PowderGangster

Trip: Video Peak - Rogers Pass 11/22/2013 - Date: 11/25/2013 Trip Report: Took a quick trip around the province for work last week. I know that lots of people here like to hit the Pass at some point during the winter so I thought it was appropriate to update the conditions. With the whacky weather on the coast making for a powderless start to the season it was time to head out for a little ski where there is some snow. A big storm dropped a foot of snow up high in Rogers pass last week that was on top of the 3 feet or so of base that has quietly accumulated there. Came in from Golden meeting a buddy at the crack of 9am. The roads were rubbish and I was pretty gripped getting up to the discovery centre. It was the perfect time to get into the alpine a cooling trend and no snow for 3 days. It was off to Video peak a classic ski line. This is a classic run repeat classic aka busy but so worth it. Short approach and great fall line skiing. [img:center]http://powdergangster.ca/wp-content/uploads/videopeak.jpg[/img] The snow was silky and smooth. The early season is such a tease with the short days we wanted to hit another full lap but the light was fading and it was only 2:30. [img:center]http://powdergangster.ca/wp-content/uploads/RogersPass-17.jpg[/img] Heading for the valley we made it back to the car in a little under an hour. Just in time to sit in my car for 7 hours back to Vancouver wondering how transports drive 120km/h in the dark. I have toured now in all the major areas in the province and by far Rogers Pass is where its at. Worth a trip up there if you are willing to deal with the drive and a little bushwacking. New storms could make things interesting as it is likely to bury some surface hoar. There have been indications of some alpine instabilities which could surface with additional loading. Permits go into effect November 26th. More importantly this winter make sure you check out Geo Backcountry - Rogers pass Google earth Map Follow this adventure and watch for more this winter. Powdergangster.ca

Road is fully open and in great shape. The repairs were finished mid October.

Trip: Heliotrope Ridge, MT Baker - Date: 11/4/2013 Trip Report: It is time to get the boards waxed skins cut and your beacon batteries changed cause ski season is here! I picked up the freshly waxed boards from the shop Friday and I was eager to put them to good use. There was only really one option to get skiing in considering the storms that hit the north Cascades and I wasn't the only one that thought so. 50 people at the trailhead at 9am was going to make for more of a whistler slackcountry expreience than a solo tour. [img:center]http://powdergangster.ca/wp-content/uploads/Heliotrope-5.jpg[/img] The sun was shining the snow was silky. For those looking to head out bring some hiking boots as the trail was pretty clear right to the base of the glacier. My toes are feeling the effects of a 10km hike in ski boots. Coverage was great above the first rolling break in terrain on heliotrope ridge. The slope is scrapled! [img:center]http://powdergangster.ca/wp-content/uploads/Heliotrope-4.jpg[/img] It was a great day for taking pictures! check out the link for more photo's powdergangster.ca

Thanks I want to see more from the south!! I am really interested in what info I can obtain on the North Cascades highway. I travel to washington state for work every 6 weeks from march till November and would love to do a little exploring after one week.

Trip: Cerise Creek Duffey Lake Road - Date: 2/2/2013 Trip Report: You can tell it is a tough year as people seem to be hibernating. With a sunny vacation and a midseason ski break on the horizon I had to get out and try and get some turns. After spending most of the month in the Interior of BC it was time to hit the Duffey again! This season has been strange to say the least with big storms followed by huge lulls. It does get the mind thinking about trying some bigger objectives earlier than we might have in past years. A 2am wake up and making the trailhead at 6am much to our surprise we were the only ones in the parking lot. We grabbed a quick nap before we blasted off with one group in front of us. We set our sights on linking 2 North Facing runs NW Face of Matier and the Stonecrop Glacier. It is a 1600m 8km skin to our first line and we left early in order to avoid the sun affected slopes on the lower mountain. The well traveled trail made for a quick ascent making the Keith's hut turn in a little over 1.5 hrs. Reaching the Matier Joffre Col in 3:45 the wind was howling. Facing another 5 hours of mountain travel marginal snow and the prospect of skiing 45 degree styrofoam we pulled the pin. All was not lost as the 900m glacier run was our consolation. We will save this mission for another day. Full write up powdergangster.ca More pics Here

Sick Matt!! I want pics!! I used do some travel through that area for work and it blew my mind on the potential for skiing.... Rare that you get the cold smoke that deep. I would be "sick" for a few days for sure!

Trip: Rogers Pass - Jan 25th to 27th - Powder Highway! - Date: 1/31/2013 Trip Report: With only a week in between I made a 10 day mission to tour the powder highway. Earlier in the month I had done an abbreviated loop in which we managed to hit the last major storm cycle before a ridge of high pressure camped out over much of BC for January. Recap of last trip Rogers Pass Rossland Kootenay Pass This trip we decided to do the full pull which would be a mix of resort and backcountry days. I won't bore you with the resort days as the first part of the trip there was no new snow and we had to rip champangne groomers the whole time. We didn't book any hotels which gave the flexibility to chase the snow as the week wore on. Some sight seeing along the way led to some great pictures in the fog of fort steel. By Wednesday a storm formed off the coast and was dropping into Revelstoke (aka powder heaven) So we made the mission from Nelson to revy normally a 4.5 hr drive. It was coming down and 6 hours later and having to rally trough 30cms of unplowed snow we made it to Revy. On route we had called our buddies who were to meet us Friday and told them that calling in sick and leaving early was in their best interest. Morning "Guides Meeting" to determine our objectives Having spent almost 50 days in Rogers Pass I can sniff out a powder stash like a local. Did we even find powder. 50cms of light density snow made for an amazing few days. Blower! Token splitboarder The second day we hit up Napolean spur which is sledom traveled cause it is a major pain to get in and out of that place but it is normally worth it. We made quick work of the terrain and busted out almost 2000m of touring that day. This is what you look like after skiing up a road for 3km after 9hours and 2000m vert It was a sweet trip! Full write and details powdergangster.ca Part 1 of the Powder Highway tour Part 1 Part 2 of the Powder Highway tour Part 2 Photo's of the full tour Flickr Gallery

Trip: Kootenay Powder Tour - Date: 1/17/2013 Trip Report: The final leg of last weeks Canadian powder highway tour landed in Rossland. This area seems to be off the radar and shadowed in the peaks of Rogers and Kootenay pass. We took some great local beta and made are way to Mt. Plewman. This area is famous for the 7 Summits Bike trail in the summer which is classed as one of the classic epic mountain bike riders. This trip confirmed that I need to do that ride! As we crested the treeline our plans changed from skiing to knocking off a good portion of this classic alpine traverse. The half day turned into a long alpine traverse and as the light faded we grabbed some amazing north facing turns in the glow of sunset. Now sitting at home my thoughts have returned to completing the whole 7 summits traverse in the spring. Skiing in BC has been outstanding this year and I am packing as we speak for another week for sun and powder! Full Report here powderganster.ca Stay tuned for some more reports next week!

Trip: Kootenay Pass - Coastal Invasion Part #2 - Date: 1/15/2013 Trip Report: The second stop on my Powder Highway tour was to beautiful Kootenay Pass. This high elevation highway connects the eastern interior from the Kootenays. With slide paths all around it is an intimidating drive knowing that they routinely cover the road with avalanche debris. Today was one of those days that they were using helicopters to blast away at the pass. Thankfully the ski touring is removed from these areas and we were able to piece together a fine tour. The sun was out in all its glory masking the frigid -15c day. Warming our sun starved coastal souls lapped runs till the sun set. More Photo's and full write up here powdergangster.ca

Trip: Coastal Invasion - Roger Pass - McGill Shoulder - Date: 1/14/2013 Trip Report: I know lots of people plan on hitting the interior of BC at some point during the year. The Roger Pass snow pack is considerable smaller than last year with things below 1100m being pretty sporty. Did a full Interior tour and I will try and get the rest up this week for those interested. But coles notes is the Kootenays are where to be until Rogers Pass gets more snow! A couple buddies and I packed up the road trip mobile and headed out for a week in the BC interior. We left Vancouver in a raging storm driving as fast as we could to get ahead and over the Coquihalla before things really went south. The storm thankfully stalled and it gave us one day before things would change and the avi danger would go sky high. We had limited options on permit area choice and It was grizzly shoulder with 20 other groups of 6 groups into McGill. I had some great turns last year in McGill and was comfortable managing the terrain. Turns like this from last year made the decision easier. As we ascended the steep uptrack the visibility changed and we got a peak of Sir Donald. The skyline left line is the classic alpine climb that begs to be climbed one of these years. 3 hours of climbing and 1100m later we reached the skiing. This picture is in the almost identical spot as last year and you can see the snow is lower. This was just the first part of the trip. The next part continues to the southern Kootenays. Where it got even better. Check back for more reports soon! Full Write up and Pics at powdergangster.ca

Sweet thanks! We didn't see it but there was a gully our left.

Trip: Bombtram Mountain - Coquihalla Highway - Date: 12/29/2012 Trip Report: Last weeks post got a lot of people involved in some discussion whether or not skiing should be on the forum. I think the verdict was yes! People want to see skiing. Ski touring and ski mountaineering forget lift skiing that is best left unpublished. I don't need to see another POV movie of someone crusing a groomer. With the conditions this year there is going to be a lot of skiing posts! Headed out to the Coquihalla Highway again (Part of the Cascades? You can see Baker from the highway sometimes so I guess that counts) Bombtram Mountain was the desitination. The splitboard hoard was heading across the road to Needle Peak while we skied alone on the opposite side. We hit this steep chute that gave faceshots almost every turn. [img:center]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8f2_eaFgcjo/UN_KSDIRiWI/AAAAAAAAAXA/y-C-wXDCMSE/s400/hellocouloir.jpg[/img] To satisfy the requirement of some climbing skill. We had to exit some gully with full on kickstepping/ice climbing. A little gear abuse here and wishing for a rope..... Would have made the exit a little less spicy. [img:center]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oFqDTspPxs4/UN_KKgmdKUI/AAAAAAAAAWw/0jbR3BULVu0/s400/gearabuse.jpg[/img] 1100m of sweet silky powder turns we had only one thing to say about the day. [img:center]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ll_QlMJaKIQ/UN_KZCRyLZI/AAAAAAAAAXI/7uHFsxvVAXA/s400/groupthatwasawesome2.jpg[/img] That ruled....... Full write up here powdergangster.ca

Might actually hit 14 days in a row if everything lines up. Pretty relaxed work schedule for the next month or so. More snow in the Vancouver hills again today. Must have been 30 people up the local spot this morning.

Yep no powder in BC. Stay home coquihalla is nothing but transports and ice.

justcallmegary, That sucks! I have been there just make sure you do your physio like you are training to be a pro athlete and it will be good as new. Blowing out my knee was one of the best thing to ever happen switched me full on to cycling which is now my career.

Thought it was a good place to give ski info. I use this site for climbing and mountaineering info all the time. This is my way of giving back. I will get some good pics of me billygoating crap in ski boots lots of that goes on in my ski trips anyway.

Trip: Week of the Snowpocolypse - Date: 12/24/2012 Trip Report: The Powder maker was in full effect in Coastal BC this week. I even found myself riding lifts on the Northshore. 30cms of blower at Cypress was awesome felt like Cat skiing. The snow pack is growing pretty large with almost 250cms in most spots even the local early morning spots are good to go! Mid week I hit the Duffey Pat. The snow was hammering all the way from Vancouver to Pemberton. 20cms was forecasted but we got more like 40cms. The bigger than expected storm produced these atypical conditions Stability was good on low angle slopes but we heard some big avi's running on some big terrain in the drainage. Sunday was a quick trip to the Coquihalla to scout a new area. The sun came out and I was able to find a fun little chute. Running now 7 days straight of making turns and the streak looks to be intact for the next few days! More pics and writeup here powdergangster.ca

G3 does a skin that is 140mm wide which should be more than enough skin for that setup. With that much plush on the deck it won't matter if you are a little narrow on the tip or tail. You will be able to set a skin track straight up the slope with those.

Trip: Coquihalla Highway Dec 16 2012 - Date: 12/16/2012 Trip Report: Made my first trek to the Coquihalla this weekend. Snow hadn't stacked up quite as early as it has in previous years. The last few storms have quickly built a 200cm base. Lots of people out and about. Stability was good but southern facing slopes were sporting a pretty good sun crust. I had looked at skiing the North Bowl between Yak and Thar a few times last year but never quite got around to it. [img:center]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vf1Zxxj4iYw/UM1ilotuV2I/AAAAAAAAATA/7mvRvebuq48/s320/snowboarder.jpg[/img] I love the adventure and route finding of new ski routes especially when they are holding some great snow! This line is awesome though not one you would want to ski if you are even questioning stablity. Lots of narrow chokes and chutes. [img:center]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PcN5M__GTdM/UM1iOBznaEI/AAAAAAAAASY/CRTcA4qwA3k/s400/kurt.jpg[/img] Pics were hard to come by with the really flat light but it was worth the 3.5 km slog out. Full write up and more pics here powdergangster.ca

Good eye... Not sure what the deal is as it was my buddy riding the board. I am sure we will have info in time for the January industry shows.

Thursday's mission didn't quite satisfy my powder craving. Friday was full of planning, meetings and paying my dues so I could go out and play again this weekend. The light density snow, light winds and forecasted sun was enough to drag me back to the Duffey Lake Road. [img:center]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ABgxq4Gxo78/UMVd6ye9hKI/AAAAAAAAARA/2gfZIW09Ttc/s400/wilsonskin.jpg[/img] 30cms of light density snow and great avi conditions meant we were headed to the alpine. We had orginally set our sights on Million Dollar Couloir but the remains of a massive slide on the headwall of Cayoosh left us to pound powder laps till the sun set. [img:center]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B0Y-ZUihcQE/UMVsuV_GcLI/AAAAAAAAARs/lPQ_fBH1sno/s400/IMG_0016.JPG[/img] Great day to be in the mountains. Full write up and pictures here. powdergangster.ca

Trip: Pemberton Backcountry - Switzerland zone - Date: 12/6/2012 Trip Report: What a difference a couple weeks make. The storm systems that have been hammering the BC coast have dropped an enormous amount of snow in the mountains with about 200cms at 1500m. A buddy was looking to test out his new sled so I took the day off to help him break it in. Rough job I must say. [img:center]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dT7EQUZn1uI/UMGGwv-6dHI/AAAAAAAAAQc/tqW5AS-AW_Y/s640/patskin.jpg[/img] Trailbreaking was henious with 70cms of unconsolidated fluff. The turns were outstanding but the short days limited us to one lap. [img:center]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E5j5lMQKht8/UMGGzVkxa5I/AAAAAAAAAQk/DdwWTqPxGsk/s640/patwheelie.jpg[/img] Stablity was great and we didn't see any indication of the noted surface hoar layers even at creek crossings. This weekend is going to be good! Get out there and get after it! More info and pictures here powdergangster.ca

Yep..... so true another 50 or 60cms and the base will be solid then bring on the big PNW weather systems!

Trip: Baker Sidecountry Table Mountain - Date: 11/25/2012 Trip Report: Quick rip out into to Baker side country. I has hoping to hit the Coquihalla Highway today but after some recon yesterday on my way home that wasn't going to happen. Not much snow up there yet only 50cms at the pass. The last storm was wet and has put a nice thick crust down all over the Baker backcountry and left a little dusting on top just to tease. Lots of natural activity with the storm as well. I didn't want to give up the chance to get out in the sun and it was a great day to take pictures. [img:center]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_PHjCzglwrY/ULK5z3YqTuI/AAAAAAAAANU/xaKyrjZ8lko/s640/northcascadeview.jpg[/img] Full write up here powdergangster.ca

Trip: Sea to sky POW!! - Date: 11/22/2012 Trip Report: After the month long drought the snow has finally returned to the sea to sky region! 125cms of snow at 1400m. Was up chance creek FSR to hit a local gem. Hazards were mostly covered. Well the hazards were on the FSR in the form of big ass logging trucks. Road up chance creek is freshly graded and easily passable with a 4x4. Snow was good... Write up here powdergangster.ca [img:center]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sVLhFn0xABQ/UK7IHCpUTLI/AAAAAAAAAMk/jhBDGLwBZf4/s320/wilsonskiimoney.jpg[/img]