When it all comes together...

The snow pack, weather, time of year and people all aligned last week, and the result was maybe the best week of the last few years of ski touring here at Valhalla Mountain Touring.

I should have stopped to take more photos and pictures, but oh well, the skiing was just too good. Here is a quick taste of what we sampled.

Hope to ski with you here soon!

Young's Peak

Day 2 at Rogers Pass dawned clear again and even colder. -27c is not a friendly temperature for ski touring. The day before we did battle with the cold by skiing in the sun, and that was perfect. The problem is in the -20c range, that skins and ski wax don't really work that well. We left the car with the plan of going up the Asulkan Valley to take a peak at skiing the couloir Forever Young. Usually in Rogers Pass if the weather is good all of the big lines have a track or two in them, as it is home to some of the most accessible high quality ski touring in the world. However, it has really not stopped snowing for a month in BC, and these are the first few days of consecutive clear weather, and only a week or two ago was one of the largest avalanche cycles in a long time in BC. So for good reason people have been a little slower in getting to the big lines.

As we crawled our way up the deep Asulkan Valley, skinning uphill in down coats and face masks, we got to a view point of Forever Young, and instantly both Jasmin and myself knew today wasn't the day. Huge fracture lines were all over the basin, but the only piece of snow that hadn't slid yet was the one in the guts of Forever Young. After skiing a big line on Mt. Rogers the day before, I didn't feel the need to push it again today, even though plan B was still going to put us into some big terrain by going up and down the ultra classic 7 steps on Youngs Peak.

The couloir is dead center. Notice the 1.5 meter + fracture lines left of the chute and right of the bottom. Not today thanks!

I have tried 2 other times over the years to ski to the top of Young's Peak, but both times been thwarted, either by snow/bad vis or touchy avalanche danger. Jasmin on the other hand has been up there twice. So we pushed up and up and up until we reached the last steep step to gain the summit. Classicly, it is guarded by a 40 degree headwall, with some big runouts to the valley below. I mean 3000' of run out to the valley bottom. Fortunately the terrain does bench out below the headwall so you can convince yourself that you won't get flushed all the way out to the valley bottom.

Jas punches up the headwall

Jas felt the urge to put a track all the way to the summit, so I wasn't going to slow her down or get in her way. Fortunately for us, the summit headwall had an old avalanche crown, and then some more recent sluffs and debris, once again giving us the confidence to travel safely through the already slid terrain. Some steep skinning, some booting, then back to skins and we were pushing through to the summit with some more bluebird 360 views of the mightly Selkirks. I am truly convinced that there might not be anywhere in the world as good as this mountain range for ski touring, with its combo of snowpack and terrain. 6,000' lines in blower boot top powder from wild glaciated summits!!!

Last slope to the summit.

Jasmin contemplates the vastness of the Selkirks

Dropping from the summit...only 5400' to go

I think I see the highway...

1 more day of high pressure is in the forecast, but after almost 13,000' feet of skiing and 30km travelled in two days, we will see what we motivate for.

Days off...

With almost 4 meters of new snow in the last month, it was really nice to wake up to some cold and clear arctic high pressure up north in Canada. The snowpack has doubled in depth, tightened up, and the last storm finished off with a sweet icing of cold smoke. All of this has coincided with my first few 'days off' from life at Valhalla Mountain Touring. I know, tough life that I live, having to be up at a backcountry ski lodge full time. But its nice to ski some where different, drive a car, and watch TV in a hotel room!

With the good weather and free time Jasmin and I have decided to hit up Rogers Pass, and our timing is perfect! So day 1 we decided to try our hand at Mt Rogers, one of the bigger summits off the pass. The stats are simple. Put your skins on at the car and start climbing. Climb until its too steep to skin, and then throw your skis on your back. Boot it up to the unskiable summit with ice axe in hand. Look down the 3,000' rock walls off the summit, go back to your skis and slay cold smoke for a LONG ways back to the car. It's about 6,500' vertical feet in one climb up, with a 800' 45 degree headwall at the summit. I like those numbers.

But lets let the stellar photos from the day do the talking!

Enjoy...

After 4,000' of up, we are finally getting to the glacier, with good views of the Roger's Headwall


Looking back at some skiers in front of Mt Tupper


Jasmin, and her hot hot pink ski pants leads the way up the 48 degree headwall


Nothing like a knife edge ridge to the summit. Rogers Pass elevation: 1300m. Summit of Rogers: 3200m. It's a long ways down to those valleys


Skiing down the headwall, glad it had slid before we got there, giving us the confidence to travel safely up the old path.

Post headwall powder shladdelling in the alpen-glow. Life is good!

Deep Days of January

The hose was aimed at us last week for 70cms of new snow. Nice to see the snowpack grow and the ski quality continue to be mind boggling.

Enjoy a few photos from Fred Marmsater who is up here visiting this week.

New Year's Week

For the second year in a row, New Year's week has delivered the goods. 40cm+ of cold smoke fell for the first few days, and then arctic air kept it light and fluffy for a few more. Summits, powder skiing in the sun, and 40 degree open shots. It doesn't get much better. Take a look at some photos from last week:

Katy Drops down Ruby's Nose in blower pow

Ken makes sure the top of Ruby's Nose is 'safe' for us

Jas let's her big skis rip on Crown Jewel

Kelly on the split board on Crown Jewel

Crown Jewel

Benny with some birthday face shots. He's 3 now.

Last summit of 2010: Rugged peak on Dec 31!

Rugged Peak

Rugged Peak

Yes, those skies are real, no photoshop for the arctic blue sky.

Storm Skiing

Well, the snow gun was turned on for us. A cold air mass has settled its way down to us wringing out every last drop of moisture in the atmosphere. 40cm + has fallen, and with snow densities so low that feathers seem heavy, the constant trickle of snow from the sky has kept pace with the slow settlement rates.

Personally, these cold storm days are my favorite. Endless face shots, so cold you stay dry, and bottomless powder. What could be better? Here is a quick video to get you psyched, because we sure are! Remember when the snow hits my helmet cam, that the cam is 6 ft off the ground...

Finally, an UPDATE!

Well, climbing caught up with me and free time didn't, but let's just say the fall trip went really well for me. The hit-list including sending such classic trad lines like The Alien Roof on the Rostrum and a free attempt on Half Dome in Yosemite (12b) and the spectacular overhanging off fingers to roof of Desert Gold in Red Rocks (13a), and some sport lines up to 13a. There was also the IFMGA mountain guide meetings in Boulder, as well as a climbing trip to Moab before hand, where me and my old college best friend (also a mountain guide) Adam George got to school some europeans on Indian Creek splitters and climb scary desert towers hung over. A productive season for sure, but maybe my last in the desert SW for a few years, there is just soooo much else to climb in the world!

But now I have fully transitioned to winter and am writing this from my winter home at Valhalla Mountain Touring. Yesterday Jasmin and I battled our way 16km up the road on the snowmobiles, with the powder over the head on the sleds. Somehow the old little 340cc machine with huge new powder skis got me to the lodge and we made a shuttle trip up to bring in some basic supplies. A bit of digging and turning on the water (well almost!) was the goal of the day. The beauty of having a micro hydro electric system is that the power and heat has been on all fall so we got up the hill to some warm lodges heated with zero carbon footprint!

Now back to the water system. Every year it seems there is some little hiccup at startup that keeps me from sleeping at night. This is either my 6th or 7th winter up here, and I have almost learned about every little system up here from snowcat mechanics to micro hydro systems to septic tanks; I always joke that my job description for running this place would be a page long! This year's minor hiccup was the water. Jasmin went under the sauna building to turn the water on for that building and went under it with out a head lamp. When she got down there she just turned the only switch should could feel. We went into the lodge and tried to turn on the water with no luck at all. No water. Oh no. No flush toilets, no shower, no running water? All the little perks that make our lodge one of the comfiest around? I went through the whole system to try and figure out what was going on. The water all comes from Ruby Creek where we have a tiny dam that feeds water into a water box and to the hydro electric system. I skied up to check it out. All full. Now I had no idea except either a pipe burst or was clogged, either one was NOT going to be fixed this winter! After two stressful hours I went back under the sauna just to see the valves, and realized (with a head lamp) that there was two switches there; one for the sauna building and one for the main water line to all the buildings. Jas had turned all the water off! With a quick flip of the switch all the stress was washed away and life was good again.

Today the snowcat started right up and I even had time to bust out a quick 2,500' of the first turns of the season at VMT. And it is oh so good right now! 125cms at the lodge, with 15cm over night at -7c. That spells cold COLD FLUFFY smoke. WOW. So good to be back at it, even if it means I am working 15 hour days right now for start up...it is oh so worth it for being able to ski 6 days a week from now until the end of April.

Enjoy this quick vid from todays 'lunch break' tour!