Bruins Pass and Sifton Traverse

Weeks of persistent valley cloud in the Okanagan had left us craving sunlight. Saturday had a promising forecast and as we toured up the Connaught drainage that promise became a reality; bright sunshine warmed both our faces and our souls.



We climbed up Bruins Ridge and had a short run down the cold and shady north side before climbing back up and skiing down 8812 bowl.



The avalanche control teams sometimes go through an exercise of "ranging" their guns. This was going on full-tilt Saturday afternoon as the air was rent apart by the BOOM! of the Howitzers and the WHOOSH! of shells flying through the air. One can't help but feel a visceral response to such power and potential destruction despite knowing perfectly well that they weren't firing anywhere near us. We occasionally smiled at each other a bit uneasily.

Fred and Steve joined us on Sunday for a trip up and over Sifton Col and back down Hermit Meadows. The day started out brilliantly again and then clouded over and snowed a bit by mid-morning, but the visibility held and we enjoyed the 1400m run back down Hermit Meadows.

This is the descent just below Sifton Col. I remember this gave us the heebie-jeebies the first time we skied it. Didn't seem so bad today.