Related: Grizzly Trees, Rogers Pass: Easy Access Powder Turns

Report from January 13, 2022

For Teddy Bear Trees, a late start is no problem. Our whole day got an early derailment when we found out through DriveBC that the Trans-Canada Highway was closed due to a vehicle accident. With a storm raging in the high mountains, warming temperatures, the avalanche hazard at 4-4-4 (High), and a late departure, we sat down at our local coffee shop and discussed our options. Due to recent avalanche closures of Winter Restricted Areas, our options narrowed down to one route: Teddy Bear Trees. It took a sketchy drive on the re-opened highway to arrive at the Rogers Pass Discovery Center ready to rumble. Within minutes, we were gliding along the uptrack bordering Connaught Creek.

After 30 minutes, we arrived at the base of the Grizzly Shoulder, harbouring popular ski touring routes. Due to the avalanche closures, this area was closed for the day. We continued along the creek and traversed a major terrain trap, the Grizzly Slidepath. This avalanche path is generally steep and slides almost every storm cycle. Chunky avalanche debris carpeted the lower fan. Given the high hazard, we thought it best to space out by 30m (a school bus’ length) as we crossed the potentially dangerous path.

As soon as we had crossed the slidepath, we veered right and up into the nearest forest, Teddy Bear Trees. By then, the snow turned to mashed potatoes (or cream cheese as some prefer), evidence of rapid daytime warming – a clear red flag. Best to stay away from that giant slidepath and keep things conservative. We carved a fresh uptrack through the sparse mature timber with much difficulty. Our tails kept sinking into the bottomless, almost isothermal snow while the tips stayed afloat. It felt like we were forging a path straight up a 40-degree slope. This must have been the hardest trail-breaking I’ve done in a long time!

As we gained more elevation, the trees thinned out on the shoulder’s east aspect. Still, we stuck to the denser forest in fear of triggering a moist slab in the open terrain. As my hip flexors were about to give in from trenching through more than 50cm of dense snow, we arrived at our high point of 2100m, not so far from the bootpacked ridge leading up to Grizzly Couloir.

After digging a test profile, we transitioned for the descent. Surprisingly, the top 400m pitch through sparse trees offered decent moist snow, akin to coastal pow! We weaved in and out of the trees, jumping off features when we had a chance.

At about 1875m, we ducked into the tighter trees to the skier’s right (in line with the shoulder) to avoid a piece of dangerous, unsupported terrain riddled with unskiable gullies and bushy alders. While the upper slope offers the more open skiing in perfect 35-degree terrain, it’s best to be aware of the feature below, a big ol’ terrain trap, if you were carried away by an avalanche and dragged through the narrow, rocky gullies.

Once we traversed back into the mature timber along the shoulder’s crest, we skied through an uninterrupted string of clearings which made for an amazingly continuous and playful descent given the dense “cream cheese” snow. At the bottom of the shoulder, we sped across the Grizzly Slidepath and effortlessly skied down to the car. We then enjoy some ice-cold beers out of the campervan, courtesy of Rigel and Steph!

Route Info

4-5 h	800m	4.3 km	1330-2100 m

The post Teddy Bear Trees: Storms And Avalanche Closures appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: Rogers Run On Grizzly Shoulder: Deep Days

Report from February 3, 2021

After a quick gear-up in front of the RPDC, Jeff, Joey, Bryn and I quickly slid up the Connaught Valley passing the WRA signs reminding us of the permit system. Often enough, Park Wardens hang out at the East Rogers WRA border to check permits and ensure no one enters the area when closed. We took the winter uptrack that follows the north bank of Connaught Creek, weaving through alders and tight trees – it’s no problem with a deep snowpack. We climbed the east side of the Grizzly Slidepath, an active avalanche path, and ducked into the trees of the Grizzly Shoulder to minimize our exposure to the enormous slidepath.

I was pushing the pace to catch up with large guided groups. It was imperative to beat them to the top as they would disturb the white blanket waiting for us on the descent. Fortunately, as with most guided groups, they were horrendously slow. By midway up the shoulder, we had already taken the lead, now trail-breaking through progressively wetter snow. The sun had pierced the rolling clouds, just enough time to melt the snow’s surface.

The top of Grizzly Trees is a large planar, open slope that poses a serious hazard. We chose to stick to the crest of the shoulder and stay away from the slope. I took the liberty of moving away from the shoulder into the edge of the slope (from a safe spot) to jump on a convex roll a few times and test for snowpack instabilities. Nothing budged, only minor sluffing. Great!

After a brief ascent through the trees, we gained the top of the main open treeline slope at 2080m. We pushed forward in an attempt to gain the true ridge to ski our original plan, Rogers Run. In my opinion, it’s a higher quality run, offering an 850m descent through burnt trees, pillows and open slidepaths. If the avalanche hazard is within my tolerance, I’d almost always go for Rogers Run or Puff Daddy first.

Within a few careful strides in the barren SW-facing terrain, a 10m long crack shot out of my skis and triggered a 50cm deep storm slab that held on to some nearby trees in a delicate balance. Okay, we saw here three pretty obvious red flags:

• Shooting cracks
• Rapid warming (moist/wet surface snow and pinwheeling)
• Visible avalanche activity

With the prolonged solar exposure, it was time to turn around. We happily settled for a more conservative run through Grizzly Trees instead, being well ahead of the crowds.

We quickly consulted my terrain picture, taken from the NRC parking lot earlier in the season. We had four options all within the open slopes. Lines within the trees might be too tight to ski easily. As we wanted to go fast, we opted for the most obvious fall-line path as it remained untouched (the most common line).

The snow was as expected, a little heavy but still very good. We weaved in and out of the open path, hitting pillows along the way. We stopped in the lower third of the run as the snow quality was deteriorating. A short but sweet lap!

After such a great run, we couldn’t go home just yet. We sped up the shoulder once again on the existing uptrack. After a breezy ascent, we transitioned for the descent. We selected a line to the skier’s left. While it require a short traverse through trees and bushes, it led us on a SE aspect, mostly sheltered from the sun’s warming effect. The snow there had remained well-preserved, showing no signs of rapid warming. The run was epic!

We finished the day with this amazing run. Those must have been the most easily accessible powder turns of the season (not counting lift-assisted touring days). What a blast!

Route Info

4-5 h	770m	3.8 km	1330-2080 m

The post Grizzly Trees, Rogers Pass: Easy Access Powder Turns appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: 1. Grizzly Couloir, Rogers Pass: 3-Day Couloir Marathon, 2. Grizzly Trees, Rogers Pass: Easy Access Powder Turns

Report from November 20, 2020

We assembled a super crew made up of Kaitlin, Rigel, Steph, Mia 1, and Mia 2 – they can fight for who gets #1. A BIG group nonetheless! I don’t like heading out in large groups – progress is usually slow. This one was different. The vibe was as relaxed as it was enjoyable which made it a stellar opportunity for me to pass on some avalanche knowledge. Once everyone was geared up, we raced up the Connaught Valley uptrack, a busy artery for ski tourers. We veered right, off the Balu Pass summer trail, only 1km from the parking lot, and crossed a stunning footbridge covered in a thick white blanket.

Our path followed the winter trail – you guessed it – only accessible in winter. I’ve done it in spring and do not recommend it… unless you love brutal alders and raging stream crossings. Instead of traversing the northern bank of the Connaught Creek all the way to the Grizzly Slidepath, which is covered in alder patches at this time of the year, we immediately began the ascent up the Grizzly Shoulder on which Rogers Run lies.

Our reality was becoming more evident the higher we went. The calendar said November 20, 2020, but the snowpack said December. DEEP, it was. Naturally, the treeline and alpine avalanche hazard levels were forecasted at “considerable” for the day, warning backcountry skiers of problems typical of the early season snowpack (rain, melt-freeze, and solar crusts) along with widespread wind slabs.

Having said that, we cautiously followed a million switchbacks up the Grizzly Shoulder, now covered by 10cm of fresh snow. Along the way, I performed a few hand shear tests and jumped on suspect convexities as a quick and dirty way to test snowpack stability. Surprisingly, I didn’t observe any signs of instability. This is always more worrying than seeing sings and knowing where the problem lies.

As we emerged out of the forest into the alpine, the flurries of snow went horizontal. Winds were absolutely howling. While we bundled up, I took a moment to scrutinize the terrain ahead. All I could think of was wind slabs. I noticed the exposed SW-facing slope we were about to cross was being swept clean by the winds. I felt a sense of relief as this meant the nearby snowpack would be thin. Big avalanches were no longer a concern. I felt the snow’s surface along the way, probing for stiff slabs. The surface was surprisingly well-preserved, soft even. I triggered a few localized pockets here and there, lee of wind lips around scattered boulders. It wasn’t enough to sound the alarm.

As we gained flatter terrain, I knew we were close. I was looking for a “sneak” through the band of cliffs, looker’s right, that I used last season when skiing a variation of Rogers Run into Grizzly Trees. Here it was, icy and steep as ever, nestled between the cliffs and a prominent boulder. It’s pretty easy to miss for the unacquainted. I slid up the “sneak”, squeezing as much traction as I could out of my climbing skins. I managed, knowing very well the rest of the crew might have trouble. They did.

Related: How To Choose Climbing Skins For Ski Touring

We regrouped at the top of the grizzly Shoulder, conveniently at the entrance of Rogers Run, on a gentle alpine slope rolling over into treed terrain. Positioned lee of the prevailing SW winds, we dug a full snow profile to access the snowpack’s stability, especially around the new storm snow and a buried 10cm rain crust. Our series of tests highlighted weak layers across the entire snowpack and evaluated their relative strength. We confirmed one key fact: the storm snow lacked slab properties. Without a slab, there’s no slab avalanche possible. Those are the ones to look out for. Satisfied by our results, we transitioned for the descent. And it was DEEP, so so deep.

With a nice consolidated base and top 60cm of powder, we trampolined down the slope, bouncing up and down, in and out of the white room. Truly amazing ski conditions but I didn’t expect less of Rogers Pass, really! Our excitement led us slightly off route, east of the Grizzly Shoulder, far too close to the large gully separating Rogers Run from Puff Daddy.

After consulting the beta from Geobackcountry, we traversed west on top of a wide band of pillows. I billy-goated my way down, guiding Kaitlin across the sketchy terrain. And then it happened. As she landed on a pillow I had previously tracked, it exploded into a puff of snow, pulling the rug under her feet. She tumbled down, through bushes and trees, landing near an unusually sharp tree trunk. This was a heck of a close call and a brutal reminder of the risk involved when backcountry skiing. Luckily, she only sustained a few bruises. She shrugged it off and kept on skiing without complaint.

We met up with the rest of the group who traversed above the pillow field, a detour that took a little less than an hour. Finally, we were back on the named route. This mishap goes to show how easy it is to get lost on the Grizzly Shoulder. Seriously, all the trees and clearings look the same! Keep your wits about and bring your guidebook or even a GPS. An awesome day can become a nightmare with one wrong turn in this kind of terrain.

Once we had gathered all the group, we continued the descent. We skied through pillow lines, cliffs, and a base that was shrinking way too fast. As the sun set behing the 8812 Peak, we reached the valley bottom, at which point we resorted to walking.

We bushwhacked through alders and fallen logs under our headlamp’s beam, only to end up on the wrong side of a wide creek following the Trans-Canada Highway. We skirted the river bank until we found a spot to cross. Finally, we were back at our vehicle. Never a dull moment ski touring in Rogers Pass!

Route Info

4-5 h	850 m	4.6 km	1330-2150 m

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