Camp West Lite - Rogers Pass

Distance: 9km

Elevation: 1250m

Looking down the whole run from ridge to highway

Tupper Traverse - Rogers Pass

Distance: 19km

Elevation: 1700m

Time: 7.5hrs

A view of Mount MacDonald from the Connaught Slide Path on the east side of Tupper

Return to McMurdo

After 3 years of booking the McMurdo Hut for a season opener in December, we decided to give it a try in January, hoping for a deeper snow pack and more skiable terrain. We did our best to recruit some friends, but at the 11th hour ended up being the only ones heading into the hut for the weekend. We drove to Golden on Thursday night to ensure an early start into the hut Friday morning. After a wrong turn down an active haul road that I don't think existed last time we came in (not recommended), we made it to to the staging area at 21km up the Spillimacheen FSR by 8:30 am. From there, it was a quick rip up by sled the road to the McMurdo FSR before turning just after 56km to take the 2km trail to the McMurdo Hut.

Bundled up and ready to sled

Top Hat Ski Traverse - Yoho National Park

 Distance: 16km

Elevation: 1216m

A perfect January day for a ski tour in Yoho

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