Ski Trip

It had been quite a while since I'd been on an overnight backcountry ski trip... 3 years by my recollection. When the topic came up last week I had had a long time to forget about the pain and discomfort involved. The plan was to ski into a cabin near Whistler, climb to the top of Mt Brew, and ski out the next day.

It wasn't until Sat AM that I saw how long this trip would be. 15 KM of distance and a kilometer and a half of elevation gain was what it would take to get to the cabin! Skiing uphill through the trees was hard work, but magical. The incredible amounts of snow that we've been having had covered the trees and given them crazy shapes. Dinosaurs and cartoon animals appeared to be staring at us from all angles.

We climbed and trudged and broke trail through 40cm of new snow until it got dark enough that we were thinking of getting our headlamps out. At that point we decided that instead of pushing on in the dark, it would be much safer to stop and camp where we were. The massive amounts of new snow were making us feel pretty nervous about the avalanche hazard, especially when we couldn't see the slopes that we were about to travel on.


Most people had tents, but I carried only a bivy bag. I dug a little trench to keep me out of any wind that might come up, cooked up some food and climbed into my bivy sack and sleeping bag.

Shortly after turning in the wind came up and the snow started falling. The forecast had been for a trace of new snow, but it soon be evident that the forecast had been wrong. I spent a warm, but somewhat uncomfortable night tossing and turning, trying to keep the falling snow off of my face. When it came time to get up in the morning, the new snow had almost buried me in my little trench. My ski boots were totally buried!

Check out the rime that formed on my climbing skins over night! The snow never did give up on the way out, but DID turn to rain as we got down close to the valley.

All in all it was good to get out and work my body really hard. Its definately character building to get really tired, sore, cold, and wet. Its great for putting those wet rides to work in perspective. I'm thinking that I'm done with overnight, winter ski trips in the backcountry. I still love the spring trips with their solid weather and warm days.

I'm getting back on my mountain bike!