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

The trip appeared to be saved, but mother nature had a few other tricks to play on us before we could put our skis to snow. Highway 1 was a snowy mess from Salmon Arm to Field. David's drive from Vancouver took about 11 hours and he was stopped in Golden for over an hour before traffic moved enough to allow him to exit the highway. At that rate, he could have walked to the hostel faster. Kyle and I encountered similar delays from Calgary, extending the usual three hour drive to five. It was a semi-truck apocalypse and we had to slowly weave through semis who hadn't thought to chain up before the big hill in Kicking Horse Canyon. After one driver didn't make it up the hill, a domino effect occurred where the other trucks couldn't get started and all needed to put on their chains. This blocked the entire highway east and westbound as people got trapped in the gridlock. Fortunately, we were only 4 vehicles from the open road and convinced one semi driver to reverse 10 metres to let us small vehicles continue on.

Traffic stopped and obstructing the entire highway at the top of the hill in Kicking Horse Canyon

After the rough start, we were looking forward to some ski touring. The plan was to ski Little Sifton Traverse and very reasonable trail was broken up the trees on Grizzly Shoulder (unusual for Rogers Pass). Unfortunately, Kyle was having a rough day and struggling with frozen feet. It was very cold and windy in the alpine so we opted to start down Puff-Daddy rather than expose ourselves to the elements for any longer. It was a good call too, I ended up with frost-bite on my toes that day!

Good Morning Rogers Pass 

Lots of snow on Grizzly Shoulder

Trying to play it safe in the considerable avalanche conditions we stayed off the open slopes but a communication error resulted in going too far off our line. Kyle and I ended up in steep terrain that we were not happy about. A few tenuous turns and some traversing got us out of the zone, but I was feeling very shaken up after that. Irrationally, I demanded we ski down the gully. I just wanted to get down so rather than try and find the good run we knew was below us. The run choked down into a creek full of small trees and pillows which was not fun to ski. Needless to say, we were pretty grumpy by the time we got to the bottom and I felt pretty sheepish.

Finding some deep pockets off Grizzly before we got choked out in the creek

Pillow zone in the creek

David making some nice turns once we escaped the creek

The next morning, we made our way up from Loop Brook to explore the trees. We found steep and deep terrain, but the aspect had been affected by big tree bombs that broke up the skiing. Not quite what we had been hoping for.

Overhead hazard at Loop Brook

Fresh lines waiting for us 

Checking out the snowpack from below

Happy to be out ski touring, a better mood than yesterday!

Picking our lines

Dropping in

Feeling a bit discouraged, we made a plan to redeem ourselves on Puff Daddy by hitting the line correctly. Connor arrived and brought his contagious stoke with him. The mood was better and we cruised up to the ridge in high spirits. We nailed our line and were rewarded with pillows and face shots.

Back up on Grizzly, a bit more cheerful this time

Making sure we get our line right

Who needs an ACL!?

Pillow hopping

Not having any fun at all!

Connor gets some face shots

Deep turns on the lower slopes

Kyle charging pow

So after almost bailing on the trip because of the cold, traffic challenges making it out to Golden and a big communication breakdown on the first ski day, the trip ended on a very high note. We had a blast skiing powder with our friends and came home safe. What's a good trip without a few hiccups right?