February 12 - End of Winter?

Snowdrops, winter aconites (Winterling, Eranthis hyemalis) and spring snowflakes (Märzenbecher, Leucojum vernum) were out in full force and flower when we came back from our ski trip on February 12th. Is the end of winter in sight?

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.

January Powder Time

Finally some snow! It took until mid January this year but now the white stuff is coming down in full force. Last week the snow combined with strong outflow winds caused white-out, road-covering snow drifts and blizzard conditions in the Fraser Valley resulting in a shut-down of traffic for almost a full day. A screen shot from the Eagle Ranch webcam shows the conditions (not the best flying conditions - and no more driving up to Woodside launch until the snow melts!)

Blizzard at the FlyBC Eagle Ranch

We made good use of the snow and got out for the last two weekends on the Coquihalla. A paragliding friend showed us a new spot on Iago. It takes some route finding skills and about twice as long to get there compared to our favorite short-mid-winter day runs on Needle, but so far the longer approach paid off with very pleasant conditions.

New Years Road Trip: Dec 24 – Jan 1

Looks like we are turning into wimps in our old age. Or maybe it was the forecast that looked very much sub-standard for skiing from Whistler to Revelstoke. Anyway, after much procrastination we decided to head south to look for some sun and warm temperatures and go on a last-minute road trip to California. A couple of days of hard driving paid off with a week of sunshine and pleasant temperatures (although during some of the nights I wished I had my warm winter down sleeping bag). After the mad dash to California, we drove the coast from San Fransisco to San Luis Obispo along the famous Big Sur stretch.

Highway 1

Teenager Elephant Seal

Scenic Campsite

Halfdome Sunset

Mono Lake

Crater Lake... must be getting close to home - there is some snow!

On the way we checked out lazy gigantic elephant seals, found a couple of very scenic camp spots, had a look a several paragliding spots (but none worked due to the wind conditions). On the way back we stopped in Yosemite Park and hiked past Yosemite Falls to scenic Yosemite Point which looked like a sweet paragliding launch – but unfortunately, although hanggliding is OK, paragliding is not permitted in the park. When we hiked back down, we were treated to an amazing sunset light show on Half Dome. Since snow levels were super low for this time of the year Tioga Pass was still open and we drove up to the crest of the Sierra Mountains and Tuolumne Meadows. There we walked on frozen Tenaya Lake among many people who were out on skates. A Californian told us how unusual this was and that he had never skated here before (normally the road is closed and the lake is covered with meters of snow). On the east side of the Sierra we checked out Mono Lake’s bizarre tufa formations which were fortunately sheltered from the crazy wind that whipped the lake into a whitewater frenzy and blew up a sand storm on the islands. We spend the evening and last night of 2011 with friends at their place near Lake Tahoe. Hadn’t seen them in over a year, so there was a lot to talk about. Our last stop was a morning visit at Crater Lake on the first day of the New Year. Finally we got back to winter and hiked in snow! At first we were the only ones at this amazing spot, but by the time we returned from our short hike, more keen people had showed up to greet the New Year - a very appropriate place to do it!