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Early Season Ski Mountaineering in Rogers Pass - Int/Advanced Friendly! · Fri. Nov. 29th, 2019 - Sun. Dec. 1st, 2019
Warning: This is an old trip - it already happened
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Start: Friday, Nov. 29th, 6:00 pm
End: Sunday, Dec. 1st, 10:00 pm
Pre-trip meeting: Tuesday, Nov. 26th, 4:00 pm
Pre-trip meeting location: VOC Clubroom
Description:
Hey everyone! As the season turns and we start to see nothing but rain in the city, thankfully a joy of living in Vancouver is that all that rain is turning to snow in the mountains (hopefully)! If you're anyone like me, you've already whipped out your skis/splitboards to try to get whatever early-season turns in, likely bashing up your bases in the process. This is one of the joys of early-season ski touring!
Early-season ski touring is joyful and glamourous all the time; however, some destinations are better than others. Generally every year, an area known as Rogers Pass in eastern British Columbia (1 hour east of Revelstoke) receives generous snowfall with cool temps. The great thing about Rogers Pass is that it consistently has some of the best snow in BC, combined with some of the best terrain and access. Last year I spent this same time of year around Rogers Pass ski touring, and here are some of the photos from that trip if you're not convinced:
George Hill skinning below Cheops Mountain, late-November 2018. Photo credit: Zack Wentz
Sunrise over Mt. Sir Donald in Rogers Pass, Jan. 2019. Photo credit: Zack Wentz
A skin track leading to the infamous run, 7 Steps to Paradise, Asulkan Valley, Rogers Pass, Jan. 2019. Photo credit: Zack Wentz.
So, with that all said, I'd like to run an early-season ski mountaineering trip again this year, and open it up to the VOC community. Some transparency here; I will say that I am a guide, however in traditional VOC fashion, this is not a guided trip in the sense that you are responsible for your own safety. With that in mind, I'm hoping to run this trip like it's a guided trip in preparation for my next level of AMGA training in the ski discipline, the Advanced Ski Guide Course/AE. This course requires significant amounts of mock guiding in ski mountaineering terrain, which is my goal for this trip. If you are happy with playing along and helping me achieve my goal, I'm more than happy to share my knowledge on snow/avalanche risk management, terrain choice, rescue skills, applying your AST 1 skills, and so on. Hence, there'll be some give and take there, which will hopefully have us all learn something new and achieve each of our goals!
The caveat here is that there are pre-requisites for this trip and this trip is designated for intermediate-advanced skiers/splitboarders ONLY! Pre-reqs for this trip include:
-confidence skiing/snowboarding off-piste black diamond terrain in a variety of snow conditions
-can skin uphill an average of 1000-1500m each day with a day pack
-at least 1 year of ski touring experience, with AST1 HIGHLY reccomended
I'm not trying to be mean or exclusive by requiring these pre-reqs; based on the terrain in this area and the trip's goals, it would be dangerous if you did not meet and/or exceed the pre-reqs. Also with that in mind, I've set the group size as a max number of 5 people, which again is crucial to not exceed based on the goals of the trip/terrain we hope to access. If you meet the pre-reqs, then feel free to sign up!
General Itinerary:
Friday Nov. 29th evening: Depart Vancouver for Revelstoke. Approximate drive time is 6.5hrs. We'll all stay in Revelstoke that evening by cramming a cheap hotel room.
Saturday Nov. 30th: Wake early for a big day in Rogers Pass. Likely will be covering approx. 1500-2000m of vertical for this day. Return to Revelstoke for the evening for partying and R&R. Will stay in a small hotel room for the evening.
Sunday Dec. 1st: Wake early for a smaller objective in Rogers Pass. Likely will be covering between 1000-1500m of vertical gain. Depart for driving back to Vancouver around 3-4pm. Approximate driving time is 6.5hrs.
Posted: 2019-11-07 12:39:01
Last modified: 2019-11-25 12:51:01