With rain forecasted for the mountains around Bellingham, I felt the need to go somewhere else my first weekend back from Christmas break. I have always heard amazing things about Revelstoke and Rogers Pass, British Columbia. They were supposed to get some snow, and the avy danger there wasn’t too bad, so my mind was made up. Fred, Henry, Skyler and I left Bellingham at 3:00, passports and radar detector in hand. We met Kevin and Jake, a few CO guys who were competing in the Freeskiing Championships. We all squeezed into a single person hotel room (15 bucks a person, sweet!), and finally went to sleep, ready for some powder the next day.
The day yielded a bit of new snow and bad visibility. We headed up to Revelstoke Mountain Resort, got to the top, and skied two couloirs out of bounds near the north bowl area of the resort. We finished the day with a run down the cat skiing terrain to the side of the ski area. Unfortunately I forgot my memory card in the USA, so I don’t have many pictures, but here are a few.
Kevin and Jake wallowing up into the clouds
Grrr, my legs are tired! At the top of Brown Shorts Couloir, behind Revelstoke ski area.
The next day looked like it would have better visibility, so we decided to head up to Rogers Pass. I have always wanted to ski on Rogers Pass, and wasn’t going to let a trip to Revelstoke go by without hitting it. We drove up the pass the next morning, and stopped by the visitors center. I was amazed how much info for backcountry skiing they had at the visitors center. We spent a while talking to them about routes, avalanche danger, and which areas were skied out. They had all sorts of maps, pictures, avalanche forecasts and snow profiles for you to look at. I have never seen anything like it in the U.S.
We skied right out of the parking lot, headed towards Grizzly Shoulder, with the ultimate goal of reaching one of the peaks above. The clouds came in and out throughout the day, affording some amazing views, and also some socked-in periods. We turned around above Grizzly Shoulder, and had some wonderful powder turns and fun pillow lines all the way back to the Trans Canada Highway.
Starting out towards the promised land of Rogers Pass
We were granted a few great views, next time that mountain is on the agenda.
Some of the fun stuff we got to ski.
We got back to Bellingham at 3:00 in the morning after a long (and sometimes terrifying) drive back. We only spent about 45 bucks a person and got some amazing skiing in. Rogers Pass surpassed everything I have heard about it, definitely going back soon.
Louie Dawson earned his Bachelor Degree in Industrial Design from Western Washington University in 2014. When he’s not skiing Mount Baker or somewhere equally as snowy, he’s thinking about new products to make ski mountaineering more fun and safe.