Overlook Bowl Via Vaux Moraine: The Roundabout Way

The Overlook Bowl loop is an elegant, lesser-known circuit underneath the Sir Donald Range. The route is accessed through the Sir Donald Trail and the Vaux Moraine. Climbing under the shadow of Mt Sir Donald and Uto Peak, it provides a neat alpine access into Overlook Bowl and a long, smooth descent under the imposing Eagle Peak south face. While you can exit the bowl into the Practice Slopes to the skier’s right, we opted for the elegant option: a short tour up the Avalanche South Bowl and down Avalanche Crest to the Trans-Canada Highway. This option fortunately eliminates the arduous slog out of the Illecillewaet Valley.

Report from January 3, 2024

We glided along the Asulkan Rail Grade at a gentle warm-up pace and veered onto the Sir Donald Trail blowing past the ever-so-popular Avalanche Crest Trail. Within an hour, we were breaking trail across the base of the Practice Slopes below the Overlook. Interestingly, the “Practice” Slopes are no practice at all, being part of two large avalanche paths extending high into the alpine terrain. The trim lines cut into the surrounding forest are evidence of the past natural avalanche cycles, a stark reminder to stay sharp in light of our exposure to large overhead slopes. Bulldozing through unusually open creeks and alder patches, we made it to the bottom of the Vaux Moraine.

We struggled through the steep, eroded, bushy slopes below the glacial moraine. This section of the Vaux Moraine route is a test of will at the best of times, even in a deep snowpack. We made it up the tricky slope with the help of small trees and a thousand kick-turns. Eventually, we emerged from the trees and into the alpine terrain below the sheer west face of Mt Sir Donald, an immense rock slab commonly rappeled in the summer months.

Michael set the trail and the pace ahead of us. He made good use of the convoluted terrain and quickly reached the ridge separating the Uto South Bowl and the Overlook Bowl. Within a half-hour, we were peering over the ridge’s edge, looking into the steep entrance to the Overlook Bowl. Up high, a guided group was summiting Eagle Peak, fixing ropes as they scrambled along the exposed south face.

I dug through the small cornice to get a clean line into the steep, convex slope, terminated by a small cliff. Nick inched across and above a cliff, testing the snowpack for potential wind slabs. Michael followed suit. Thankfully, the snow was glued on.

We continued down the Overlook Bowl, skiing through 20-25cm of high-quality, well-settled powder. We dodged some old tracks and skied the bowl’s right side which was terminated by a large cliff band. We contoured to the left above the cliffs and skied another excellent planar pitch finishing in a boulder field close to the treeline.

two skiers bombing down the upper overlook bowl — The upper pitch. Stellar turns down the Overlook Bowl. Photo: The Uptrack

skiers skiing down the lower overlook bowl — The upper pitch. Stellar turns down the Overlook Bowl. Photo: The Uptrack

From the bottom of the bowl, we contemplated our options: contour south into the Practice Slopes and ski out through the Sir Donald Trail or head north towards Avalanche Crest. We opted for the second option which would offer an epic descent to the parking lot. We contoured north around the Eagle SW ridge, cutting a trail through the dense forest. After some minor bushwacking, we bolted out of the trees into the base of the Avalanche South Bowl.

We broke trail in the looker’s right portion of the bowl and linked up with an existing uptrack. Legs burning, we inched up until halfway up Avalanche Crest, reaching an elevation of 2250m. We took a quick break, switched to downhill mode and skied down the classic run. Unfortunately, the slope was completely tracked out, a resort mogul field. A lengthy drought and a busy weekend at Rogers Pass made short work of the fresh snow sadly. That’s fine – nothing like mogul training in the backcountry!

With an aching body, we crawled back to the parking lot sliding along the flat snowbank bordering the highway. While we didn’t get our pristine powder on Avalanche Crest, we completed a beautiful, 17-km loop through seldom-visited terrain and skied Overlook Bowl, our main objective for the day!