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.

Heading up towards Hospital Bowl

We passed under Grizzly Bowl, Frequent Flyer and the Ursus Trees before joining a steep skin track that lead up to Hospital Knob. From here, the trail contoured above the Hospital Gullies and gained Bruins Ridge.

Crossing below Hospital Bowl to gain Bruins Ridge

As we worked our way up the ridge, the clouds rolled in and wind picked up. Leaving the shelter of the trees left us exposed to the blowing snow and we could see that the visibility in 8812 Bowl was going to be terrible. Cutting our losses, we turned around just below the top of the ridge and skied by braille back down to the trees.

There goes our weather window, time to bail!

The snow quality was surprisingly good as we ripped down through the wide lane on the ridge. Once we were out of the wind, we started having a much better time. Kyle took an early exit into the bottom of Hospital Bowl and had some nice mellow turns back to the skin track. Of course the clouds cleared up and we got a good view of Video Peak.

Kyle makes his way down Hospital Bowl while Ursus Minor peaks out of the clouds

We chose to exit through one of the Hospital Gullies rather than back down our skin track. The first few turns were great before it started to get steep and shrubby. We were able to pick our way through the waterfalls and pillows which would probably ski a whole lot better with a deeper snowpack.

Jumping waterfalls down the Hospital Gully