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

With Landon, Tristan and Vince in town from Whistler, we spent Family Day weekend in Golden to celebrate Landon's 40th Birthday. Steve also joined us and we crammed 6 smelly skiers into a hotel room that felt more like a gear storage locker or hut but did the job of providing easy access to Roger's Pass for likely the busiest weekends of the year. This season has been below average across BC and the pass was packed with skiers in search of decent turns. Unfortunately, Roger's was suffering the same historic low snow pack as everywhere else, but the weeks of drought and high pressure resulted in bomber (albeit wind-scoured styrofoam) conditions for getting after big objectives like Forever Young.

Hotel room camping

Despite an early start, we barely managed to snag parking at the Illecillewaet parking lot after sandwiches were left in the hotel and we had to race back to town to grab them. It was a busy skin track heading up into the alpine and with the low snow, navigating the terrain below the Illecillewaet glacier was heinous. Ski crampons were a helpful tool on the steep, icy switchbacks through the rocks.

A maze of skin tracks through the rocks - choose your own adventure

Approaching the toe of the glacier

Sunny and cold

Atypical obstacles for mid-February

We kept leap-frogging with other groups as we made our way onto the glacier. A super-highway skin track and perfect visability made for easy route-finding along the Youngs Traverse route.

Up up up

On our way up the Illecillewaet - Vince Shuley Photo

The glacier seemed to stretch on forever, but we eventually gained the ridge and were treated to panoramic views of Mt. Jupiter to the west, Youngs to the south and Neve Station to the east. It was awe-inspiring to be surrounded by so many incredible peaks.

Youngs Peak ahead with Forever Young starting to appear ahead

Sunny ridge walk with views of Asulkan and beyond

Ropes off with views of Sir Donald - Vince Shuley Photo

Scoping lines for next time - Vince Shuley Photo

At this point, we had gained most of our elevation, but we still had a long way to go to get to the top of the couloir. The crux of the day came early when we had to descend a short steep pitch above our transition point. We left our skins on and struggled our way down the icy slope of doom, trying to stay away from the cliffs on one side and bergschrund on the other. Skins off would be highly recommended for this section.

A bunch of strong skiers looking terrified

We arrived at the top of Forever Young with a few other parties who were carrying on to complete Youngs Traverse. The entrance looked spicy with wind scoured snow but Tristan casually dropped in and ripped the line with ease, impressing the bystanders who had hung about to watch. We skied one at a time, making awkward hop turns down the guts of the steep line and trying to manage the sluff. It wasn't the best snow quality but at least the shade of the north-facing couloir had protected it from turning to crust. Once we hit the fan, the angle mellowed out and we were able to link a few nice carves on hardpack before it turned into an unpredictable breakable crust that made it hard to slow down. Sketchy!

Ready to drop in

Kyle making his way down

Coming out the bottom - Vince Shuley Photo

This was my first day on my new skis (4FRNT Hoji's) and the first turns I made were jumping into Forever Young. It was a trial by fire and they were amazing, despite the less than optimal conditions.

Looking back up Forever Young

It was a great feeling to hit the bottom of the valley and look back up at the line. What a way to start a trip and celebrate Landon's 40th - growing old but never growing up on Forever Young!

The Birthday Party!