Ski Touring on Rogers Pass

I've had a man-crush on Greg Hill for a long time. Greg might take a bit of flak for being a self-promoter, but his publicized adventures have been a source of inspiration for me. Thanks. For that reason, I was excited to ski at Rogers Pass -- an area that Greg frequents -- and to get a glimpse of the mountains and skiing possibilities in that area.

Monday at the Pass greeted us with bluebird skies. Reiner Thoni of Revelstoke and the winner of the 2010 Selkirk Classic, joined a Salt Lake motley crew of me, the Dorais bros., and Bart (the token white guy), along with a Jackson trio of Cary Smith, Zahan, and Nate Brown.

Reiner, rocking the Team Canada skinsuit on a Rogers Pass Tour:

From 2010-12-07

Most of the crew skinning up a ridge to 8812 Bowl (the massive pyramid peak in the background is Sir Donald and hasn't been skied):

From 2010-12-07

Photo credit: Bart

Nate Brown bringing some "style" to the backcountry with jewel-studded shades and a bit of skin:

From 2010-12-07

We spent the first few hours and 6k of the day skiing Video Peak and the 8812 Bowl, both popular runs at Rogers Pass. From the tops of these runs, we saw lot of mountains, glaciers, and ski potential. Unless skiing and adventure got old, that area of the world could hold a person's attention for a long long time.

From 2010-12-07

8812

From 2010-12-07

Video Peak

From 2010-12-07

And a view of both from Mt. Cheops:

From 2010-12-07

At the bottom of 8812, we said goodbye to the Jackson Trio who had to go home, and headed up to Balu Pass and Mt. Cheops.  One of the striking features of the mountains at Rogers Pass is the relief.  As a point of reference, SLC sits at around 4500 feet.  So does Rogers Pass.  Here is Cheops:

From 2010-12-07

We tagged the Cheops summit, skied down to the shoulder, and entered into a couple of chutes.

From 2010-12-07

Photo credit: Bart

The one that I chose, with Bart's assurance that it "went," cliffed out. We booted back out and skied a nice run down to the valley to meet our other compadres. From there, we skinned up and went back up to Balu Pass, trying to squeeze out 1500 vertical to make it a 10k day. We got about 1350 feet, and that was more than good enough. Celebration - 9850 vertical feet, some classic Rogers Pass runs, and getting dark fast:

From 2010-12-07

From Glacier to Glacier (Montana to British Columbia)...A Pilgrimage

(The crew on the summit ridge of Mount Cheops, BC)

Just got back this morning after an all night push from Roger's Pass in Glacier NP, British Columbia. Brother JD, samurai Jared, the original Bart G and I left SLC last Thursday and went on a whirlwind tour of some of the most inspiring and breathtaking terrain in North America.

Here's the quick and dirty.

• 6.5 days total
• 2012 miles driven
• 5 days skied in 3 different ranges
• 26,000 vertical feet logged
• 4 summits tagged
• 2 summits abandoned for fear of possible death
• 1 gorgeous backcountry ski mountaineering race completed
• 1 pair of skis destroyed
• 1 night in Kalispell, MT
• 1 night in Golden, BC
• 1 night in the Meadow Hut in the Esplanade range
• 2 nights at Roger's Pass
• 1 night in the car...driving
• Overwhelming quantities of flatus

And here's the long picture version.

PART I:

We woke up Friday morning itching to ski in Glacier NP (in Montana), but had been warned by the locals that the snow was thin, the approaches heinous, and the weather miserable. To the park we went.

At the head of Lake McDonald stands a relatively smallish peak called Mount Stanton. Small by total elevation that is, but decently large by total relief of over 5,000 feet (which was a theme for all the mountains we visited).


Heading up into a large slide path on Mount Stanton with Lake McDonald in the background. (Only took ~4 miles of flat skinning to get here)

Feeling vulnerable, we broke a track up a forested sub ridge that turned into a rime iced old burn.





After punching it above the trees, we became lost in the clouds and entirely too exposed near the starting zone of a huge slide path. Only 500ish feet from the summit, we turned it around and enjoyed ridiculous powder through the above pictured trees...way too early in the trip to try and get all radical.

PART II:

From there we made our way to Golden, British Columbia, where the next day we were flown into the Meadow Hut, nestled way back in the Esplanade Range.

From the Heli on the way in


The Meadow "Hut" with Mount Cupola in the background.


Our group joined 10 others (many of the fastest in Canada and the US) as we were gathering for the first annual Selkirk Classic ski mountaineering race. Put on by Golden Alpine Holidays, the race is held entirely in the backcountry and runs from the Meadow Hut, over Mount Walkabi, along Paradise Ridge, up Mount Cupola, over Sun Bump and Corn Peak, and down to the Sunrise Hut. Our first afternoon, we toured out of Meadow to get a feel for the course and to check out the scenery.

Paradise Ridge


Zahan, Jared, and Bart nearing the summit of Cupola


Jared with Mount Sanford in the Background


Alpenglow on Mount Cupola, highest peak in the Esplanades, with the Rockies across the Columbia Valley


Alpenglow on the Selkirks


The race the next day was a good time with many of the racers from the US and Canadian national teams participating. Jared nearly pulled it off with a 2nd place finish, being edged out by Reiner of the Canadian team. Bart was a solid 4th. I was a meager 7th. And, Jason was 11th or so. I think I'll be back next year too as it was super fun.

Looking at this picture, you know there were some fast people in attendance.



An exciting flight out, buzzing ridges TGR style before banking hard through the cloud deck and back to Golden, brings us to...

PART III:

From Golden we headed up Roger's Pass for our pilgrimage to Mecca. Joining forces with the Jackson crew of Z, Nate, and Carey, we convinced Revelstoke local Reiner to spend a day showing us around. We ended up putting in a Greg Hill style day, skiing Video Peak, from the shoulder of Peak 8812, Mount Cheops, and one last lap up Balu Pass to notch a 10,000 ft day.

Here are the pics:

From the summit of Video Peak with 8812 and Ursus Major in the background


Skiing on Video Peak


Bart got a new camera and has become Ansel Adams overnight. Here he is on the summit ridge of Mount Cheops, probably explaining to us the finer aspects of photography.


Jared booting out of a couloir on the shoulder of Mount Cheops after he and Bart tried to get radical and discovered it cliffs out.
(Photo by BG)

The amazing Selkirks


The next day we awoke to cloudy skies, and knowing we had a long drive ahead, we decided to still try and make the most of our time and headed up the Hermit drainage. We hoped to catch a glimpse of Mount Rogers, Swiss Peak, Mount Sifton, and Little Sifton but the weather looked sour. Since we were lacking in glacier gear, and fighting poor visibility, the plan was to summit and ski Little Sifton. It almost went as planned.

Low clouds obscured the high summits.


Feeling for the summit of Little Sifton.


I tried to put a boot track up the final hundred feet, but a large cliff to my right and a 3 foot wind slab over some nasty facets dissuaded me. We turned it around from there and laughed for 5,000 ft of powder and pillowy features en route to the car and 16 hours later, we pulled into my driveway still laughing...

...particularly thinking about this picture that Ansel Bart shot on the way home.



I'll make a video of the trip over the next couple days that should give a different perspective on the areas.

Selkirk Classic

Andy, Bart, Jason, and I traveled north, far north, to attend the Selkirk Classic, a race put on by Golden Alpine Holidays.  We got ourselves to the town of Golden, British Columbia and then GAH flew us to the Meadow Hut in the Esplanades where the race was held.  The view on the flight in was astounding:

From 2010-12-05

The expanse of the Canadian Rockies makes the Wasatch, well,a bit small.

From 2010-12-05

We arrived at the Meadows Hut on Saturday and GAH guide -- "Russ" -- gave us a nice preview of the race course, and more importantly, the Esplanades.

From 2010-12-05

Although the high pressure created an inversion and overcast skies in the valleys (which sit at about 2000 feet), above the inversion, the weather was perfect and afforded us 360 views of the Selkirks.

From 2010-12-05

On Sunday, for the race, we had great weather again. Because of the logistical issues, the race was capped at 14 racers. Several racers from the US were able to attend as well as racers from the Canadian National Team. At 9:00 am, we lined up in our skinny suits, and we were off. Unfortunately, because I was frothing at the mouth and staring at a skin track, I have no pictures.

On the first climb, a group of five or so got off the front and summited about the same time. Me and the BG were in that group. Unfortunately, several in that group crashed on the bony first descent, giving me and Reiner a slight gap. At the transition at the bottom of the first descent, Reiner got out first, and held the lead until the end.

Finishing order went something like this:

Reiner Thoni
Me
Cary Smith
Bart
Pete Swenson
Andrew McNabb
Andy Dorais
Melanie Bernier
Zahan Billamoria
Nate Brown
Jason Dorais

I was happy with the way my race went. The pressure was on the whole time, and I feel like my training this summer and fall is kicking in.

More than anything, it was fun racing in a new and unique venue. The course was very "Euro" in that it was 100 percent in the backcountry with some fun skinning. We were all very impressed with GAH and their hospitality, and as you can see above, the terrain blew us away. Future home of a North American Pierra Menta?

Day 23: The Underrated Nature of November Powder

Ok. I repent for calling powder overrated. It's actually underrated. The only things that are overrated on a day like today are my POS skinny skis. I'm not an advocate for 120mm under foot, but 90 or so would have been nice.

AO enjoying the Hallway:



We had a nice tour this afternoon, skinning up Flagstaff, taking two runs into Days, up and then down the Hallway Couloir, laying a skinner up out of Cardiff, and then scoring ridiculous powder from the ridge between Cardiff Peak and the Black Knob down to road.

Although, about 2/3 of the way down, our gully was joined by one below the Black Knob, which appeared to have been flushed in its entirety. From what I can tell, it turns out these guys (whose creative work and backcountry work I have admired for years) were nearly the victims. Having been on that ridge a few times over the last weeks, the trigger zone went from rocks with frost to dangerous wind loaded slab in a matter of days. However, the area we skied was of a slightly different aspect, not as high on the ridge, and had a better base prior to the recent storm. None of which played into our decision to ski that line. The snow all afternoon was stable, and I wouldn't have thought twice had I not seen the debris and the above linked post. Humble Pie indeed.

Regardless, John said today was his best day skiing...ever. He lived in Crested Butte for years. Take that Colorado.

Here's another budget film with some highlights:

The Underrated Nature of November Powder from andy dorais on Vimeo.

Day 21: Little Pine Chute - Powder's Overrated

Went out with JS today looking for something fun to ski. I know there's probably a ton of nice consolidated powder in tree sheltered areas. I also know there is absolutely none in Little Pine Chute. I knew that going into the day, but often I find myself in search of type B fun, which my brother describes as only fun after the fact. Maybe this didn't qualify since I had fun the whole time anyway in spite of, or maybe because of all the breakable crust, roller balls, wet slide debris, and rocks. A run into Mineral Fork revealed that it is pretty trashed by wind right now too.

Don't believe me? Watch the budget video to see for yourself.

Little Pine - Powder's Overrated from andy dorais on Vimeo.

Going to the Selkirks up in Canada next week - anyone have any ideas for stuff to ski up there?

Thankful...Thanksgiving Time Trial and Superior South Face Now Open

Day 20 was a good one. It was bitter cold and painfully clear this morning after days of stormy skies. Jared, Bart, Layne and I met at Snowbird for a turkey day time trial. It was going to be 3,000 ft of discomfort. Who could tolerate the most? Layne may have suffered the most in his Garmont Megarides, having the heaviest set up, but that also limited his competitiveness. I thought I was done when Jared and Bart put a 30+ meter gap on me on the first major climb, but was able to keep them within striking distance until high above the Gadzoom lift on the steep groomed run, Regulator. Then, Jared (always prone to bail on skinning) switched to booting straight up the groomer. Bart followed suit and I skinned by them both. They had some difficulty getting back in their skis and when I looked back, it was done.

52 min to the top from Gad Valley. Jared says that's a good time so I'm happy. As for the win*, there's an asterisk because while ahead, patrol stopped them for about 20 seconds while I was making up ground. I stopped as well, but for only about 10 seconds. That didn't make a real difference though. I was just able to take advantage of their tactical error. And, the finish would have been totally different if we actually skied down too.

Then, with Jared short on time, we were going to try to rally up Superior to score first tracks down the south face. He made it about half way along the ridge before bailing to the south to make it to his family feast on time. It's too bad too, since on top, we were staring at 3,000 feet of untouched goodness.



A couple from the way up:

Bart leading up the Black Knob:



Periods of high wind disturbed the otherwise beautiful day.



Bart toting around his Surface skis, which he says are turning out to be pretty fun.



There are a number of rocks still lurking so we cautiously dropped in from the summit. With some trepidation, we made numerous ski cuts, and finding things satisfactorily stable, dropped into the chute on the skier's left of the upper face.

It was as good as it gets until this happened:



I was skiing the chute until it went from concave to convex over a small subridge. Moving right to pull over at an island of safety, the slope cracked at my feet and as I pulled to a stop, I watched the slide run the full length of the gully and out onto the apron. It was small (crown 12") and didn't seem to entrain a deadly amount of snow but probably would have been pretty uncomfortable to get washed over some rocks on the way down. Strangely wind loaded on the pre storm crust...there's pockets of considerable for you.

Hard to see, but the slide path was down through the choke in the middle of the pic onto the apron.



Bart, graciously letting loose the hang fire: (I was really more off to the side than it may appear)



The rest of the descent was blissful and uneventful...except Layne blowing out an edge, poor guy.

Now I'm sitting at my parent's where my cute little mom is making a FEAST...thankful

Superior with our tracks...thankful!



77,600 ft for the year.

Pic of the Day

I did some laps at Brighton today and was rewarded for putting the skins back on and pointing 'em back up hill one last time. Got in 7,000 for the day, but other than Thanksgiving, the rest of the week looks grim.

Speaking of Thanksgiving...

Anyone want to get together for a turkey ski trot? I'm thinking of an informal race on a course we all agree on, with a handicap for those with heavy gear...something like a head start for extra ounces?