yak
New member
I’ve been procrastinating all spring and summer on uploading all my pictures and getting this post together. Now that I managed to crack a couple ribs at the Kingdom Trails, I suddenly have time for other things.
Me and five college buddies set out on the Great Canadian Dirtbag Tour on March 1st. Well, at least we all tried to. Ziggy and Bill were flying in from Vail, I from Boston, arriving Calgary in the early afternoon. Chris, Pat and Vic were flying in from NYC. When we originally found out that they were arriving at 11 pm, we all gave them a collective WTF! So they decided to try and fly standby so they could arrive earlier and get to Banff the same night like the rest of us were planning.
I met Ziggy and Bill in Calgary, and we drove to Banff and checked into our one-night stand (which would become the norm for a while). After dinner I got a message from Chris that while they were able to fly standby on their first leg, they were not able to get out of Minneapolis early on the second flight, so they had 9 hours to kill in the Twin Cities, most of which was spent at one or more bars. When the time came to board the plane, the gate agent told Pat that his passport was expired and he couldn’t board the plane. The three of them (further referred hereto to as the “domestic team”, decided to stick together and spent the night there.
The domestic team eventually re-routed to Vail, where they don need no steenkin passports. Vic’s dad has a place at the Beav, and they had nice day or two skiing before they all got the flu. Ziggy had decided that the International team would maintain radio silence with the Domestic team, so I occasionally send a “wish you were here” text message or a picture, but that was all.
First up on our loose itinerary - Lake Louise on a Saturday.
They had received about 4 inches of fresh the day before (and this would become thee theme of our trip – a day late, but not necessarily a dollar short). At Louise most of the snow seemed to have blow into the back chutes, where it was 6 inches or more deep. All the Louise pictures are from my iPhone, so they kind suck even after tweeking them with iPhoto.
Zig and Bill in one of the back chutes
Zig entering another
A flew slides on the lower flanks
Zig in the slop
Me with the chutes in the background
After the prerequisite happy hour at the base lodge, we set out for our next stop.
Kicking Horse
We had a luxurious triple suite
The Horse had the same deal, freshies the day before, but we made the best of it and found some untracked here and there.
Zig on the frontside
Me on the ridge under the gondi
Checking our the tote board
Ziggy somewhere under the White Wall
The wall over my shoulder
Not a bad day, and a great happy hour, too. Then it was time to hit the road.
Next stop, the Stoke
We awoke to about 6 inches of fresh in the valley – woo hoo.
The access road shows a little gnar here and there
There were cranes building a village way down below. The base lodge at the gondi was small but adequate
They even have a fatty wagon carpet ride so you don‘t have to slog up the hill. (We rode it, of course).
The old chairlift was still in place.
I didn’t get any action shots that day, because one, it was a powder day and we were busy getting down on it, and two, it was a foggy powder day so you could barely see where you were going. Zig and I left our avy gear in the car, so we only ventured a little bit behind the ropes into North Bowl for a run or two, even then I wasn’t all that comfy because you couldn’t see above, but the locals were all shredding it so we decided to do it.
The Stoke looks like it will be a bitching place when they build our the rest of the lift system. The lower gondi has some sick faces under it too. It makes a nice last run of the day (all 3000 vertical feet).
Apres at the Stoke was in the parking lot
We stayed another night in Revelstoke, and in the morning decided it was time to hit the road again.
The road looked promising
We were heading way south to Red, which means we had to take a ferry across a lake.
The truckers told us that there’s a cougar that lives on the peninsula next to the ferry ramp. In the quiet hours, deer come out on the road to lick the salt that falls off the waiting trucks, and they watched it take one. We thought they were telling us stories until we saw this in the snow:
More shots while waiting for the ferry
Finally reached the other side, and had to drive through a few avy zones.
Red was more of the same, seeking out powder and chutes
Red had a very cheap happy hour in the base lodge, then we drove to Cranbrook and holed up in yet another cheap motel for the night. Morning came and it was on to Fernie.
Some inbounds avy evidence
Bill ready to go fishing
The picture says it all
There’s a couple ladders hidden in there
Looking to poach some fresh (or the next best thing)
Early hazards still existed
Zig in FishBowl
Fishbowl
Hiking out
An unorthodox way of keeping snow on the chutes. You had to sideslip or step down over it.
mo chutes
Jack getting a little pow
A gnarly salt n pepper entrance
Zig in the pepper
Fresh slides appeared across this inbounds traverse
Finally, us high plains drifters headed for the barn
The barn
Not a super snowy week, but we made the best of it and have some great stories to tell the domestic team!
Me and five college buddies set out on the Great Canadian Dirtbag Tour on March 1st. Well, at least we all tried to. Ziggy and Bill were flying in from Vail, I from Boston, arriving Calgary in the early afternoon. Chris, Pat and Vic were flying in from NYC. When we originally found out that they were arriving at 11 pm, we all gave them a collective WTF! So they decided to try and fly standby so they could arrive earlier and get to Banff the same night like the rest of us were planning.
I met Ziggy and Bill in Calgary, and we drove to Banff and checked into our one-night stand (which would become the norm for a while). After dinner I got a message from Chris that while they were able to fly standby on their first leg, they were not able to get out of Minneapolis early on the second flight, so they had 9 hours to kill in the Twin Cities, most of which was spent at one or more bars. When the time came to board the plane, the gate agent told Pat that his passport was expired and he couldn’t board the plane. The three of them (further referred hereto to as the “domestic team”, decided to stick together and spent the night there.
The domestic team eventually re-routed to Vail, where they don need no steenkin passports. Vic’s dad has a place at the Beav, and they had nice day or two skiing before they all got the flu. Ziggy had decided that the International team would maintain radio silence with the Domestic team, so I occasionally send a “wish you were here” text message or a picture, but that was all.
First up on our loose itinerary - Lake Louise on a Saturday.
They had received about 4 inches of fresh the day before (and this would become thee theme of our trip – a day late, but not necessarily a dollar short). At Louise most of the snow seemed to have blow into the back chutes, where it was 6 inches or more deep. All the Louise pictures are from my iPhone, so they kind suck even after tweeking them with iPhoto.
Zig and Bill in one of the back chutes
Zig entering another
A flew slides on the lower flanks
Zig in the slop
Me with the chutes in the background
After the prerequisite happy hour at the base lodge, we set out for our next stop.
Kicking Horse
We had a luxurious triple suite
The Horse had the same deal, freshies the day before, but we made the best of it and found some untracked here and there.
Zig on the frontside
Me on the ridge under the gondi
Checking our the tote board
Ziggy somewhere under the White Wall
The wall over my shoulder
Not a bad day, and a great happy hour, too. Then it was time to hit the road.
Next stop, the Stoke
We awoke to about 6 inches of fresh in the valley – woo hoo.
The access road shows a little gnar here and there
There were cranes building a village way down below. The base lodge at the gondi was small but adequate
They even have a fatty wagon carpet ride so you don‘t have to slog up the hill. (We rode it, of course).
The old chairlift was still in place.
I didn’t get any action shots that day, because one, it was a powder day and we were busy getting down on it, and two, it was a foggy powder day so you could barely see where you were going. Zig and I left our avy gear in the car, so we only ventured a little bit behind the ropes into North Bowl for a run or two, even then I wasn’t all that comfy because you couldn’t see above, but the locals were all shredding it so we decided to do it.
The Stoke looks like it will be a bitching place when they build our the rest of the lift system. The lower gondi has some sick faces under it too. It makes a nice last run of the day (all 3000 vertical feet).
Apres at the Stoke was in the parking lot
We stayed another night in Revelstoke, and in the morning decided it was time to hit the road again.
The road looked promising
We were heading way south to Red, which means we had to take a ferry across a lake.
The truckers told us that there’s a cougar that lives on the peninsula next to the ferry ramp. In the quiet hours, deer come out on the road to lick the salt that falls off the waiting trucks, and they watched it take one. We thought they were telling us stories until we saw this in the snow:
More shots while waiting for the ferry
Finally reached the other side, and had to drive through a few avy zones.
Red was more of the same, seeking out powder and chutes
Red had a very cheap happy hour in the base lodge, then we drove to Cranbrook and holed up in yet another cheap motel for the night. Morning came and it was on to Fernie.
Some inbounds avy evidence
Bill ready to go fishing
The picture says it all
There’s a couple ladders hidden in there
Looking to poach some fresh (or the next best thing)
Early hazards still existed
Zig in FishBowl
Fishbowl
Hiking out
An unorthodox way of keeping snow on the chutes. You had to sideslip or step down over it.
mo chutes
Jack getting a little pow
A gnarly salt n pepper entrance
Zig in the pepper
Fresh slides appeared across this inbounds traverse
Finally, us high plains drifters headed for the barn
The barn
Not a super snowy week, but we made the best of it and have some great stories to tell the domestic team!
