Red Heather – 24th Nov, 2012

On Saturday the 24^th of November, 35 VOCers (wow that’s a lot) went up to red heather for some skiing. About half were overnight and half were doing a day trip. After an impressive faff at Tim Hortons in Squamish we convoyed up towards the start of the trail. We made our way up a dirt road that snaked through a dark forest, there was a layer of mist through the trees either side of us and the sky was overcast. Like something out of a horror movie it was ominous but somewhat picturesque.

We parked at the chain up spot and hiked the rest of the way to the start of the trail. From there it was time to put the skiis on and start skinning up to the hut. My phone tells me it took 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach the hut, but this is taken from where we started at the chain up spot and includes putting skins on and getting organized at the trailhead (again, a very impressive faff session). We arrived, set up our tents, had a bit of food, and went out for some skiing!

Skiing was amazing. The hill side was pristine and the pros among us began shredding the fresh powder without further ado. The beginners (myself included) were a little shakier and fell over a lot. Having said that, I think I personally had improved since the Taylor meadows trip two weeks ago where I fell over almost constantly. We kept an eye on the time, and were back in the hut before it got dark. By that point the day trippers had already left.

We started cooking pretty soon after getting out of our ski stuff, and I was pretty proud I managed to light my stove without burning down the hut – as I had almost done twice on the Taylor meadows trip. That night was full of the usual VOC hits. Booze was passed around freely and we covered all bases with a couple of different whiskeys, wine, beer and spiced rum. Desserts and meals were also shared and one of my favourites has to be the chocolate covered coffee beans brought by Ross Campbell. Double hit of caffeine!

At one point I turned around to see about a huge group of entirely new people coming through the door. It was late at night by camping standards and they had come up from Squamish to get drunk at the hut then head back down. Now that is dedication. It was soon after this that a lot of us decided to go to bed.

I was worried I would be cold but I slept like a baby. For the first couple of hours. Then I was wide awake and pretty cold. My best theory at the moment for this is that I simply sobered up. As dangerous as using fireball to substitute for actual warmth is, it is very enjoyable and tempting.

After a very cold nights sleep we awoke to find that the sun had come out. I was still pretty cold so it took an hour or so of warming myself in the hut before I was ready to ski. We planned to leave at 1, which left us plenty of time to get a few runs in. We were fortunate enough to have blue skies all day and we got to have a full view of our surroundings which had been hidden the previous day. It was a beautiful view from the top of the hill and I couldn’t think of a better place to be. Most of the mountain had been sliced up by that point but we were still able to find a few spots were we could get a mostly untouched run.

View from the outhouse

Impressively enough we all managed to be packed and out the door by 1. Skiing down with our big packs was a new experience for some of us, and I was pretty nervous about falling over. I, like many of us, snowploughed the entire way down, and I had to keep taking breaks because my back was getting sore. We estimate it took about an hour to get to the start of the trail, and not too much in addition to that to get to the cars. I think it was the earliest I had been coming home from a VOC trip.

I got home and caught up with the housemates and showed them some of the photos, had a shower, some food and went to sleep in a warm bed. Definitely a great, relaxed trip with plenty of skiing. A pretty short skin up and a hill that was perfect for beginners. Great food, drink and company rounded it out. Thanks so much to Steph for organizing it, see you all on the next trip!