McMurdo Ski Touring

The McMurdo Cabin is a rustic backcountry hut maintained by the Columbia Huts Society. We managed to get a weekend booking in mid-December and were pretty stoked to check out a totally new zone. The cabin is accessed by sledding up the Spillimacheen and McMurdo FSRs, accessed from Parson 35 km south of Golden on Highway 95. The sled access is fortunately maintained by Sled Golden and was in great shape. We paid our $25 trail fee then drove up the icy FSR to a staging area at the 21km mark. From there we loaded up the sled and toboggan for a cold 30km rip up the groomed roads. At km 57, the road makes a big sweeping right turn and a small single track trail leads up a drainage for about 1km to the hut. It could be easy to miss if you aren't paying attention!

Ripping up the Silent Pass access road maintained by Sled Golden

Black Rock Mountain Biking

14 km return
990m elevation gain
3hr 15mins

Black Rock Mountain in the Ghost Wilderness Area has a 7km hiking trail right to the top, most of which you can pedal up. It climbs from the river valley up a double track road which narrows to a single track up through the forest. About halfway up, you gain a ridge and follow the alpine trail up through a rocky notch to a meadow. The final approach climbs a steep scree slope with lots of switchbacks before finally topping out at an old fire lookout. We came prepared for a big alpine day and were ready for the inevitable hike-a-bike that this route would require.

Heading out of the river valley

Party Lap on Seven Summits

Distance: 39km

Elevation: 1075m

Time: 7h25m

Some of the first views and a good spot to rest

Sol Mountain Magic

After thawing out in Vernon following our chilly pedal on Beowulf, we made our way back to Revelstoke and south down the west shore of Upper Arrow Lake. Just before the Shelter Bay ferry terminal, we took a right onto the Shelter Bay FSR, heading for Sol Mountain Lodge. We have friends who love this place in the winter and Kyle had discovered some cool trails up there while browsing trailforks. In our effort to get off the beaten path and explore some new zones, it seemed like a perfect destination.

Arrow Lakes, looking south

Beowulf - Overrated "Epic"

Beowulf IMBA Epic 

Silver Star, BC

900m elevation

35km

The start of the trail

Since the early days of my relationship with Kyle, we have been opportunistically ticking off IMBA Epic rides, bike trails designated by the IMBA as immersive rides that are "technically and physically challenging, beautiful to behold and worthy of celebration." The list is updated every few years with new trails being added and other trails falling off. To date, we have ridden 5 of the current or past Epics including Comfortably Numb (no longer an epic), Waldo Lake, Seven Summits, Mountain Hero, Warner Lake, and a section of the Black Canyon Trail. A new trail was added to the list of Canadian trails recently, so with a week off and bikes in tow, we started our September BC bike road trip with a hurricane drive to Vernon to tick it off the list.

Chilcotin Bike-Packing

I don't know when I first heard about the riding in the Chilcotins, but whenever I start dreaming of epic riding trips, bike packing in the Chilcotins comes to mind. This was bucket list item that got tossed around regularly, but we never actually sat down and made it happen. Usually we would try and make use of multi-week holidays by traveling internationally, rather than exploring our own backyard. Closed borders, cancelled weddings and a slow melting snowpack forced us into looking closer to home for our 2 weeks off at the end of June and a plan to explore the South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park by mountain bike started to take shape.

Hours of dehydrating went into the final result - 18 meals and a tonne of snacks

McGillivray Canyon Hike

McGillivray slot canyon (Ryan Yee Photo)

This is a really unique hike that follows the creek up through the McGillivray slot canyon between Pigeon Mountain and Mt. McGillivray. It can be done as an out and back to a big chockstone, or once you reach the chockstone, you can retreat back down the canyon about 15 mins and gain the climbers approach trail on the bench above the canyon to descend. The area above the chockstone has had some recent development as a climbing crag and we met the route developers up there who have been bolting some hard sport routes!

Ghost Wilderness Exploring

Spring 2020 was not what anyone had expected. The COVID-19 pandemic brought out lives to a grinding halt, with new restrictions and updates daily. For a few weeks, we were glued to social media and watching the numbers climb. Terms like and social distancing, self-isolation and flatten the curve became part of our vocabulary and we all got acquainted with virtual chat platforms like zoom and whatsapp to stay connected with friends and family. It has been a stressful time for everyone as the stock markets crashed, people lost their jobs and businesses had to change how they operated overnight with people suddenly working from home. Our usual outlets for stress relief were also out of the picture. To ensure that hospitals were prepared for the possibility of an overwhelming number of sick people, and to avoid backcountry rescue where SAR teams may be exposed to infected individuals, the backcountry essentially shut down. Trail heads were closed, high risk activities were condemned and a province-wide fire ban was in place, because a forest fire was the last thing anyone wanted during a pandemic. 

While the pandemic is far from over, Canada's response so far has been promising. The numbers are decreasing, we have not hit capacity in our ICU's and restrictions are starting to lift. As the weather warms and spring rolls towards summer, we are getting more comfortable with our new normal. Small gatherings, social distancing and "chilling the shred" will be the routine this summer. All that time at home has motivated us to do some exploring in our Alberta backyard, and the bike trainer that served as an outlet during the darkest days of spring has kicked my butt into shape for riding season.

The view from the ridge into the Ghost River Valley

Powder Cowboy - Family Day

 The first annual Powder Cowboy family day weekend extravaganza was a huge success. We used 2 sleds to shuttle our gear and friends up to the hut for the weekend and spent the weekend enjoying the amazing ski terrain around the hut (both sled and tour accessed). It was awesome to have such a big group of friends together in the mountains and we had plenty of space in the well equipped hut. The weekend highlights included giant bonfires, ridiculous games, overcooked pasta, backflips, sunset laps, alien lights in the forest, stargazing and some skiing too!

Powder Cowboy

2 Weeks of Van Life in Japow

It doesn't seem that long ago that I attended the World Premier of MSP's "Push." My friends and I watched the teaser endlessly until we knew it by heart. When we saw each other in the halls of our high school, we would shout "push!" and give each other a shove. By the time it finally came time to load the Whistler Gondola for the movie screening at the Roundhouse (pretty awesome for a free show!), we were so excited we couldn't talk about anything else. As the lights dimmed and the roar of the igniting matchstick filled our ears, the crowd erupted into cheers and didn't stop until the final scene. 

That was 14 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. On that screen, I saw my ski idols shredding powder through snow-laden birch trees in Japan. I was captivated and couldn't get that image out of my mind. To this day, thinking about Japan conjures up visions of skiing bottomless powder through deciduous forests, soaking in hot springs and views of snowy mountains over steaming bowls of ramen.

The things dreams are made of

January Rogers Pass - Misery and Redemption

This trip didn't look like it was going to happen...

We had planned to camp and ski Roger's Pass with Connor months ago and David was driving out from Vancouver to meet us. Two days before departure however, Calgary was in a deep freeze. As we were getting the trailer ready, Kyle wondered aloud if we would blow it to pieces on the drive out of town in -25c. Frantically, we scoured weather forecasts and plotted driving distances to warmer ski areas. After a few phone calls back and forth, we decided to keep Rogers Pass as our destination but wimped out on the camping and secured a nice warm room at the Dreamcatcher Hostel in Golden. Are we getting soft?

Some alpine views from high on Grizzly Shoulder

Tunnel Creek Day Trip

It was a slow start to the season in Fernie this year. Over Christmas, people were downloading the Timber Chair due to low snow coverage! Fortunately, after New Years, the Griz finally brought some powder and Kyle and I were lucky enough to be in town to enjoy it. We alternated 2 days skiing pow at the resort with a day in the backcountry with Chad to find some fresh tracks.

Sun dogs in the sky over Curry Bowl