McGill Shoulder

We spent Saturday night at Cat's place in Revelstoke. McGill Shoulder is a new destination for me and Brenda. The trailhead is at the start of the Bostock Creek hiking trail west of the Rogers Pass summit.

After a few minutes on the hiking trail we cut off onto a skin track that headed up and along the ridge. Initially we had good views back across the highway which gave us a unique perspective into some other areas we have yet to visit. So much terrain, so little time. Soon it completely socked in and eventually it started to snow quite heavily. We climbed to about 1900m before pulling out the map and trying to get an idea of where we were.

It wasn't too late yet but a couple of things were on our minds -- the first was that we were in unknown territory and the second was that the "Ski Touring in Rogers Pass" guidebook had mentioned the possibility of "a truly heinous thrash-fest" in the early season! Reason enough. So we dug a quick pit (which we've resolved to do more often this year regardless of how conservative the line is) and then pointed the skis downhill.



We had several hundred meters of good skiing before the open areas petered out and we began picking our way down through the trees looking for the hiking trail.

Here's Brenda pretending she's having fun...

We found the hiking trail without too much trouble in the end. In retrospect we could have climbed back up for another run but it was one of those days when there were a few too many unknowns and it just seemed best to err on the side of caution. Ah well, we know for next time.

The ski down the hiking trail was classic Adirondacks stuff.

Here' s a maniacal looking Brenda back at the highway...


That's all for this weekend. I'd have more photos but I again had battery issues with the camera today. Gotta get that worked out for next weekend.