freeheelin'

I love skiing. Last week I had the great fortune to spend four days backcountry skiing in the Asulkan Valley with my good friend and fellow telemark skier, jt. The conditions were perfect - snow on the way in followed by three days of blue skies. The trip in took longer than it should have due to my poor route-finding skills. (I should have read the route description before heading in.) No matter.

Day 2 started like day 1 ended - thick clouds and swirling snow. We slept late and ate a slow breakfast waiting to see what the weather would do. The general mood in the hut was to climb Young's Peak but no one was eager to break trail through thigh-deep snow. The clouds slowly thinned and the snow gradually slowed until two strong skiers from Alaska made the move and set a track up Young's. We followed shortly thereafter. We decided not to follow the Alaskans up the headwall; they ended up triggering a size 2 avalanche on their trip down. Instead we skied face-shot turns on the lower slopes until the sun sank below the surrounding peaks.

Day 3 was bluebird. Jt developed some bad blisters from his rental boots and decided to take a day off. I tagged along with a couple of Quebecois to make turns on the seven steps of paradise. It was paradise. We made two laps and I was done.

Day 4 was our last. We packed our bags and headed down the valley to the top of the mousetrap. We left our extra gear with Pierre, who injured his arm on the trip down, and we began the ascent to sapphire col. It was a beautiful day for a ski and the view of loop brook from sapphire col was spectacular. The trip down was also spectacular until we hit the sun crust at the bottom. That was just ugly on telemark. Thankfully it was only a couple of hundred meters. The trip out was quick and painless. Can't wait to do that again.

ignorance is not bliss

Being the responsible adventurer that I am, I took an introductory avalanche training course (AST1) in 2008 to learn something about skiing safely in the back country. What I learned is that I knew nothing - avalanches are difficult to predict, potentially deadly, and the only safe option is to avoid avalanche terrain. Great. Avalanche terrain is pretty much everywhere in the mountains around here. I felt powerless and too paranoid to go anywhere. Now what.

I decided to join 10 fellow ski patrol members and take an advanced recreational avalanche training course (AST2). If the goal of AST1 was to teach me what I didn't know I hoped that AST2 would fill in some of those blanks.What a great course! I learned so much during four days of classroom and on-slope training. Now I feel empowered and excited to go touring!

The course began with a day of classroom training in Lake Louise. On day 2 we hit the snow at Crowfoot Glades on the Icefields Parkway. Appropriately, a class 2 loose snow avalanche came down Crowfoot Mountain (the now snow free section in the centre of the picture) while we were at the cars putting our gear on.

We began the day practicing beacon searches and companion rescues on flat terrain.

Honing in on a buried 'victim'.

From there we moved on to snow pack analysis. That pit is to ground so snow depth is under 2 meters.

The compression test and subsequent rutschblock did not produce any significant failures.

Day 3 and 4 were in Glacier National Park, aka, Roger's Pass. Our first tour was up Loop Brook to the Bonney Trees.

One of the biggest overhead hazards of the day was the outhouse.

Our guide, Mark, discussing overhead avalanche hazards on the up track. Once again, a class 2.5 loose snow avalanche appropriately fell from the slope above as we crossed through the runout zone. 

Looking back at Loop Brook while gaining elevation in Bonney Trees.

Lunch break on the lateral moraine flanking Bonney Trees on climbers left. Sapphire Col is in the upper left flanked by Mount Swanzy (right) and The Dome (left).

The final ascent to the top of Bonney Trees.

Our final tour was into the Illecillewaet Valley. Although the competition was stiff, today wins for the best weather and skiing. It was hot by the time we left the parking lot mid-morning. The tour begins on an old railway bed.

But the views quickly open up at the top of the valley. Perley Rock is the small feature on the right below Terminal Peak.

On the other side of the valley is Lookout Col to the right of the central peak (Youngs Peak).

Looking back down the Illecillewaet Valley. Our first set of turns were through the open trees to the left.

Looking back up the Illecillewaet Valley after our final run and the end of the course. Sweet!

Damn you La Nina and your deep powder snow!

I dream about skiing like teenage boys dream about girls. I've lost countless days of my life surfing bottomless powder in my mind. By October I'm stupid giddy with excitement to be skiing. By January my skiing spirit is usually crushed by thin snow and unstable avalanche conditions in the eastern Rockies. At this point I turn my energy to running and I try to look forward to summer activities.

Not this year. The snow just keeps falling and I'm forced to blow off another weekend of long runs to be in the mountains. Bummer! This past weekend it was Marmot Basin with pcf and cmg. Light flurries turned to full-on snow Friday night as we drove the 4.5 hours from Edmonton to Jasper. By Saturday morning 16cm of fresh snow had fallen at mid-mountain. It was going to be a great weekend.

Marmot rarely feels crowded, even when it's busy, and this weekend was no exception. Still, fresh snow is not the same when you put a few tracks through it and I was eager to ski some untracked powder. Normally I think hiking at a ski area is ridiculous. Why would I walk up a mountain when I paid $70 to be carried up? I'm glad I ignored myself. Hiking Marmot Peak with Awesome Bob.

Not only was the skiing amazing, the views were spectacular. Looking down the hiking ridge - Peak Run is the bowl on the left; Suzie's disappears to the right. The top of Knob Chair where the hike begins is in the bottom-right of the picture.The ridge across the valley is the backside of the Skyline Trail.

The Icefields Parkway from Marmot Peak.

Mt Robson, the highest point in the Canadian Rockies, is the distant pointy peak in the centre of the picture.

Tonquin Valley from Marmot Peak.

By the end of the weekend I'd hiked Peak twice and Cornice once. It's not running but it was a helluva workout.

mmmmmountains

Had a great weekend in the mountains on our 2nd annual office ski trip. I completely forgot to grab my camera on too many occasions but trust me the weather was great and snow conditions were excellent.

We stayed at Castle Mountain hostel. The place is clean, comfortable, and halfway between Lake Louise and Sunshine. It's also next door to Castle Mountain Chalets for those that want a bit more luxury or that need to bring their dogs.

The forecast was for sun and warmth, which was to be a real treat compared to freeze we'd been stuck in for the past several weeks. Saturday morning did not disappoint. We headed to Lake Louise to enjoy the slopes and trails. The snow on the hill was thin where LL is always thin but once we got away from the high traffic areas there was plenty of untracked snow - hiking for turns with cmg.

Grinning in anticipation of the fresh tracks that are moments away.

Saturday night was potluck. There was a good mix of food and beverages to go around. Day 2 at Sunshine was also excellent. The forecast for a few inches of fresh snow was grossly underestimated and we enjoyed lift-served powder under variable skies. Weekends are far too short...