Flying XC in BC - June 20-26

 

This year we had not many options for places to fly with all the fires, the smoke and the wind. The more adventurous did a sporty down-wind flight from Pemberton to Gold Bridge and yes, as we knew already, Carpenter Lake gets a bit exciting when its windy (see Nick Neymen’s blog on this https://sharemyjoys.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/vol-biv-hitch-in-canada). The smoke beat us to Clearwater. Much better flying near Williams Lake (no smoke here) lead to a plan to come back when the weather would be less prone to over development. Looks like a great area for flatland thermals! We spent the last two days close to home (for us) and flew Benny and Bridal.

Trophy Cabin, Feb 5-11

Although we come to Clearwater and Wells Grey Park every summer to paddle the river, we have never been here in winter. Time for a visit, so we signed up for a week of back country skiing at Trophy cabin. This is also the first week-long trip where we actually skied in (after an hour long ride in Ian’s heritage snowcat). The group we joined had fortunately also arranged for a heli-flight for food and bevies, so we were sufficiently covered in this department. We had bluebird days for the first half of the week, but no new snow, and the warmer than usual winter sun had done a number on the south facing slopes. But the area has plenty of north exposure, and avalanche conditions were at an all time low, so we explored steep chutes in area aptly named ‘Playground’ and treed glades of ‘Below Lookout Lake’ and 'Cleopatra'. Probably the steepest shots I have skied in the backcountry! The more ambitious skiers in the group set out to bag Trophy summit (in high winds and challenging alpine conditions) while Pete and I decided to play some more in fluffy tree-line powder. Other than skipping the alpine touring day, we ‘old folks’ did pretty well for elevation gains and powder runs (1300-1500 meter/day). Despite the exceptional stable snow conditions, several small and one larger slide were observed, presumably caused by cornice falls. The large one went all the way down to the valley floor and across where the summit team had skied the day before. Even in stable conditions there is always a 'Restrisiko'.

Alpine explorations

Trophy Cabin in the trees

Moonrise over the Monashees















The last couple of days clouds came in. Cloudbase was low so we were occasionally in the fog. We made the trek across the valley to Midmountain. The north-facing steep chutes looked great from our cabin window, but unfortunately the area is sled-accessible and the runs had already tracks in them. On the last day we stayed closer to the cabin and Pete and I did a sweet pillowy run down the east spine of Playground ridge. Not quite over-the-head blower powder, but we got on some cool steep runs with nice snow, had stable avy conditions and most importantly met a new crew of great powder-aficionados.

August Long Weekend

It seems as if summer has finally arrived! What a sweet long weekend!

With the late snow melt and high water levels this year, the Clearwater trip was a last minute decision. Finally the river came down to manageable 450 cms (= 3.5). Plan B was the Wenatchee, still above 5000 cfs (the average for this time of the year is well below 2000 cfs). But in the end we decided to avoid possible border line-ups and the usual Hwy 2 traffic jams and headed north.

We haven’t paddled the Clearwater at this level for quite a while. Huge fun wave trains on the run above the Kettle, but most of the play spots on the lower run were washed out. Lots of VKC paddlers showed up despite the late call, and everybody had a good time (except those suffering from the mosquito attacks).

A nice addition to this year's Clearwater trip was meeting former neighbors from Germany. They moved to Canada several years ago and are now owners of a bakery/cafe (Flour Meadows Bakery). Back in Germany they lived one road over from my parents place and went to the same school as I. We even have common friends. A small world!





Sunday night we headed back towards Lillooett and camped in Edge Hills Provincial Park. It’s a recently established park off the map and undeveloped except for the rustic campsite which we had all to ourselves. The park is perched on the east rim of the Fraser Canyon. Looking down in the canyon revived fond memories of our explorations around Big Bar, Watson Bar, Jesmond and of the Chilko-Fraser river trip 4 years ago – hard to believe so few people visit this stunning area.

Our plan worked out with excellent flying weather in Pemberton on Monday. I flew twice as far as I had here before (+40km), made the crossing from Owl Peak to the next ridge and on to Copper Mound - almost to Hurley Pass Road! Pretty cool to thermal up next to the snowy slopes of the ridge, peek over to Tenquille Lake, and look down onto the top of Copper Mound where we stood a year ago after hiking up from the lake.

BC Day in and on the Clearwater (August 1-3)

Being on the water is the only way for me to doing something active in this heat. And being on the Clearwater with its nice big water drops and endless surf waves is a lot of fun too. Added bonus – the alpine flower tour at Trophy Meadows. It was a pleasant surprise that the bloom was at its peak – even after the recent heat wave.