Related: Ursus Minor Trees, Rogers Pass: Epic Glade Skiing

Report from January 5, 2021

We assembled a big crew: Rosalie, Steph, Kaitlin, Mia and Rigel. With Revelstoke’s pandemic unemployment rate at a record high, it seems everyone and their dogs are out ski touring. And you know what: it’s the ideal winter for that. Relentless snowfall and cold temps have provided a constant refresh on the slope of Rogers Pass – which leads to a common problem. Snowpack stability was questionable at best after our week-long storm cycle. Having very little intel on the conditions, we decided on skiing Christiana Glades, an area new to me.

After checking that the Bostock winter restricted area and its associated parking lot was indeed open for the day, we left the warmth of our vehicles for the mild cold of the outdoors. We toured along the Bostock Creek Trail, a gentle, handcrafted path that follows the valley bottom all the way to Bostock Pass. While we didn’t tour its entire length, you could reach as far as Corbin Peak if you desired so. 2.75km along the trail, we veered right off the trail, ski-skinned downhill, and crossed Bostock Creek over a series of pillows, conveniently bridging the gap of moving water.

We were now at the base of the Christiana Ridge, the start of the Christiana Glades uptrack. We followed the creek’s west bank until we found a wide-open gully piercing through the Selkirk bush defining the lower boundary of the ridge. We ascended the gully to a lovely clearing, peppered with tasty pillow lines and bordered by magical old-growth forest.

We raced past the clearing while I noted where the pillows – to be sent later in the day – were located. Soon enough, we were touring through the old-growth, a preserved snapshot of what it used to be eons ago. Our ascent led us through a band of denser trees that eventually dumped us into yet another clearing that seemed to offer some all-time skiing.

All in all, we ended up climbing along the border of the Fidelity Winter Prohibited Area until we could no longer go higher. At that point, the WPA wraps around the ridge, prohibiting further uphill travel. This is where the Parks Canada staff conducts snowpack assessments. We call it Parks Canada’s private ski area.

After a short lunch break, we dug a full snow profile to assess the stability of the upper layers of storm snow. With no apparent weakness, we transitioned for the descent. The snow was excellent: light, dry champagne powder.

The descent route was super straight-forward. We simply followed down our uptrack, hitting pillows left and right when possible. With that good of snow, the crew was absolutely ecstatic. I wished we could have gone for a second lap but the sun was getting a little low. Days are short in early January.

After the 700-meter descent, we arrived at the base of the ridge and crossed Bostock Creek at our previous spot. A quick skin up the east bank got us back on the trail that led us to our vehicle. All in all, we all thoroughly enjoyed the day of mellow, powdery skiing in the Christiana Glades.

Route Info

5-6 h	1000m	9 km	900-1900 m

The post Christiana Glades: Skiing The Old Growth appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: Christiana Glades: Skiing the Old Growth

Report from November 18, 2020

Izzy, Mel, and I teamed up for a bit of ski touring (and splitboarding) at Rogers Pass, my favorite place of all times. With unseasonably warm temperatures, we would maintain a cautionary mindset regarding avalanche conditions. We had no clue what hazards were waiting for us up there, whether a thick crust would be present or new storm snow would be slabby. With that decided, we left the Rogers Pass Discovery Center at 9:30 AM with no expectations.

We headed up the well-established uptrack along the Connaught Creek, a busy artery for ski tourers and splitboarders. We quickly crossed under the Grizzly, Frequent Flyer, and Dispatcher Slidepath.

With temperatures so close to the melting point, we could feel a thin, breakable crust over 10cm of moist snow. As dense clouds engulfed the towering summits, flurries of snow started gently falling. Even in a storm, the sights here are still incredible. We veered off into the dense forest below Hospital Bowl, an open alpine slope topped by Video Peak, a common ski route.

The Hospital Trees uptrack was steep but manageable with good technique and moist snow providing a sticky grip. This section is the most demanding vertical gain when it comes to gaining the SE shoulder of Ursus Minor Mountain to ski the trees. A few techy switchbacks later, we reached the open fields of Christmas trees marking the base of Hospital Bowl.

We took a brief lunch break and looked at Ursus Trees across the valley. We skimmed through the terrain, looking for possible downhill options. We found three obvious routes where trees were sparser.

we broke off the existing uptrack which went directly up the bowl. With the avalanche hazard at “Considerable” and limited intel about our young alpine snowpack, we choose to avoid the set route. Instead, we toured up through sparse trees until we reached an open alpine slope bounded by a large convex roll.

Related: The Early Season Snowpack: How It Affects Your Winter

Climbing this slope was a risk. Convex roll, large planar slope, 20+cm of unconsolidated storm snow, you name it. We could have ducked for the trees at that point but I preferred to gather some observations before declaring this slope unstable. Our group dug a shallow test pit with the goal of assessing the stability of the upper storm layers down to a thick crust-sandwich buried 70cm down. Our test revealed a few unstable layers but no slab properties. Without slab properties, instabilities within the snowpack cannot propagate, reducing the likelihood of triggering large avalanches. After doing our due diligence, we proceeded up the sketchy slope towards the top of Ursus Minor Trees.

With seemingly stable snow conditions, we raced up the SE shoulder through deep powder until we emerged in the alpine where strong southerly winds had formed a stiff slab on the ridge’s crest. The visibility improved considerably during this final ascent. We wasted no time transitioning for the down… which was absolutely, positively EPIC.

The exposed alpine ridge was obviously scoured to hell, although Mel still found pockets of deep powder lee of micro-features. As for Ursus Minor Trees per se, we were the second party down the section. The fresh snow was blower, nearly bottomless, typical of Rogers Pass. The supposed crust was nowhere to be seen. Most likely, the spike of warm weather was too brief to form a melt-freeze crust in the alpine and at treeline.

After a thrilling run, we grabbed a bite and discussed our options. We decided to avoid the horrible bushwhack through the uber-tight trees right below Ursus Tree, technically the continuation of said run. Instead, we put our skins back on and skirted around the base of the Hospital Bowl to gain the entrance of the Hospital Gully which supported mostly open terrain. To our collective surprise, the snow was way deeper here, most likely from wind transport. I cautiously dropped in, testing the snow for any signs of instability. Everything seemed fine.

We maneuvered through the open gully and stumbled back on the Connaught Creek uptrack. From there, we plowed through ice and crust to get back to our ride at 3:30 PM. I didn’t expect anything from today but Rogers Pass still delivered the goods… as always.

Route Info

6 h	1150m	11.5 km	1330-2300 m

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