Today, Roger’s Pass is a huge destination for ski touring. Several areas of the pass are permanently closed for highway crews to study snowpit data and for avalanche blasting. Other areas need a permit at the Roger’s Pass Centre, and may be closed due to avalanche control work. We arrived at Roger’s Pass with a few inches of new snow, fog, falling snow, and high avalanche danger due to several buried surface hoar layers. Meanwhile, just prior to our arrival, daytime highs had been hitting the low 50’s even at the tops of the highest peaks in the area. Reports of avalanches on these buried layers were everywhere, with some slides occurring even on low angled slopes.

With that in mind we discussed our options with the friendly rangers at the Centre, and they eventually steered us to Loop Creek and the Bonney trees, which were less crusty due to their northern aspects, and popular enough that some of the snowpack weaknesses would be less of a concern than other areas.

Our views looked like this for much of the day:

It was a pity not to be able to see these huge mountains and their tremendous relief (ski descents of 5-6,000′ are common), but we continued up through the fog and occasionally saw some enticing terrain:

Gap jump, anyone?

We also passed some of the old railroad towers, since replaced with a tunnel. 90 degree pillow lines, oh yeah!

We reached treeline and that was the end of the road for us, as the visibility was no where near good enough to continue onward. the snow quality had improved greatly as we headed up, and we were now set to ski well over a foot of fluffy fresh snow. Brittany:

Frank:

We stumbled into this clearing, which was steep and filled with pillow after pillow after pillow, all around 5′ high. While the photo does it no justice, this 1000′ of skiing was my favorite of the whole trip.

While we had planned on skiing Roger’s Pass for at least a couple of days, the avalanche and weather conditions kind of forced our hand a little, and this would be the only day we skied Roger’s. Still, Roger’s Pass remains as one of the epicenters of North American skiing, and we were grateful to experience it, if only for a day. Next stop, the 2 year old resort of Revelstoke…

Other Montana-Canada Road Trip Blog Posts
Road Trip Update
Itinerary
Bridger Bowl
Whitefish
Fernie
Kicking Horse

Pete had been in the area a few days ago and suggested we ski a face off of Scarp’s Ridge. I knew the face he was talking about from other trips to the area, and it had always looked like a good one so that’s what we were aiming for. It was pretty steep and it rolled over, so it was hard to tell if we were in the right spot or not, but we gave it a go regardless. I dropped in first:

Carol, a new friend of ours from Durango dropped in next:

Brittany ripped it up next:

Wishing she was skiing the hardpack at the resort:

Ben from Montrose didn’t mind being last:

This slope saved the best for last:
Frank:

Shin to Win (Look closely)

Brittany:

A look back at our tracks:

From there, it was off to summit Peeler via Star Pass:

This photo of Alaska somehow got in here

Allright, it’s just the backyard, not Alaska. But it had gotten cloudy and the light had gotten flat as we dropped off Peeler:

Brittany and Mambo the dog:

The lower pitches were long and amazing, some of the best terrain in the whole area. The light wasn’t great, though, so we didn’t get too many shots of it. Ben:

This tour covered a lot of miles over nine hours. For Brittany, it was a tune-up for the upcoming 14er season. For the rest of us, it was just fun.

Bonus shots, Ben Furimsky on Axtel the previous day:

We had hoped to do a tour in the park, but our friends informed us that conditions were a little thin still. The other thing Whitefish is known for are the tree ghosts that form high on the mountain, and thankfully we were able to experience them.

Looking down the valley from the ski area:

Our guide for the day, Sean, took us on a short tour to the canyon off the back side which still had some powder despite the lack of recent snowfall. Brittany:

Whitefish is a nice little town and we had some nice views that afternoon looking back at the ski area.

On day 2, our friend Ethan joined us along with his RMF posse. We searched out the steep little stashes this mountain has to offer, which somehow had escaped the edges of local skiers. Features like these would get hit pretty quickly at a place like Crested Butte,
but Whitefish doesn’t seem to attract the same type of skiers.

One other thing I should add about Whitefish is the groomers. I’m usually more interested in steep, natural terrain, but whitefish offers up some of the best groomed runs I’ve ever seen. One run in particular was a narrow groomed path weaving through the trees of the Hellroaring basin area, basically a snowcat drivers’ version of boondocking. It’s no wonder Tommy Moe grew up here. We had a great time in Whitefish, but it was time for us to move on. Next up:

Other Montana-Canada Road Trip Blog Posts
Road Trip Update
Itinerary
Bridger Bowl

After Kicking horse we headed to Roger’s Pass. It was cloudy and snowy, which limited our choices, as did the avalanche conditions. A number of buried surface hoar layers have made much of interior B.C. super touchy right now. We were still able to find some good snow, but it wasn’t the Roger’s Pass experience we were hoping for. Revelstoke was interesting and fun at times. We decided to take a day off and hit Ainsworth hot springs on our way to Nelson and an unscheduled day at Whitewater. Awesome slackcountry day there, followed by a rough day at Red Mountain. Keep checking in, we’ll get more up soon.

Bridger Bowl was great, we went for a long tour to the south and got up close and personal with the huge slide on Saddle peak from last week. From there, we went up to Whitefish and had a good time there- it’s a big mountain with lots of little zones worth checking out. We actually had blue skies which is rare for the area, and we were able to check out the peaks of Glacier National Park. Fernie was a bit wind hammered, but some locals showed us around and we toured ’til our legs were about to fall off. Now we’re in Golden, BC and had another great day, this time at Kicking Horse. The backcountry right out of the area here is as good as anywhere I’ve seen. Kicking Horse has been super impressive, and we’d like to come back here for another visit. Tomorrow, we’re off to Roger’s Pass, followed by Revelstoke. We’ll get some TR’s up when we can…

It was fun but short, and we went up to the top where things looked very good indeed:

Brittany:

Chris Webster:

Pam Rice:

Frank:

Another tough day in Paradise… Support 14erskiers by clicking here:

Photo Webster:

This first turns on days like this are always a magical moment. Sure, you know there is a lot of snow, but you don’t really know how it will ski until you drop in. Normally, when you start skiing powder, your momentum will begin taking you up and out of the snow. That’s not the case on rare days like these– you go faster, but your whole body stays in the snow, leaving a trench in your wake the way a farmer leaves his fields after plowing. So by your second or third turn, you realize that you’re in for a special day indeed.

Anyway, that’s about all the talking a day like this needs. The CB-BC was deep, and we have a lot of photos to document it. Enjoy the powder stoke, and apologies if you’re trying to view this on dial-up.

These photos are from Webster:
Sydney:

Rob:

Pam:

Brittany:

Tom:

Sydney:

Tom:

Rob:

Brittany:

Pam:

Frank:

Jeff:

Brittany:

Tom:

Rob:

Brittany:

Sydney:

Frank:

Rob and a snowmobile are in this photo:

Photos from Brittany and Frank:
Rob:

Pam:

Brittany:

Chris:

Tom:

Rob:

Brittany:

The gang:

Sorry, no parking:

If that wasn’t enough powder stoke, maybe I’ll have to put some of Tom’s photos up tomorrow…

And if you need goggles like Chris does and want to support 14erskiers:

The snow was quality:

Mineral Point was putting on a show:

More Zach airtime:

Zach took my camera and got a couple nice shots of me as well:

Another great day, Happy Birthday Zach!

Irwin is located a few miles west of Crested Butte near Kebler Pass. With an annual average snowfall of 500-600″, this is quite possibly the snowiest location in Colorado. There are a number of fine skiing opportunities in the area, such as the Anthracites, and in the springtime there are some great peaks such as Owen and Purple practically out the back door. Search this site for some examples of skiing in the area.

The cabin can sleep as many as 8. It has some great amenities such as the propane refrigerator and stove, electric lights, a huge water cistern, etc. Still, it’s rustic, but what good cabin isn’t? The best part of the deal? The price includes use of Jeremy’s two-seat sled with trailer, so getting up there with plenty of beer and food would be a piece of cake. Here are some photos:

The cabin (No, you don’t get to use my sled)

Kitchen:

Living Room:

One of the bedrooms:

Short Backyard skiing out the door:

You can get a hold of me at frank@14erskiers.com and I can then get interested parties in touch with Jeremy…