Kootenay Powder

Time to really get down to the business of deep powder. Enough of this pansy bluebird stuff. The weather was starting to turn as we drove south. Still sunny and cold, but that high pattern cloud was starting to develop, and the bigger peaks were wearing thier lenticular caps as the moist air began to make its way inland.

We drove over the hidden highway, Hwy 6, through the heart of the Kootenays. Barb’s dad lives in the village of Burton, just across the ferry on Arrow Lakes. Very remote. We had a nice little visit. If an old European starts offering you his homemade hooch, you better be careful.

As we left Burton, it started to snow. It was pretty heavy in Nakusp, but it was very localized. When we got to Nelson it seemed we had gotten in front of it.

Sure enough, the next day was still clear and cold, but again, the signs of snow were all around. We decided to do some more visiting and then hit the backcountry the next day.

We got out with my buddy Joe, who I’ve gotten into lots of trouble with in the past. Joe has a new girlfriend, who was coming skiing with us. I guess she skiis alright, so I would think she is sticking around for awhile.

We toured up Evening Ridge, near the legendary ski hill of Whitewater

for a short day. Last time we were here, we skiied 120 cm of fresh on this run. A little less this time, but still good. -16C again, with about 20-30 cm of ski pen in the softer spots. A few old sun crusts made some sections of the run a bit spooky, but stil nice skiing.

Hey Barb, look behind you! It’s like a penis, only smaller. Hopefully Joe’s new girlfriend isn’t too worldly and won’t notice….

Barb drops in. That’s the road to Whitewater below there.

That was all for this day. It was only OK skiing, but as you can see, the weather had definitely turned. The big snow was coming…..

And just in time too. We had driven all this way so that we could go cat skiing with Valhalla Powder Cats. It seems that we were in for a good one. There was hardly any snow in Nelson, and lots of wind. However, by the time we got to the pick up spot for the cat, there was alomost 20 cm of the lightest, driest snow the Koots could drop on us. We were meeting my dad for this one, and that crafty bugger managed to pay for the day. Thanx dad.

A half hour van ride, and then a half hour of cat road later and we did all our safety checks and transceiver training. Ah ha! The top at last. -12C, and 37cm of fresh fluff on a bottomless base! Days like this only come along every couple of years. Good score for us. Maybe my powder luck is returning…

Here’s the top of the cat road in the blizzard.

Barb, in deep.

Me, hamming it up for the camera.

Dad, returning to his childhood in Rossland.

Joe, having a rare day off.

Barb again, getting in deeper.

Droopy, our tailgunner. Lousy pic, but he’s a great skier and good guy to have around.

These smaller shots are stills taken from some videos. Barb, still getting deeper. It snowed hard all day so the later runs were crazy. It was getting hard to see at this point.

Me, absolutely choking on it.

Dad, finding his rhythm.

Poor pops, he had to skip the last run. It’s tiring work in that stuff, and the adrenalin rush is overwhelming at times. They let him ride up front in the cat though, which is pretty cool in itself.