I’m a bit late writing this blog post, but at the very start of February, Adam and Matt and I had an amazing but brief trip up to Rogers Pass in the interior of British Columbia for 3.5 days of great backcountry skiing. I’ve skied at Rogers on many trips, but never made it up last season, so I was excited to get out this year with my favorite touring partners.
We had good timing with our trip, arriving just after the end of the January drought. However, the new snowfall and cold temperatures made for a less stable snowpack, and the associated higher avalanche risk limited our options somewhat. As a result, it seemed like many folks opted to ski elsewhere, so we had a wonderful trip that felt different from most of my past times at Rogers, with a lot of trailbreaking through deep snow and normally popular and crowded areas all to ourselves. Our first two days were pretty stormy, but the sun came out on day three, and we were able to push out above treeline for what was truly the highlight of the trip: skiing the ultra-classic Youngs Traverse (one of the 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America) in complete solitude, with absolutely frigid temps (-3°F!), blower powder, and sunshine. Definitely one of the most memorable days of touring I’ve ever done.
Day 0: After a late start on the drive north from Seattle, avalanche control on Eagle Pass kept us waiting, and we didn’t get into Revelstoke until 2:30am.
Days 1 & 2: 20-30 cm of snow overnight kept the restricted areas closed and avalanche danger limited our options, so we headed up Connaught Creek to ski Ursus Trees. We had a grand time skiing pillows and trees.
Adam skinning up Hospital Bowl in stormy weather, looking down Connaught Creek.
Matt skiing in the trees.
Adam dropping some pillows. You win some…
…and lose others. We call him “backslap billy” for a reason!
Adam sure has a cute smile :)
Day 3: Youngs Traverse into Seven Steps to Paradise. The started off cold and overcast, causing us to second guess our choice of objective. We headed up from Illecillewaet parking, following a decent amount of traffic along Asulkan Brook, but when we turned off towards the Great Glacier trail, we were a bit surprised that no one had skied out that way recently. We were a little worried about clouds on the glacier, but as we slowly broke trail through a foot of powder up towards the edge of the glacier, the clouds cleared up and it turned into a beautiful bluebird day. It was freezing in the shade with strong with downslope winds. My thermometer read -3°F, and Adam thrilled to show off his new “nose hat”. We made slow but steady progress up onto the toe of the glacier, with the views of Mount Sir Donald and neighboring peaks getting better and better as we got higher.
Adam breaking trail through deep snow up towards the toe of the Illecillewaet Glacier.
Matt and Adam breaking trail in the freezing shade below Glacier Crest.
Skiing towards Glacier Crest just below the Illecillewaet Glacier.
As we traversed along the ridge towards the Forever Young couloir, Youngs Peak with its heavily corniced North Ridge came into view, as did the Dawson Range to the south. We could see our lonely skintrack receding for miles into the distance, and we reflected on the amazing spot we had all to ourselves. Lingering clouds over the summit of Youngs kept the light dramatic, but we carefully switchbacked past the massive cornices to reach the summit.
Matt and Adam breaking trail towards Youngs Peak. What an amazing sense of solitude out there!
Dramatic light on the way to Youngs Peak.
Matt and Adam approaching Youngs Peak, with our skintrack receding into the distance miles behind us. Stunning views of Eagle Peak, Uto Peak, Mount Sir Donald, and Terminal Peak.
Matt and Adam on the summit of Youngs Peak, with Mounts Fox and Dawson towering across the Geikie Glacier, out of sight.
We wasted no time transitioning, and Adam dropped onto Northwest Face of Youngs first as Matt and I waited, a bit anxious about the snow stability as Adam briefly dipped out of sight. He radioed back up to us, letting us know he was in a safe spot, and Matt skied next, followed by me. The light on Mount Jupiter and the headwaters of the Incomappleux River was incredible, and the turns were utterly blower. We skied the first pitch down to lower angle slopes, and we could see no tracks at all for 1,000+ meters below us. The skiing was fantastic and deep as we turned right onto Seven Steps, and I had fun taking pictures of skiing in the beautiful evening light. It was truly magical.
Adam dropping onto the Northwest Face of Youngs Peak as clouds swirl above Asulkan Pass.
Matt skiing Seven Steps, with the Asulksan Valley far below us, and stunning views of the Mount Rogers Massif, Avalanche Peak, and Eagle Peak.
The exit out Asulkan Brook was straightforward but slower than I remembered. As we descended deeper into the valley we watched the last light fade on the summits above us, and, not much later, alpenglow lit them up. We skated out the old railroad grade under a clear and cold sky and reached the car just as the first stars were coming out, feeling properly tired from a long day of breaking trail the whole way.
Adam and Matt in the Asulkan Valley on the way out, with last light on the Mount Rogers massif in the distance.
Day 4: With another beautiful day in the forecast, I was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t get back to Seattle too late. Nonetheless, we made the most of it, getting an early start. We left the Discovery Centre as soon as the restricted zones were posted open for the day, and were the first party up Connaught. We broke trail up Grizzly shoulder through deep snow in 0° temps, before being caught shortly below the top by a group of Norwegians. Working as a team we made quick work of the rest of the trailbreaking. The Norwegians dropped in just below the top of the shoulder, and just the three of us finished setting a skin track up the sneaky ramp to access Puff Daddy. It was a beautiful descent looking out towards Mount MacDonald, and at the bottom we traversed right to catch Connaight Creek near the car.
Matt on the Grizzly Shoulder skintrack with Cheops in the distance.
Adam and Matt breaking trail up to the top of Grizzly Shoulder.
Adam and Matt dropping into Puff Daddy, with Mount MacDonald’s North Face looking above the highway.
Adam and Matt skiing with amazing views of MacDonald and Eagle Peak.
We crossed the creek and regained our up track for a second lap. The clock was ticking towards our agreed upon time to start descending, so we booked it up our skintrack (lots more traffic on it by the time we took our second lap!) to see how high we could get before 12:30 pm. We nearly topped out the shoulder before taking final lap down through glades back to the car, but I was sad to leave such a beautiful place with hours of daylight left. We settled in for a long, cold drive back home through the Arctic outflow in the Fraser River valley.
Adam ripping a beautiful turn down Grizzly Shoulder, with Cheops looming across the Connaught Creek valley.