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!

Bruins Ridge and Hospital Gully - Rogers Pass

Distance: 14km

Elevation: 1150m

Time: 5.5h

Lots of alders in Connaught drainage this year

Mid-December in Rogers Pass is usually a safe bet for some good snow, even if the Rockies haven't seen much precipitation yet. This year was different. Driving west from Golden, there was barely any snow on the ground. Even as we arrived at the visitor centre we were shocked at how small the snowbanks were. Equipped with our rock skis, we made our way up toward Balu Pass, with a plan to ski 8812 Bowl.

December Pow at McMurdo Cabin

Starting at sunrise

Our 3rd annual December pilgrimage to the McMurdo Cabin was our first weekend of skiing for the 2022/2023 season. After horrible snow conditions the previous year and a rough start to the season, we had very low expectations for the skiing and we couldn't find anyone with a sled who wanted to come with us. Despite that, Kyle and I managed to find some decent snow and had a surprisingly fun weekend at the hut.

A Few Days of Riding in the Phoenix Area

Fun in the sun!

Between our trip to Sedona and bike packing on the Black Canyon Trail, we didn't have much time to explore the Phoenix riding scene. We were able to check out 3 different zones, each with different character and trails.

Bikepacking the Black Canyon Trail (BCT)

 Black Canyon Trail Bike Packing
Big Bug Trailhead to Carefree Highway (I 74)
125km/80miles
1500m Climb
2300m Descent
3 Days

"Adventure begins when plans end"

A Taste of Sedona

Sedona; land of jeep tours and vortexes

Sedona is a unique town in the high desert of central Arizona. About 2 hours north of Phoenix and 1300m in elevation, it sports significantly cooler temperatures than the lower Sonoran Desert, pine forests and magnificent red rock buttes and canyons. It is also home to natural "energy vortexes" which attracts lots of hippies looking to charge their crystals, but we were there to ride bikes. 

It was a brief 2 day touchdown for Kyle, Steve and I before we set out bike packing on the Black Canyon Trail and we wanted to sample the best the area had to offer and warm up our legs, and try not to wreck ourselves (unsuccessfully) for the big days ahead.

Tofino Thanksgiving

Evening session

Mid-October is usually cold, dark and rainy which isn't very fun for biking or climbing and still to early for skiing. With that in mind, I had booked a trip to Tofino where it doesn't matter if its raining because you are planning to be cold and wet surfing anyways. Much to our surprise, the fall ended up being really warm and dry which meant unseasonably warm sunny beach days in October.

Mount Bourgeau/Harvey Pass

Distance: 21km

Elevation: 1130m

Time: 5hrs

Bourgeau Lake below the summit of Mt. Bourgeau

The hike to Harvey Pass starts in Banff National Park from the Bourgeau Trailhead (just west of the Sunshine Road). It is a grind up through the forest for the first 7.5km with minimal views, but once you reach the treeline at Bourgeau Lake you are rewarded with stunning panoramas and alpine lakes. The hike to Bourgeau on its own isn't be worth the effort, but once you start gaining elevation towards Harvey Pass, the views are spectacular.

Grassi Knob Hike - Canmore

Grassi Knob Loop

 Distance 9km

Elevation 795m

Time 3hrs

Grassi Knob summit shot

Helen Lake Hike - Icefields Parkway

Helen Lake Hike

Distance: 15km

Elevation: 550m (to the Headwall)

Time: 4hrs return

Kona takes in the view of Helen Lake from the headwall

Kicking Horse and Terminator Ridge

Kyle scoping out freeride lines at the top of Kicking Horse

The trails at Kicking Horse Bike Park in Golden, BC are steep, rough and endless. We spent 2 days riding the hill with Peter and Kristina enjoying gondola accessed downhill trails. Sadly our first day was cut short by thunderstorms, but that didn't stop us from having an epic alpine weekend.

Retallack

The whole crew (Photo: Jon)

What do you get when you combine 12 friends, a fridge full of Kokanee, repurposed military vehicles, helicopters and epic single track deep in the Kootaneys? An unforgettable birthday party at Retallack!

North Shore Triple Crown MTB

Distance: 73km

Elevation: 2543m

Time: 10:01

Coast Gravity Park

Coast Gravity Park is a small bike park on the Sunshine Coast designed by the Coastal Crew. We took a day trip from Whistler to check it out and had a great time! After riding steep, tech gnar in Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, it was nice to get on some smooth jump trails that we could casually lap all day. The park had enough progression to let us work our way up to some of the bigger jumps as we figured out the speed through the day. The vibes were excellent too and we got to hang out with a fun crew of stoked riders from all over BC.

Welcome to Coast Gravity Park!

Powder Cowboy

Sunshine and sleds

The return to Powder Cowboy after a year off due to covid was a welcome reunion of friends from all over BC and Alberta. We descended on the Little Sand Cabin with sleds, beers, Heather's baking and a whole lot of stoke to get out touring with the best crew around.

Begbie Shoulder (112 Chute)

Distance: 12km

Elevation: 1400m

Peter drops into 112 Chute  as Kristina and Sabina look on

Our fourth and final day with ACMG guide Sabina started with a plan to ski some yoyo laps in the Bonney Trees. Much to our surprise after no new snow, all the winter restricted areas in the pass were closed for the day, likely due to rapid warming and another storm system expected that afternoon. This was the third time in four days that the WRA's had been closed and we had started to run out of options. Despite frequently visiting Revelstoke to ski the resort, all of my ski touring in the area had been centred around Roger's Pass so when Sabina suggested a tour up to Begbie Shoulder I was excited to check out a new zone. Maybe we should have questioned her a bit more about what the day would look like as we were exhausted from three huge days in the pass. But then Kristina may have never learned what it felt like to be "really tired".

Lily Glacier to Dome Col Traverse

Sunday morning came early but was kickstarted with a coffee at La Baguette. As we drove up to the pass, the clouds started to break and we got our first views of the trip after all the storms. After dropping a car at the Illecillewaet parking, we double checked our glacier gear and started up Loop Brook towards the Elephants Trunk. It was going to be a big day climbing up the Lily Glacier to the Dome Col and the weather couldn't have been better.

Working our way up the creek from Loop Brook

Lookout Col and the Ravens - Rogers Pass

Looking down at our tracks on Lookout Col and the Ravens from the Dome Glacier

Day 2 of our guided long weekend began with an early wake up to even more fresh snow in Revelstoke. After cleaning our cars, we met Sabina at La Baguette to discuss possible route options for the day. Once again, the winter restricted areas in the pass were closed leaving us limited options. We settled on a route up to Lookout Col via the Illecillewaet Glacier in hopes that it would not be as busy as some of the other non-restricted zones near the visitor centre or up the Asulkan Valley. 

Teddy Bear Trees

Kyle, Peter, Kristina and I spent 4 days skiing in Rogers Pass and the Revelstoke area with Sabina Wodak, and ACMG guide who spends most of her time skiing the pass. Conditions were all time and we ticked off a some epic objectives while learning lots of new backcountry skills.

Heading up Connaught Creek from the Visitor Centre

Valhalla Cat Skiing

First lap, can't wait

After 2 years of eager anticipation, the Valhalla Catski trip out of Nelson, BC was finally a reality. It was delayed by COVID last year, but despite the 5th wave and omicron over Christmas 2021, it was all systems go for the trip at the start of January. Kyle and I had a rough start to the trip with a 7hr drive from Fernie to Nelson. It has snowed heavily on Thursday night and Kootenay Pass was closed for avi control forcing us to take the ferry, but we did finally make it with time to ski a half day at Whitewater.