McMurdo Hut - Early Season Ski Touring

Heading out to McMurdo this year, it was either going to be all time deep pow or absolutely horrendous due to a recent rain event up to 2200m days before. What we encountered were some of the most challenging and terrible backcountry conditions I have ever skied, a disastrously messy hummus explosion and we almost ended up spending a night in the car in Kicking Horse Canyon. Despite the struggles, we had an excellent weekend with our new friends, ate lots of gourmet cheese and got to escape reality for a few days.

"10/10 would recommend"

Deceptive pillows - look fluffy, all crust

Early December is always a gamble when booking ski trips and you never know what you are going to get. Winter came late this year with warm sunny days in the Rockies that extended into November. When it did start to snow however, it dumped. As the coast got hammered by atmospheric rivers, the mountains received huge amounts of snow. The forecast was estimating metres of snow in the alpine despite rising freezing levels. Days before our trip, the rain from the coast found its way across the province followed by a drop in temperature down to -15. A big wet avalanche cycle came through and we crossed our fingers in hopes that the snow at McMurdo would be epic, or at least skiable. We threw a few extra beers in our packs just in case.

First major blizzard of the year, excellent night for a drive

The first obstacle was getting to Golden. Construction through Kicking Horse Canyon (Highway 1 East of Golden) has been ongoing for the last year with closures lasting 6 weeks at a time re-routing traffic through Radium. The detour adds an extra hour at minimum. Fortunately for us, the canyon had opened earlier in the week, but was still closed overnight from 10pm-7am daily. We left immediately after work to give ourselves lots of time to get through the canyon before the closure (typically less than 3hrs drive from Calgary). The roads were seriously icy and we passed numerous vehicles in the ditch or littered across the highway between Canmore and Banff. Driving slowly was the only option, especially as visibility dropped to nothing with blowing snow. Only a few kilometers from the canyon traffic stopped dead. When the highway finally opened, we crawled up a hill passing crashed semis everywhere. Driving slowly to avoid the same fate, we overtook a few very slow trucks and were waved through into the construction zone by a worker who flipped a sign to "road closed" immediately after we passed. Kyle and I looked at each other in disbelief. Everyone behind us was stopped for the night and we miraculously made it to Golden after 4.5 harrowing hours of driving.

The next morning we met up with Taylor and Dina and drove up to the staging area together. It hadn't been groomed for the season and we had to park a few kilometres back from where we could drive to last year. It was a cold and rough 35km sled up to the hut, with one uneventful creek crossing. There was lots of snow at the hut, but the dense rain crust did not bode well for skiing.

Breaking trail and ice en-route to McMurdo Hut

Lots of snow at the hut

We got the wood stove roaring and warmed up after the cold ride. Catastrophe struck when I discovered that our hummus had exploded in the food bin, covering everything in a greasy film. The clean-up was unpleasant to say the least. After unpacking, we went out for an afternoon tour to check out the conditions. We sadly discovered that the rain had affected the snow far above the hut and it wasn't until we had ascended 400m before we found any fresh snow.

Evening alpine glow on Silent Pass

Transition time
The few turns we made above the rain crust were fun, but definitely not the blower pow we had hoped for. It was survival skiing back down to the hut, which challenged our early-season legs. It was a stiff crust that made turning nearly impossible and was some of the worst conditions I have ever encountered. Luckily we had prepared for this possibility and had delicious meals and drinks packed.

Home away from home
With horrible skiing in the trees, we planned on a longer tour up to the ridge top on Saturday where we could lap the fresh snow in the alpine bowl. The weather had other plans though. As we broke trail above the trees we entered a grey world without contrast and cold, biting wind. Without visibility to navigate we opted for a few shorter laps just above tree-line. We were able to find some fun turns and scope out the terrain for next time before navigating back down the sketchy crust of doom to the hut. We returned to discover that my food bag had been raided by hungry birds. They pecked a huge hole in the side and got away with the butter and some sausage. After the hummus fiasco this felt like an evil joke. Fortunately we were able to salvage most of the food and keep it away from hungry scavengers for the rest of the trip, although we did see a big pine marten lurking outside the window that evening.

Socking in just as we get to the alpine

Tree-line laps

We made up for the subpar skiing and food thievery with a night of games and conversation in the warmth of the cozy hut.

Modern art

Not wanting to risk our knees any further, we hit the sled trail early Sunday morning. Despite the conditions it had been a super fun weekend. I know we will be back to McMurdo soon.

Packed up and ready to go