Catamount Sneak - Not

We went to check on the Catamount Sneak. It was way to gnarly for us weekend warriors. Instead we skied down to the Nakimu Caves. It was excellent and we had the place to ourselves.

Corbin Peak (Dafoes Wiggle-ish)

Route #2 

Corbin Peak 2700m 

Southeast Face 

"A classic but rarely visited route"?

There are had to be over 20+ people on Corbin today. We didn't do the SE face. We weren't fast enough on this bitterly cold today. Instead we skied on the Tangiers side of the col. It was good fun.

Cougar Creek East Ross Peak. Après-ski at Steve's.

On paper this should be an amazing run. Easy to access. Long. Direct. Northerly aspect. And it is a good run. It's just that it looks like it should be an amazing run!

The ski down is less continuous than it looks, often wind effected at the top, and the lower reaches degenerate into a series of narrow gullies.

Perhaps we've simply never managed to be there on the right day.

It's still a heap of fun. Just leaves you wanting a little more.

We searched for an elegant way to climb back up to the adjacent slide path for a second run but it wasn't pretty and we pulled the plug half way.

Photo:Nick

Photo:Nick

Sir Donald-ish, Overlook-ish

A glorious clear day.

We were thinking of making our way to the Sir Donald-Uto col. Just because. It's a doddle in the summer. When we got there it looked like it would be a fair amount of Type II fun.

Instead we ambled up the slopes below the west face. There aren't too many days during the season that we'd consider placing ourselves on this slope but it felt right today.

Nice view to Overlook Col where we would head next.

The descent was so-so. Wind effected with plenty of small debris from the constant sloughing off Sir Donald. Neat spot though.

Next we followed the well beaten track to the Overlook Col. I'm sure local skiers were moaning about how busy Rogers Pass was becoming even 20 years ago. Long before we'd ever skied here. Even so, wasn't the Overlook tour just a little obscure a short while ago?

So we skipped the Overlook Bowl and skied down the west side instead. Very nice in the late afternoon sun.

Corbin

We followed a long meandering route up towards the col and came across this weird thing that somehow we've never noticed. Our resident radio expert declared it to be a passive radio link deflector. Then she went skiing.

Loop Brook the Easy Way

In terms of effort-to-reward ratio the slide paths that descend into Loop Brook off Ross Peak are among the best. A great way to spend the first day of the new year.

McGill Glades and a Broken Binding

"Uh-oh" said Brenda examining her binding.

It was the way she said it. A tone that immediately makes you stop what you're doing and wonder...Where are we? How long until dark?

The large screw cap for the lateral release adjustment on one of the heel pieces had backed out and disappeared. Along with the internal springs. There was nothing holding the actual binding to the post that remained mounted to the ski.

The situation wasn't too dire. Although we were as far from the trailhead as we were going to get that day, we had a few hours of daylight left, and Brenda could muddle her way back down in half telemark mode.

Resigned to a tedious ski out it was only an afterthought that we tried using a strap to lock the heel of her boot to that remaining post. Surprisingly it worked brilliantly. The lip at the top of the post kept the strap attached. Brenda later said that by the time we were half way down she'd almost forgotten that her binding was broken.

Christiana Trees

McGill Shoulder looked super busy so we headed in the direction of Christiana Trees where no one had yet broken trail. McGill would have been fine but it was nice to ski in the quiet glades.

Corbin

A fine day at Corbin. There were a couple of interesting events today.

The first was catching glimpses of a pine marten, or possibly two pine martens, slowly and inexorably pursuing a white rabbit. The rabbit made a few appearances, either dashing across the uptrack in full flight or slowly bouncing along beside us on the trail with a tired look on its face. The marten wasn't too far behind. We didn't see the end result but our friend Steve witnessed the denoument of a similar pursuit a few weeks ago. The rabbit didn't do so well.

The second was a large settlement we triggered while crossing a convex roll at tree line. Probably on one of the buried surface hoar layers lingering in the upper meter of the snow pack. It was interesting to note a series of cracks running from tree to tree into the distance. An extended column test gave us high numbered but conclusive result (ECTP30).

We were dubious about heading into any large terrain today anyway. This helped the decision. Instead we skied the margins of the main slide path and had a fun time.

Photo: Nick

Vaux Moraine

We followed up the fantastic start to the season in October by not skiing once in November. Provincial guidelines to avoid non-esential travel kept us away. It was frustrating to hear how good the conditions were from people who chose not to stay closer to home.

On this trip we stayed within our bubble of one and didn't visit any local business.

I'm looking forward to the day when an after ski beer at Mount Begbie feels normal again.

Nice day on the Vaux Moraine. It was busy! A familair refrain these days.