Training Log Archive: revy

Only Russ, Vikki and Stuart today. Courtney decided to stay home and get vaccinated in the afternoon. I signed up for Monday so that I could ski today:) Russ requested Little Sifton as the destination - I wasn't sure that the visibility would allow this but had backtracking to Rogers Run or Puff Daddy as the backup options. Every parking lot at the Pass was full... so why did I end up breaking about 800 vertical meters of trail? Joking - I love breaking trail. When we left the parking lot there was 3-4 other groups climbing up the road which felt very claustrophobic so I decided to put in the alternative start to the Grizzly Shoulder climb. Fixed a few other sections of the climb higher up then had to break trail to the col/summit as the wind had blown in the track from yesterday. We did have some foggy sections but overall the visibility held and managed to make the summit and ski down the other side. Only 4 tracks from yesterday (more in Grizzly West) so lots of good skiing. Snow was decent - not as soft as yesterday (less sheltered) but fun skiing.

C • Is that Puff Daddy on a bike? ;) 5

C • Vaccination! 3

NRC Gully and Vent Shaft ridge with the gang. Broke trail up the right side of the gully - the left side trail was steep and had lots of turns. Checking out the glades on that side for the run down anyway. The goal was Vent Shaft ridge - our traverse line was spot on but the climb above seemed steeper than I remembered (steeper if you wanted to stay in the xmas trees - less steep climbers right but more open) which led to some discussion about comfort levels with the route. I popped a couple small rolls while setting the track (1-2m) but the new surface snow was loose and unconsolidated. A bit of digging didn't show anything that made me super worried so continued up. Once above this section the angle eases back and the slopes are very planar and well supported. Visibility was variable all day but always acceptable on the descents. Got at least a few cm of convective snow through the day. First run we went all the way down the main line (I ski cut a small slab on the cliff rollover which did not run anywhere - going right takes you safely down avoiding the cliff). Set the track back to the previous track and climbed all the way up.. one short upper lap and then skied all the way down. Another party had skied the glades while were were playing higher up but still lots of nice soft snow. Pleasantly surprised by snow conditions actually as closer to town there were reports of rain up to 1900m and significant wind. We had no evidence of either today.

Skate ski with Courtney and Atsuko. Had an interesting crash where my binding came off the NIS plate (due to the crash). Everything seems OK which surprised me.

Solo ski with Milo.

Start of the storm today... the new snow certainly got more reactive over the course of the day. Another group wondered if we'd remote triggered a small slab with our uptrack but that seems unlikely as I was looking for this. More likely a couple small slides they triggered later were the culprit. We climbed towards NW Queest and then traversed along the ridge a few hundred metres. I was interested in checking out a zone I'd never skied (maybe had climbed it many years ago). So much terrain at the Gorge that I'm skiing new stuff still... the line was good. Less committing upper section and then a short flat bit that allowed a very nice 250m section in the open trees. I think if you cut left further the run could be extended another 100m. Climbed back up to the west col on the ridge. Found a bunch of debris from the aforementioned ski cutting on the way up. Only about 10cm of new snow so not super consequential but a good reminder that this side does have some overhead hazard (especially if you put the track up the wrong spot). You can thread the needle but we still had to cross about 15m of debris. Headed back via the S slopes off the middle bump on the ridge and then a short climb to the knob. Getting a lot more cracking so kept to planar slopes and called it a day.

More Gorge exploration with Courtney, Russ, Vikki, Tom and Atsuko. Parked at 13km and explored a bit on the uptrack. Skiing down to 14km would work as there is a decent glade between the roads (though better with deeper snow due to downed trees). The upper talus slope is a tough entrance - can sneak in on the right part way down. Lots of nice mellow open trees along the next section of track. We dropped into the 12k drainage and had a great run down the bowl. The left side had developed a glide crack as it often does but stuck to the trees on the right and didn't feel too exposed. Alder was well covered. Back up the north slopes perfecting the uptrack location on that side... dropped into the chute run directly from the top which works great. The track back to the 13km drainage was good though worthwhile to avoid the cutblock as it is tight. I hadn't skied all the way down 13km in years but remembered the open areas near the creek. Almost no tight trees to deal with and popped out right at the truck. Warm day but snow was holding up.

Nice classic ski with Courtney and Atsuko. Tracks were in nice shape. Stopped a couple times to catch up with friends (distanced of course).