havecarryonwilltravel

The mornings are getting warmer. Not so good for skiing. Good for morning stability but the snow is getting crustier and crustier. (I haven’t been skiing yet, this is just speculation.) The routine has been set. I’m up first, the others filter down and breakfast prep begins. Today at noon that is all about to change as 5 more are to arrive by helicopter and the cabin will seem crowded to us. CHANGE; oh no!

B and I start the day with a climb to one of the peaks. Don’t know the name but we get to the top. On the way up we plan the route down gambling on the quality of snow. The view from the top is long. I have no idea what I am looking at but B tries to ident as many peaks as he can. He says he isn’t 100% on the ident but I can’t possibly refute his thoughts.

The ski down is on and off. The top is very weird,  hard as a table top, not so smooth and grabby. I haven’t used edges all year and skiing it is a test.  The little basin we eyed on the way up is smooth and boot top. The rest of the run is sun soaked or wind affected with the occasional bit of perfect snow.

The crew arrives at noon – 5 more. B and I are on top of the mountain and watching the chopper land, can’t see who but we know there are 5. When we arrive everybody is settled, we want lunch and they want to go skiing. OK,OK our destination is Posthumous Bowl. The snow is excellent. The folks like it and we do it again. Our home run is through the glades to the valley. YAHOO! The snow is absolutely outstanding. The uptrack back to lodge is steep and mean as it was set by the “locals” that come up to orient us on the use of the cabin gear.

Dinner is prepared by J and is gourmet. Sunny, clear, mild wind, great skiing, delicious food, a banner day.

Today is a day to tour. B spent last night studying the maps and planning a route to what looks like skiable terrain. Earlier start today – 10:30! No skins, as the first part of the trip is downhill. Over the edge and into the trees. Traversing the slope on a slightly downhill trajectory we end up at a meadow that is the high point on the transition from one side of the valley to the other. The meadow is not that big and it is amazing we hit it right in the middle.

The uptrack on the west side of the valley is again a shallow traverse. After not long we are at treeline and lunch in a sheltered sunny spot with a view. A million dollar view. We travel a long way in a reasonably short time. Here we split. B, M and J headed back to the lodge, J and I see a ridge farther on that looks like it needs some ski tracks.

We go up. The climb is steep. We keep our senses on alert and there are no signs of instability. We reach the top and the view on the other side is more than worth the hike. As we edge our way along the ridge we keep looking north over the edge to see where we are going to ski down. We cannot really see the slope but we figure out where we are going to enter. There are 20 or 25 turns to the bottom varying in quality but none bad. It is steep but completely skiable. Life is good.

The run through the glades to the creek below is north facing, the snow is dry and the skiing is great, then all of a sudden it looks steep, so steep in fact I’m quite sure it is straight down. In fact it is a cliff. J and I survey the situation and find there is a route but we find it by sliding down each drop 3M at a time. This way and that until we reach a spot that has a clear run to the bottom and it is 15 more great turns.

It is an adventure for sure. I’m quite sure the risk we are taking is minimal and the skiing is good. The touring today is good and as enjoyable as the skiing. I don’t think we had to walk as far as we did but there is always that sense of adventure. The serenity and the surroundings are what coaxes you on and on.

I’m up. It’s 6 am and everyone else is still in the sack. It’s spring and the outside temperatures are not that extreme but the fire in the stove died and when I get up the digs are cold. I try to start a fire without success and give up; I do not want to waste paper so I sit quietly in the cold. Cold of course is relative and I am not in danger of expiring, just slightly uncomfortable.

B, the fire man, gets it going and the place starts to warm up. Our two local hosts cut out today and leave the valley with its five occupants. It is a leisurely morning and we don’t even get on the road until 11 but we can’t climb and ski for more than 5 hours anyway.

We start on a new uptrack headed due north and into a bowl the local guys told us about yesterday. Posthumous Bowl, I believe. After walking across the top we try to determine what aspect will have ideal snow. Some discussion, remove the skins and off we go. 4 or 5 hundred meters vertical, all 5 of us have smiles on our faces by the bottom. Big smiles. The snow is mildly inconsistent but very skiable and about boot top deep. Heaven.

J and I make 4 long runs today. Yesterday it seemed quite hard but it is amazing how fast I get into the rhythm and the day is not hard until the last uptrack to home base. B tells us that it is about 200M vertical but quite steep. Steep it is and it is quite a slog for the last one of the day. Tired yes but the last run to the bottom of the valley was worth every step up. That Coke upon arrival goes down easy, very easy. I have to conserve my stash as the closest 7/11 is a long ways away.  The cabin is warm when J and I arrive and we relax after a great day.

Sauna time.

It’s quiet here. The ride is noisy but as soon as the chopper leaves the silence becomes one of the first things I notice. The wind blows but even that is not noisy. We make noise, it is hard to be quiet but it is only our voices and a bit of bumping and banging and it is easily absorbed into the valley.

There are 5 in the Amiskwi Backcountry Lodge, near Golden, BC and two others in the adjacent cabin. I’m quite sure we are the only ones in the entire valley.

We settle in, skin up and are off to see how the skiing is. There is tons of snow; 45 cm in the last couple of days and the last group in was 10 days ago. The terrain is trackless but our hosts tell us that last evening was quite warm and it had an adverse effect on the snow. The prevailing winds are from the south west and the sun this time of year affects the south and west facing exposure the most so by a simple process of elimination our best bet is going to be the north and east exposure.

The uptrack is fast, it maybe takes 30 minutes. The run down is good. The snow is not deep but it is generally consistent and very good skiing. It is our first view of the available terrain and I do not think we will run out of ski options in the week we are here. I am still hoping it snows.

Standing high on a ridge the two ‘locals’ point out the highlights and give us an idea where the snow might be good. I think we will follow up on some of their suggestions. There is one full day tour that sounds good, where most of the skiing is on slopes with a north aspect so the snow should be good, but it is a 6.5 hour trek. I think that will be a later in the week thing.

A good start to my week of backcountry skiing.