Fu Manchu Goes Skiing

After the worst ski weekend ever in Kamloops/Revelstoke, the last 9 days have been ski heaven. A small but happy group travelled to northern BC to Wells Gray Provincial Park for a week of ski touring. Planning trips like this are hard because people have to cancel, get injured, or the weather turns awful (predicted forecast 17 C = bad skiing!). I almost bailed when I heard that forecast last week, and was literally planning a last minute trip to Hawaii instead. Thankfully, I came to my senses, and we had a fantastic week!

Poor Aric is stuck at home studying. He drove out to Golden to meet me at the end of the week, and we skied excellent conditions at Kicking Horse and lazed around at a bed and breakfast. A perfect end to the week.


Ian's 1960 cat to lug us and our skis to the trailhead. He's planning a 50th birthday party for this gem.
The crew ready to roll. Note the Fu Manchu staches sported by the boys.
Snow pits and Rutschblock tests. Stability was actually excellent on most slopes including leeward slopes. Shovel compression was moderate and rutschblock was a 5. Not bad for skiing.



Our first and only sunset with clear skies. The view from Trophy hut.



What you see when you pause in your uptrack (or when you bail into a tree well).



Sastrugi (A russian word, not Japanese as I first thought). Lots and lots and lots of wind.
Karl looking down on Trophy Hut from the top of Sweet Tranny, our favourite home run.
Did I mention it was windy? Touring around in the wind.

Shrapnel, yet another sweet home run.

Kip and his frosted Fu Manchu.
Nick bending the knee in whiteout conditions.
Sweet turns on our only sunny day.

Ah yes, Sweet Tranny herself. Kip's successfully stuck it.

So did Nick.
The whiteout cleared for a few moments of sweet satisfaction as we looked up at part of our run through pristine powder. It's a shame the vis was so poor or you would be able to see the immensity of the terrain lying above these tracks. Then again, you don't really want to think about the giant cornice looming overhead.

Sweet Fanny, not to be confused with Sweet Tranny. This one so named for some not-so-successful air.

We go up...


We come down



Home away from home. Trophy hut.




The huuut. Complete with solar power, a fully stocked kitchen, and a sauna, what more does a person need? The infamous self-saucing pudding. How often do you self-sauce? Before...
After...
Fresh wolf tracks on one of our tour days. We also saw bear tracks on our ski out - everyone is waking up. It must be spring!

How can anyone stand to not live near moutains? I just don't get it. Then again, stay away all of you. I want them to myself. Peace.

Stuck in the Stoke

I'm only posting these clips because I had such an awesome week of skiing last week. Paddy, Jill, Kip, Heather, Aric and I drove a bazillion miles to the Loops for an airway course and some killer skiing, but we didn't even crack the skis off the car! We were delayed on our way out of town by the inevitable spring mudslide in Golden which shut the highway down. No big deal, we'll just ski one day less...

We drove around through Radium, adding an extra hour and a half to our 9 hour drive. The wive's club skinned up Sun Peaks to the amazement of Vancouverites, and skied down shite ice for exactly one run. Then they drank a case of beer waiting for the conference to end.

The trans-canada never did re-open as we found out in Revelstoke. Closed in all directions (!!) due to avalanches and mudslides, we gave up and checked into a hotel for the night. Sounds like heaven, stuck in powderland, but all we got was rain and terrible avy conditions. Nerves ran a little thin as we rescheduled our jobs and lives, but there isn't anyone else I'd rather be stuck with...

Trying to upload video of silliness in Revelstoke...