Begbie Zone

I had a nice leisurely morning hanging out with Charley and then off she went to mother goose and off I went to Mt-Begbie.At 10.30 I was finally off and touring up the summer trail. This trail is direct and to the point, up and up I toured till I crested onto the glacier. The conditions were feeling really good but I felt I shouldn’t solo to the notch on Begbie, its a steep and committing line with no safe option.

So instead of traveling higher I skied a few mellow alpine into tree line runs that were fast and smooth.Cruising around I began to feel that I was the only person in the area and then low and behold I spotted a group getting near the top of a small bump. I toured over and shared some food with them and then ripped down a 1000 feet so I could use their skin track back up.

Really nice day, the sun was in and out all day, and all the mountains were looking fantastic. I am looking forward to tomorrow since a small group of adventurers are getting together something interesting will happen.

 I broke trail a little bit too much today with 8000 feet of trail breaking. A little ridiculous but whatever….. 10100 feet

Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Festival

 Well  the weekend in Nelson was a busy time, very social and rewarding but very busy. I didn’t have much time to spend with my family but nonetheless they were happy in the jacuzzi suite without me. The entire event went well and I believe it will be a repeated event which will get bigger and bigger every year.

 I helped set up and organize the Roam randonnee rally, which was quite a success. Over 30 people raced up and around whitewater resort, Cary Smith from Jackson Hole won the race. I hosted a couple of clinics, which were more backcountry guiding than anything. A couple of storms made the cold smoke festival a real kootenay powder experience, Everyone was able to enjoy some untracked powder turns.

 The biggest challenge for me was my slide show. I have never really done a  slide show and I was curious to see how it would go.  I talked about our Bugaboos to Rogers Pass traverse, a 13 day adventure we went on last April. This was easy as all I did was follow our trip through the mountains talking along the way but really just letting the photos tell the true story. I then moved into this winter and the season of deep powder that it has been. Again an easy story as the photos tell it all.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it and the feedback I received was very encouraging; many could not believe that I had never done a slide show before nor been a photographer for long. My many years on stage as a kid really helped me relax in front of the 250 people.

So all well that ends well.

Frank also finished the movie form the 24 hours of sunlight race. Here is the link take a look. Quirky as usual 24hours 

the sproul’e boys

I was feeling a little sick today  so I enlisted the help of the Sproul’e boys to get me to my 10g mark. Always up for an adventure we left town not knowing where we were going. Safe in the knowledge that we would be in for some great skiing we drove towards the pass. Doug mentioned Hamilton creek, a name which I did not know, although it turns out I had skied there before. Hamilton creek is 10 km form town and is rarely skied, I skied there five years ago and I wonder if anybody else has ventured up there since.

 The reason no one visits this area is the start off point is at 1900 feet and the summit is at 8400 feet, so 6500 feet to gain the summit. We charged up this 6500 feet summiting by noon and enjoying our first turns thereafter. Here is Dave scoping the final pitch.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 We had some great turns down the south face skiing 2200 feet before we could stop.              

After our first run we toured up through some burnt trees and gained the next lesser bump and skied a 1500 foot run of it. Again great snow, a little wind affected in the alpine but really silky  below tree line.  Then with 1500 foot to go we toured up to the third bump and skied a 3000 foot avalanche path down into Hamilton creek.  We followed this somewhat of a challenge/ kinda okay creek to the highway and hiked back to the car.

             Seems like when the three of us get together we get things down and explore some great areas, today was exploratory for all of us. I had summited the peaks before but i had not enjoyed the descents off them. So new lead for all of us to draw on our maps once we got home. 10 500 foot day.