. If anyone in the Northern Utah area is looking for some great skiing, with no one around close to home, check out the Blind Hollow Yurt, run by Utah State. A quick 2 hour drive from SLC and you are in your own little powder oasis!

Enjoy the shots, courtesy of Tommy Chandler, and go get some adventure close to home!

The Blind Hollow Yurt

Terrain out the backdoor!

Quality snow-quality skiing.

Jasmin tracks down some untracked

More quality terrain and snow

Jenga, the ultimate in Yurt recreation!

A few Pillow on the way home

And remember if you are really trying to kill some time at work, you can keep track of the rest of my adventures at evanstevens.blogspot.com.

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!