After getting into skiing mode at Mustang we spend 3 days skiing at the Gorge near Sicamous. Last year the road wasn’t plowed and access by car was not possible. This year we could drive all the way up to 1500 meters, so our plan was to make the best of it before it got snowed in. We explored a couple of new areas and skied lots of trees with more or less mellow slopes and a big open bowl further along the road. The snow conditions were nice.
Boot top pow on the north slopes, while the south exposed areas were getting cooked by the sun. Great weather, sweet snow – not much else one could wish for! After 3 days at the Gorge we met up with friends in Revelstoke and skied the NRC gullies. It was snowing pretty hard, and the slopes did not disappoint. The second day in Revy was even better. Our local friends led us to a stash well worth the 1200 meter climb to it.
Best pow ever! Light, 'crotch' deep, with a nice (hero) base. Every turn sent snow flying over our heads, in our mouth and face. It took me a couple of turns to get the timing right: breathe in when rising; breathe out when weighing the skis. Too bad the days are still short and there was only time for two runs.
More snow fell the next day so we chickened out and left the intimidating avalanche slopes of Rogers Pass for the trees at the Gorge. Nice skiing, but the snow was getting a little heavier each day. On the last day shooting cracks all around us in the low clear cuts. A sign that the buried hoar was very active and a warning to stay in low angle treed terrain. A great week (9 days) of skiing, with a total of 19750 meters elevation gain (includes 9450 m cat-skiing, as warm-up to get our skiing muscles in shape ;-)
