STS Couloir - Rogers Pass

STS Couloir

Cheops North #4

1100m

11.5km

Kyle starting the rappel into STS Couloir

With Forever Young Couloir ticked off the day before, the birthday party decided to keep the stoke high and tackle STS Couloir. This line has been on the list for a long time and the stable snowpack and cold but sunny weather made for perfect couloir skiing conditions. 

Forever Young - Rogers Pass

Forever Young Couloir is a classic Roger's Pass Line accessed off Youngs Traverse, below Youngs Peak. It is a big day out with 900m of steep couloir skiing as a reward for your effort.

Distance 23 km
Elevation 1666m

Forever Young Couloir

Sneaky Pow Day - Bonney Moraines

Bonney Moraines

Loop Brook Parking Lot

16km

1389m

After possible the worst start to the ski season, Kyle and I had low expectation's for our trip to Rogers Pass the weekend after New Years. We had been riding dirt on our bike trails up until the first week of December, and had just spent a week in Fernie over Christmas eating chocolate, watching Star Wars and lazing about. We had tried a few days of skiing, dodging rocks and dirt on the ski hill and cross country trails but after a particularly dismal day of ski touring we gave up on skiing altogether and embraced a Christmas Holiday of board games and naps. With minimal snow in the forecast, nobody wanted to join us in Rogers Pass (shocking). We were feeling sorry for ourselves and had missed the cancelation deadline on the hostel so decided to use the weekend to get some exercise and burn off those Christmas calories with a nice walk in the mountains.

Fresh snow in the parking lot

Jumbo Pass Cabin Pow Fest

Approach to the Jumbo Pass Hut

Booking a winter hut trip is a gamble. You never know if the weather will cooperate or if you will even be able to get into the hut at all. We booked the Jumbo hut months in advance after multiple failed attempts to secure a booking at any of the Columbia Valley Huts. Somehow, the stars aligned and we ended up with 5 days over the Family Day weekend. With a treacherous start to the backcountry season and a low snowpack, people were hesitant to commit, but thanks to Steve's network of cool friends we managed to put together a crew of 6 stoked skiers who were all praying for snow.

Little Sifton Traverse - Rogers Pass

Distance: 12 km

Elevation: 1400m

Time: 6hrs

A rare clear day in Rogers Pass gave us the perfect opportunity to tick off the Little Sifton Traverse

A Roger's Pass classic, the Little Sifton Traverse gets you up high in the alpine above Grizzly Shoulder and offers excellent views of Sir Donald, Illecillewaet, Asulkan and Cheops. There are options to summit Little Sifton, or ski some yo-yo laps on the way down the confusingly named Grizzly Slide Path out the the Hermit Parking Lot.

Trespass Ridge Fernie

Distance: 14km

Elevation: 1300m

Time: 4h 15min

Up the Tunnel Creek Road

Trespass Ridge is a great day trip out near Fernie! Starting at the Tunnel Creek parking area west of Fernie, we followed the road up as if we were approaching the hut. After 4km, the skin track to the hut branches off right up a drainage but if you continue to follow the road, it wraps around under Trespass Ridge. Follow the flat logging road until it starts to climb again. Take the right spur and follow it to the cut block. From here you will have a view of the ridge.

Early Season Pow - McGill Glades (Rogers Pass)

Distance: 12km

Elevation: 1150m

Time: 5hrs

McGill Glades deliver

After a mediocre day on Bruins Ridge and Hospital Bowl the day before, I had low expectations as we started up from the Bostock Parking lot towards the McGill Glades. So low in fact that I was feeling sad we hadn't skipped out on skiing altogether to stay up for the midnight Moontricks show in Golden the night before (we are now to lame to do both apparently). The only thing that kept us on track was the fact that Kyle was in bed at 8:30 and I felt too guilty to wake him up to come to the show with me. Good thing too, because we managed to find awesome powder and explore a whole new zone!