I headed up to Canada again last weekend, and the weather forecast wasn’t super good, but we still managed to get in some amazing backcountry skiing. First day we did some powder laps off Mt. Chief Pascal. Sunday we left the parking lot at 4:00 and skied the Australian Couloir on Mt. Joffre. Our plan was to ski Joffre, Matier, and Slalok, but the weather didn’t think that was a good idea. The day began with a cloudless sky, but a storm moved in early. Within half an hour the views went from spectacular to snowglobe. Click images to enlarge.
Our view up the Australian Coulior before the weather moved in. We were the first people up it, but by the time we skied down quite a crowd was following our bootpack and dodging our sluff.
The sun coming up as we near the Anniversary Glacier.
Skinning in the sun on the Anniversary Glacier.
Climbing up the Aussie Couloir. If you look closely you can see our skin track in the upper left.
Just before the clouds engulfed us I got this pic of some skiers climbing Matier.
Dropping into the Aussie Coulior. We skied from 30 feet below the top to avoid a tender wind slab.
The powder skiing down the Anniversary Glacier seemed endless, possibly because we couldn't see anything.
It was great to ski the Aussie Coulior, a line I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Fun to explore a new area as well. I’ll definitively be back.
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.
