THIS IS AN INTERMEDIATE TRIP FOCUSED ON
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT! I'll be giving priority
to people who have some
backcountry experience, but maybe
aren't confident going into terrain as big as
Rogers Pass yet. If you're a super experienced
skier - still sign up - but
understand that we're going to be
taking the time to really discuss safety as we
go (which we should all be doing anyway).
Fitness: You will need to be able to
haul a loaded hut-touring pack up 800m of
elevation gain. You'll have a lot
more fun if you have enough
juice to go for a lap or two on Saturday once
you dump the heavy stuff. Ideally, a 1500m day
(with someone else breaking
trail) should be a realistic
target.
Resumes: If you haven't skied with
me, please email me a brief skiing resume. I
just want to make sure you're
not getting in over your
head. All I need is basic stuff - self assessed
ski ability and how much experience (and where
- coast, rockies, etc.) you
have in the backcountry.
You know what time of year is great?
Winter.
You know what place gets the highest annual
snowfall in Canada? Rogers Pass.
You know what hut is super hard to book all
winter because it's rammed with skiers chasing
the fattest snow?
Asulkan.
You know what hut I booked every single bed
in a year in advance so that a group of ACCers
could go shred the
GNAR? Asulkan.
The plan is to leave Calgary at 5:30 on
Friday. We then drive to the pass where we'll
dump the cars at the
Asulkan parking lot and tour up to the Wheeler
Hut so that we can get the earliest possible
start Saturday. In
the morning, we'll be leaving reasonably early
and touring up to the Asulkan Hut. Depending on
our pace, we'll either have lunch at the hut or
on the way. Anyone who's
keen will then spend every scrap
of remaining daylight getting some turns in.
That night? It's a potluck dinner,
mulled wine, and if you like carrying heavy
packs, cold
beer. Sunday morning, it's breakfast at the hut
before spending the morning skiing the Steps of
Paradise and
other epic lines in perfect weather (trust me)
until we head back to the hut and grab our
stuff - then it's just a ski out and we make it
back to the cars just a teensy
bit after dark and
drive home, exhausted and grinning like idiots.
Seriously though, this is an
intermediate trip. If you've logged some
mileage in the backcountry but have been
intimidated thus far by the really
big, unforgiving terrain of Rogers Pass, this
trip is for you. I want to spend some serious
time talking about hazards and
terrain management.
I would like this trip to operate in a very
collaborative manner - we're confident in our
decision making and experience, but anyone can
miss something, so we like
groups where people speak up and
are active in their own safety rather than
being a passenger. Additionally, despite what I
might think,
I have no actual control over the weather, just
boundless optimism. Same goes for stability -
if stability is no
good, we'll behave accordingly.
|