Woke up to 3-4 inches in Salmo, Whitewater reporting 20cm, and an email from a splitboard.com member (Trevor) looking to share some turns at the pass.

Found a bunch of new snow and moderate to heavy winds up top. We were the first group up and had to break trail the majority of the way. We made a great lap then fortuitous timing brought us together with another splitboard.com member and his wife (Gary and Eva). I'd met them last year and we actually attempted to make plans for today, but were thwarted by technology. Another great line resulted in the obvious conclusion - let's do another, but with daylight slipping away, we cut the last run a bit shorter than the first two. 3,750 total up.

Blair and I bagged 3,000 feet of Kootenay Blower today. As you can tell from the pics, it was a rare and beautiful bluebird day. We spent the majority of the day making laps off the south face of Baldy Rocks. There are some nice cliffs and chutes in this area. Snow was fresh and light and it was a great start to a 5 day stay at the pass.

A treepilot reader invited me out for a tour in his backyard the other day. Today, in the wake of a tragic loss of 8 sledders in the nearby Harvey Pass area, I took him up on the offer. Thanks for the tour and hospitality!

With obvious clues in the snowpack we stuck to a low angle slope and enjoyed some great snow. Total up via split was 3,510, but without the sled the day wouldn't have happened.

I was also very stoked to meet his dog Elka - a Norwegian Elkhound. Different but still shares many traits with Beacon.

I'm planning on riding at the Kootenay pass tomorrow but they currently have the road closed.

The fat man in the red suit brought some snow for Christmas, but still not quite enough. After doing some research on the web, I wanted to take a day to explore some options in the Wall Lake area. 1,200 feet of climbing, almost 15km skinned and zero snowboard turns. Given the continued light snow pack locally, I'm off to the interior for a few days, maybe longer.

I've been laying low and trying to keep warm the past few days, although it seems a few days has turned into several. All of the west has been stuck in the deep freeze and the snow tap has been shut off. With the temperatures "easing" to the -20C range and winds forecast as "light", I worked up the motivation to go check out the side country at Castle today. Rumour has it that they've blown up the Huckleberry Chair that goes up Haig Ridge. This was the first part to open last winter and they'd just opened all the way to top of the main mountain, so it seemed like there was hope for some snow.

I was greeted an easy climb to the top of the chair thanks to their grooming. At the top, I almost turned around - the usual up track was nearly an impenetrable wall of alders - worse than our first trip up Haig Ridge last year, but nearly 3 weeks later this year!

I'm almost positive I was the first fool up this year. Heavy trail breaking on 30 to 60 cm of settled snow. Lots of alder underneath fighting the uphill motion. I pushed on reaching the usual drop point (about 2,100 feet up from the parking lot). There's no trees up here to shelter you from the wind, so I dropped in and enjoyed a few turns, followed by cursing on the flatter spots. Found one clearing and made 5 or 6 turns. Also found a few snow snakes too - must have been more dead fall than rocks though as the base still looks ok. With the thin snow pack I knew better than to take anything other than the groomed run back down. I found a few turns on the side until another snow snake got me.

No more turns until the 27th - either the snow comes to me or I go to the snow!

Merry Christmas!

Day 1:



Day 2:



Day 3:



Day 4:

I took a day off to travel from Roger's Pass back to Blair's. A bit bummed that I missed a day in the consecutive streak, but 6 out of 7 days of touring is still pretty good.

The Kootenay pass had gotten some more snow since I visited last week and the temperature had dropped and the skies had cleared. It made for a perfect day to gather some beta. We'd never been up the north side of the highway before so that was the first destination. We found a shallow bowl (maybe 900-1000) on the north side of the ridge, or a similar drop back south to the parking lot. Lots of wind hammered snow and still very early season conditions. Found a few good turns and took lots of photos of lines for future reference.

Blair had some things to do, so I continued on solo on the south side, with the goal of making it to the peak above the highways buildings (Baldy Rocks). I poached a skin track all the way up and soon found myself on top of the world - relatively speaking. Having just come Roger's Pass - very relatively speaking. I took in the views, enjoyed the solitude, drank some tea from my new thermos and dropped in. The snow was almost too thick in places - that weird oxymoron that is early season conditions. Sometimes you need a base or crust layer to keep the float going. Once you got up to speed it wasn't too bad, but with alder, rocks and whatnot hiding, keeping speed wasn't always easy. With very minimal route finding, I took 10 steps and arrived in the parking lot of the highways department.

Total vertical up of 2,630. Great day spent in the mountains. I can't wait to get back and explore more. Here's a link to the google earth data from the day.

Got off to the usual 9:30 start. Bluebird skies can only motivate when you're awake to see them. Very cold and windy again. Hip flexor probably isn't going to get better until I take a day off. I toured solo all the way up the valley to Balu Pass. Met a few people coming down who said the snow wasn't great. Pressed on because I wanted to see the vistas. Snow was hammered, got a few good turns in.

Headed down the valley to the uptrack of the last few days. Had some skin adhesion issues but finally got under way. The climb was peaceful and even a bit warm (-20C) thanks to the shelter from the wind. Up top I found some great turns in the trees then decided to take a more direct line back to the valley. I know now why people traverse over. I like tight trees. Love them in fact. These were really tight. Past love, on the way to hate. Part of exploring.

Wound up with 5260 up today. Biggest day ever. I'm pretty impressed given my strained flexor, this being the 5th straight day and my lesser degree of cardio training compared to last year. The 10000 day is just a matter of time!

Some thoughts:
- Rogers pass deserves its wold class rep
- Breaking in new boots sucks
- Goretex is amazing, but Burton ak pit zippers are not!
- Spark bindings are worth every penny
- Having your water freeze before you can drink it means its really cold out.
- Relying on the kindess of strangers for photos doesn't give you many action photos
- Meeting new people in the backcountry is better than touring solo, but riding with friends is better.
- I love Toblerones!

The weatherman was right today, windy, cold and clearing. I got the latest start so far - about 10 before I hit the trail. Didn't see a single person until I neared the top of yesterday's climb. Joined up with a group of 5 skiers and we pushed a bit higher. Air temperature was -25C and the wind was blowing so hard I thought I was at Castle! Got some great turns and hit the same little cliff again then we stopped for lunch.

We decided to see what was over the ridge after the break and took turns breaking trail. We soon found ourselves in a very promising looking gully. The pit we dug looked good so we pushed a bit higher then dropped in. It has got to sound like a broken record, but these were the best turns yet. Untracked, steep, lots of pillows and all for us!

Total up was 4160 feet. Hip flexor was still a bit sore, but getting better. I think the cold helped and being able to set my own pace for 3/4 of the climb certainly didn't hurt. Find the pace and just keep on breathing.

Sounds like there are storms hitting Kootenay pass so I'll probably stay here until Tuesday when I can tour with Blair up there.

Awoke to snow falling. Close to six inches of new overnight. Hipe flexor was better than yesterday, but still sore. I met up with another group today and we toured further up drainage to the Ursus trees. Total ascent was 3360 and the descent was better than yesterday. Little bit more open and the fresh from overnight was light and fluffy. Got some high speed turns in, dropped a ten footer or so and spent some time in the office - there were some very tight trees at the bottom.

Overheard a local almost complaining about the lack of snow. Apparently they're also off to a bit of a slow start here too. Perspective is everything. My stoke is high - today was amazing!

I had one action photo talen today, but without a laptop there's no way to share.

I'm on the road, posting from the blackberry, so no photos. Went to scope out the Kootenay pass yesterday. Snow looked amazing and there was 6 inches or so of fresh, but it needs more. Fought alders and broke trail pretty much the whole way up. Dodged rocks and alders on the way down. By far the hardest 1080 feet of my life!

So I bailed on the kootenay pass and headed north to Rogers pass. Woke up with a very sore hip flexor from yesterday. Got a late start (about 9:30), but still managed to bag 2800 up, followed by some amazing mid winter style pow, complete with faceshots. I didn't want to over stress the hip flexor, so I called it a day around 12:30.

I can't believe its taken me this long to ride the legend. I might never leave!

Resorts around here aren't open yet. You can find a turning chairlift with a 4-5 hour drive. Each way. Whether that's worth it or not depends on what you're looking for - man made snow anyone? I went out on a solo scouting mission today to find old man winter. It seems he's missing in action. It's December 5th and we're behind schedule. Screw the automakers, we need a powder stimulus package asap!

I took advantage? of the light snow pack to venture up a new drainage today. Found some interesting looking areas for later in the winter when the stimulus package has been ratified and powder falls from the sky, but I also found some green grass!

I left the GPS at home, but the Suunto said 1,700 vertical up. I managed to find a drifted gully with boot top powder. About 200 vertical feet of pure bliss - the best turns in life really are free - followed by 1,500 feet of vertical downclimb. I decided to bootpack down, rather than risk more damage to the skins.