Greg Hill
(Editor’s note: It sounds like this book will be an incredible addition to the North American canon of backcountry skiing guides. Get on over to Kickstarter and give it a push, that way you’ll be among the first to get a copy!)
Guidebook author Doug Sproul on Rogers Pass
I can’t specifically remember the first time I met Doug Sproul. I do remember the first hut trip we went on though. In 2001 we went to Sorcerer Lodge and spent a week of ski touring over New Years. We really did ski every big line there and I have never felt the need to return since we essentially “skied everything.”
What I remember most about that meeting with Doug was his endless enthusiasm, as well as his nightly map work. I have always loved maps but Doug took maps to the next level. He would be up late into the night developing the plan for the next day as well as drawing in the adventure from that day. It was due to his studious map work that we wasted no energies in the approaches or climbs; everything was efficient. Since then Doug and I have shared lots of adventures and I have always enjoyed our time together in the mountains.
During my first years skiing around Revelstoke and in Roger’s Pass I encountered a lack of guide books or information on potential ski tours. Every trip we went on was exploratory and many ended up being more exploration than powder filled adventures.
Noticing the lack of a guide book I began taking photos of all the mountains and lines around, with the thought that one day I would make a guidebook for the area. I hired a plane and flew around taking pictures and had hundreds of photos ready to turn into a guide book. Then reality struck, I realized that making a good quality guidebook would be one of the hardest challenges of my life, way harder than 2 million feet. So I balked and just kept the photos for my own personal ski tours. When Doug told me he wanted to make a guide book I wanted to support him as much as I could and gave him all my photos.
Since then Doug has sacrificed his adventurous life to create Roger’s Pass first incredible guide book. For three years he laboured on this creation and the effort was not wasted. I held his creation in my hands the other day and realized how great it is — how helpful it will be for anyone wishing to come to Roger’s Pass and ski tour.
Done in the style of European guide books this book is filled with photos, route descriptions and any pertinent information. Just having this book around to look at the mountain photos in it will inspire people to get out and play.
To make money for this guide book Doug put it up on Kickstarter a few weeks ago.
All I can say is that if you ever intend on getting up to Roger’s Pass this guide book will help inspire you to get up here and make your trip that much more enjoyable and successful once you are here — get on Kickstarter and throw some support!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geobackcountry/geobackcountry-rogers-pass-backcountry-skiing-guid/posts
Beyond our regular guest bloggers who have their own profiles, some of our one-timers end up being categorized under this generic profile. Once they do a few posts, we build a category. In any case, we sure appreciate ALL the WildSnow guest bloggers!