Back Country in British Columbia

Not this past February, but the one before (2014), myself and a few friends went to British Columbia to go back country skiing. The group had been going for years, it had become some what of a tradition. So, I was pretty stoked when I got asked to join them. I’m without a doubt the weakest skier of the group, but I can hold my own, and I’m fast on the trek up the mountains (skinning up). Our plan was to fly out to Spokane rent a SUV and drive up to Kootenay Pass, where we had reserved a ski hut out on the mountain. The day before we were scheduled to fly out we got 20 inches of snow. Which in Virginia shuts everything down. So we ended up flying out several days later. Which meant we only had two nights left on our hut reservation. Jonathan, Chad, and myself flew out to Spokane where we met up with Mike and Adam. We got the SUV piled all our gear inside and headed north. We got to the top of Kootenay Pass about an hour after the sun had set. There was about three feet of fresh powder on top of another three or four feet of base layer snow. We suited up, slapped skins onto the bottom of our skis, slung on our packs, clipped in and started the trek up the mountain by the light of our headlamps. The air was crisp and it was flurrying lightly as we winded through the spruce trees slowly gaining elevation one step at a time. It was amazing how absolutely quiet it is was out there. After about two and a half hours we mad it to the lone hut on the mountain side. The hut consisted of one main room that contained two benches, a pot belly stove, and a small lot that the four of us could put our sleeping bags down on. We ate a few snacks, had a few cold ones, and called it a night.

#skiing #snow #vacation #canada