Asulkan Cabin

A few days at the Asulkan Hut in rather indifferent weather. Wind hammered in the alpine. Good below tree line.

The Overlook

We headed up through the lower Vaux Moraines where a hungry porcupine had been busily chomping away.



Sir Donald dominated the scenery all morning.



To the Overlook Col.



Here we encountered a rather large cornice overhanging the northwest side of the ridge that we hoped to descend. There was a possibility to sneak around the side but it would have meant a high speed entry onto a steep and probably wind loaded slope. So out came the shovels. After a bit of hacking and hewing we had a decent ramp cut for a more controlled entry to the slope.





This turned out to be a wise decision. Our avalanche poodle gingerly eased himself down and promptly triggered a healthy size 1.5+ that pretty much cleared out the slope.







From here we had some great skiing down to the bottom of the Overlook Bowl where we cut across the Illecillewaet Practice Slopes.







And a good time was had by all.

Begbie Shoulder

"How about exploring Begbie Shoulder?", asked Nick.

"Hell yes!", said us.

You need to accept the good and the bad when visiting a place for the first time. The good today was climbing above the inversion layer to reveal blue skies above and a sea of flowing clouds below. The bad was sweating and cursing up The Steepest Thickest Crappiest Skin Track in the World. But we know better for next time. And there will definitely be a next time. What a brilliant day of skiing just 15 minutes from downtown Revelstoke.

Corbin via Bostock

In our quest to visit less travelled areas this season we made the long trek along the Bostock summer trail to Bostock Pass and up towards the NE Ridge of Corbin. Legs, weather, and potentially daylight were in danger of giving out before we could top out on the ridge. But the skiing was good and we saw enough to come back later in the season when the days are longer.

McGill Shoulder Glades

Back to the glades! Short drive. South facing. Awesome skiing. We had the place to ourselves again.

Glacier Crest to The Ravens

We'd never been to the summit of Glacier Crest. Summer or winter. Now we've been there twice in just a few weeks. In December we climbed up via Lookout Col and descended back into the Illecillewaet side. This time we followed the summer trail to the summit and descended into the Asulkan by the west side of Glacier Crest and The Ravens. The run from Glacier Crest to the bottom of Lookout Bowl is nice but shockingly short considering how much effort it takes to get up there!

Ross Peak Pillows via Loop Brook

Inspired by a video on YouTube from last year we went exploring in Loop Brook. Wow. Low effort. High reward.

McGill Glades

We returned to McGill the next day on Christmas Eve. This time we visited the glades. It was the first time we'd been here in about 10 years and had almost forgotten about this place. It's brilliant.

McGill Shoulder

A great day skiing the slide paths on McGill Shoulder.

Cougar Valley

A bit of an exploration day over on the Cougar Valley side of Balu Pass.





I think we stumbled across (almost literally) the place we exited from the Nakimu Caves a few years ago.



That photo doesn't do it justice. It was a looong way down.

Christiana Trees

Two weeks of high pressure ended with a whack of snow and a Special Public Avalanche Warning. We spent the day in Christiana Trees. Perhaps the only destination in Rogers Pass that doesn't entail travel below or on an avalanche path? Wonderful skiing in light fluffy snow with the occasional firmed up tree bomb debris to keep us honest.

Ursus Major - Christmas Couloir

We had skied Christmas Couloir once before in 2015. There were similar conditions this time after a long-lived high pressure system left us without any new snow for a couple of weeks. The upside being that conditions were very stable.

The day started out clear and cold as we made our way over Balu Pass and towards Ursus Major.



Then seeming out of nowhere a band of thick cloud blew in and the day took on a whole new feeling.



The ski down was steep and...er, character building. At least until we dropped below the cloud and we could see more than a few meters.

Positioned right at the elevation of the cloud ceiling made for an interesting perspective. It was like a blind had been pulled down part way on the other side of the valley.