East of West: Eastern British Columbia 3/2014

East of West and West of East OR you don’t know until you go OR another wordy TR with few pictures because I would not stop to take out my camera.

Personally, I had a certifiably “difficult” Fall and Winter and it was therefore helpful to have the beacon of this trip, planned far in advance, to look forward to. Booked over the summer, cancellation was not an option and in the end, I am thankful to have been forced into having to go. My old friend J and I have done four trips now together, including last year in Utah which I posted, but we wanted to do something a little different this time.

British Columbia has a huge amount of skiing, the most obvious being Whistler/ Blackcomb, which though a great mountain, with great terrain and sometimes great conditions always reminds me of Manhattan in New York City - meaning that while you are there, though enjoyable, you know that the real action is somewhere else. This year we decided to focus on getting to the heart of the matter- by heading East, and by that I mean West.

part 1.
Waking up in middle of the night early in New York, we headed to Newark to fly to Calgary, AB. From Calgary, we got our gear and rental car and drove west, from the plains into the rocky mountains of Alberta, into British Columbia.

There was no exciting snow in the forecast- a couple of inches here and there through all the typical channels of information- but our plans were locked so we decided to take what was presented to us and do with it what we could. Driving along the Trans-Canada highway, through a chain of national parks (Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Yoho, Glacier, etc) for 5 hours, we were not overly encouraged by the high temps, rotten snow and dirt we saw for most of the way. An hour or so before rolling into the town of Revelstoke, a light rain took hold that developed into almost a shower. Fog blocked much of what was probably a pretty dramatic view. We checked into our room and headed into town to a local favorite spot for dinner and beers to toast the trip. After a crazy long travel days, we went to sleep without any specific plans for the next day, the forecasts still holding their secrets coyly locked away.

Revelstoke is a mountain I have always wanted to ski- the largest vertical in North America, in the Selkirk mountains on the “powder highway”, it has held a mythical place in my mind from its emergence as a destination resort in 2007. With only a few lifts, the trail map can be deceiving. It looks at first glance like a smaller ski hill but is really almost 3 resorts stacked on top of one another- the lower mountain which was the original resort (at that point everyone hiked or skinned for the higher terrain), the mid mountain serviced by the second leg of the gondi, and the upper mountain, and its side country and alpine zones. Waiting in the short line for the gondola the next day there was a telltale palpable excitement in the air- talk of freshies, locals rendezvousing and big skis everywhere- could it be? We headed up the gondi to the top and in fact there was about 5 inches of fresh over an significant base and the classic 5-foot thick mat of snow on everything, mushrooms on treetops, snow merging rooftops with the ground and the mountain looking very skiable. Somehow, it seemed like we were off to a good start.


Revelstoke is simply a great mountain, and one that though I cannot say I know well, has left as big an impression on my as any other. It is simple in character and arrangement, the few lifts are all high speed and move skiers efficiently, there is some traversing for sure but not an unreasonable amount, the skiers on the hill are laid back and it seems like they just happen to have best local ski hill and therefore don’t feel the need to throw off a lot of bro-brah additude. We spent the morning skiing of the stoke chair then some laps of the north bowl area and then over to the ripper chair. In all we found great conditions which got better as the day progressed and hands down the best resort tree skiing I have ever seen. Pretty much at any location you could dive into the trees, find rippable, steep, at times technical but seemingly always continuous lines. Rarely, if ever, would you have to thwack, traverse or even stop to reassess. This is not to say it is easy skiing or a manicured golf course either, it is just- how to say- perfection. A surprisingly crowd-free Saturday- you pretty much skied to the lift all day- once a 5 minute lift line- and as you looked out from the lift you would typically only see a couple of people on the runs- everyone else presumably tucked away in the spruces- and you could hear the hootin’ to prove it.

At the end of a long day spent entirely on the upper third of the mountain we made a long, very tired descent through the other zones, finding snow quality of progressively less fluffy conditions. At the bottom third, it was full on spring corn. The elevation change controls the mountain more than any other I can think of. Both days we skied almost entirely exclusively on the upper third and never felt like we wanted to even see anything else.


The second day was like the first but with about 9 inches of unforecasted fresh snow, and it was full on. We spent more time off the ripper chair getting deeper into the glades, went out of bounds into Revy’s cat skiing zone which can be traversed out of- with AT gear you can get all the way into the Montana Bowl zone and skin back but we were not set up for that this time. The North Bowl area was a high point but really the great skiing was everywhere all day. If you like steep skiing, great snow, trees in particular, I have to say that Revy is not to be missed. I will be back. At the end of the day we packed up and made the 2 hour drive to Golden for 2 days at Kicking Horse. We got in late so we ate at a mediocre pub at the mountain and went to bed.

2.
Kicking Horse is very different from Revy, which is not to say that we did not enjoy it. Rather than the conical aspect of Mt Mckenzie at Revelstoke, which sends you radiating outward as you descend, Kicking Horse is an almost planar wall of the east facing peaks of the Dogtooth range. On their Facebook feed, KH was suddenly calling for up to 12 inches after getting 18 the previous day. Things were looking up weather-wise. Kicking Horse has a more prominent alpine feel, with bowls and chutes on the upper mountain. Down lower, you find long runs leading to the base. There are lifts serving the lower mountain, with the Gondola heading up from the base and a one lift up high. The gondola does not have a mid-station unfortunately so you have to plan ahead because some routes require you to go all the way to the base to get the gondi back up. It was certainly a planning error as most of the exciting terrain is up top. Incredible views, fun hike-to terrain on T1 and steep lines were the call of the day.


We headed into town at the end of the day and Golden is itself a study in contrasts, perhaps the ugliest town in the most beautiful environment I can think of (though the power plant we saw in Banff also comes to mind). Sorry but what a shithole. Zoning laws are deeply essential things, I am convinced. You enter into Golden by passing the plywood factory, past the giant truck parking lot and repair neighborhood, past a few trailer parks and you eventually get to the town center which is actually kind of nice and has a great local bar. This place needs some planning revisions.

No new snow for our second and last day at KH but patrol was steadily opening up zones that had been closed since their 18” from a few days prior so we hiked to T2 at the southern edge of the resort for some fresh alpine lines for our last run. In short, we liked Kicking Horse a lot but also just scratched its surface, There is a ton more including extensive side and backcountry terrain besides the well known T1 and T2.


I would definitely head back, though would not build a trip around it. We had to cut the day short to catch the helicopter out for the real meat to this particular trip- cat skiing with Chatter Creek.

3.
We drove the 30 minutes to the Chatter Creek heliport and got the rundown on copter safety, loaded up and took off on the 30 minute flight to the lodge, approximately 50 miles to the north in the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. Having never been in a helicopter before, let’s just say I am currently saving up for one of my own.

Ushered into the lodge, we had dinner, got assigned to our cats and therefore the people we would be skiing with for the next 3 days, had a couple of beers and went to bed. The next morning we were schooled on beacon use, geared up and headed out. Chatter Creek has one of the biggest tenures of all the cat operations at 24,000 hectares- which is a LOT. It is really like they have their own private national park and you get carted around in your own snowcat to ski it with 11 other guests and 2 guides. In all, there are 36 guests there in 3 cats and sometimes you see the other groups but largely the guides try to take you to your own zone.

They had gotten all the snow from the week and more but with so few people, so much terrain and knowledgable guides, you rarely cross a track, though it did happen from time to time. With concern about avy dangers we stayed in the trees for most of our first day. The lines were knee deep, often steep, with tons of features to launch off of, with perfectly spaced trees so you could really charge. So much fun. Every run gave you that deep pow go anywhere do anything rush. We had a great day and got to know the people in our group- all nice guys. It was definitely “mechanized” with the guides taking us to a particular place with frequent meet ups. In your own private park, it seems there are a lot of rules but you could in fact get separated from your group, or worse, easily in the trees. It snowed a few inches during the day with talk of a good bit more overnight so we had our drinks, dinner and more drinks at the nice, comfortable but not fussy lodge with anticipation before heading to bed.

The second day was like the first with some poking into some higher alpine terrain, though visibility was not good so we mostly stayed in the trees which was ok by me. Again, hero conditions all around. We probably picked up 5 inches or so over the day but you don’t really notice when everything is bottomless untracked blower. Its going to be hard to ski at Butternut after this.

The third day was bluebird so we started out with a long cat ride out to an alpine zone they had not skied much this year. I still prefer the trees but champagne blower in this setting was pretty memorable. It was colder and the snow quality was the best of our stay- pretty much perfect skiing. We did a few laps, leaving our marks before the other cats arrived and headed off to some trees before returning to another alpine area called South Park. Perhaps the most aesthetic skiing I have ever had, and again, shared with only myself and 13 other people. After more trees, the day wrapped up and it was time to back to the lodge.



While I typically ski bell to bell, racking up vertical, not having lunch, maximizing my skiing time, the days at Chatter were certainly not 30-40K feet of vert and most days ended with me wanting a couple more runs. That said, the quality more than made up for the quantity and while maybe not very sore, I was good and tired at the end of each day. Maybe I am a little greedy. Compared to other operations, I think Chatter was a great call. We did a lot of research and it paid off. For the heli out, the guys let me ride shotgun with the pilot which was especially awesome flying over the mountains. That said, it signaled that the trip was coming to a close and it was time to make our way back to reality.

Reality hit hard with a cancelled flight and an unapologetic reroute through Vancouver to fly back to New York (read: Air Canada sucks), and that was that. Back to work and “normal life” today. The cliff notes: it was awesome.

Awesome report. I am wiping the drool off my keyboard. Man you gotta be in shape to do a trip like that with no days off. Rock solid.

TR of the season!! ..Those are all bucket list areas..
Sorry jamesdeluxe

Nothing short of astonishing....

If we had a HOF I would give this first ballot standing. This should help people plan trips to BC for years to come.

Thanks for getting it up here.

Danzilla wrote

Awesome report. I am wiping the drool off my keyboard. Man you gotta be in shape to do a trip like that with no days off. Rock solid.

+1
where am I ?

This is such a fantastic report in all senses of the word.  This is fantastic writing too...

lemmycaution wrote

Pretty much at any location you could dive into the trees, find rippable, steep, at times technical but seemingly always continuous lines. Rarely, if ever, would you have to thwack, traverse or even stop to reassess.

oh my...

lemmycaution wrote

The lines were knee deep, often steep, with tons of features to launch off of, with perfectly spaced trees so you could really charge. So much fun. Every run gave you that deep pow go anywhere do anything rush.

Plus I want to ride both the stoke and ripper chairs.

Thanks so much for sharing. Nobody deserves this ski fantasy more than you.

Looks amazing, glad you were able to pull it off.  Looked at their web site and seems they are pretty much sold out for all tours next year.

Well written and great photos! Heh, it's amazing how many people have posted similar reactions to the town of Golden.

JasonWx wrote

TR of the season!! Sorry jamesdeluxe

I didn't realize I was part of a "TR of the season" competition. On a pure skiing level, it's tough to compete with three days at Chatter Creek. Tony Crocker on FTO has been raving about that cat operation for years.

Wow, what a trip! And a great read. Glad it worked out so well.

Fantastic report and beautiful photos. This is every EC skier's dream trip. Or at least mine.

Every Hinterlandian knows this but you are right, Air Canada sucks.

For future trips, you may want to check out WestJet, especially if you live in reasonable driving distance of Toronto or Hamilton. You could fly New York - Toronto - Calgary - Kelowna but it looks complicated.

Terrific report Lemmy

How did the tree skiing compare to Red and Whitewater? My favorite tree skiing places.

We tried to plan a trip to Revvy and KHMR for this year, and even without the cat ski, we could not afford it. Flying into Calgary or Kelowna, renting a car, and lodging were way out of our range. It's a tough trip to do for under $2k.

Been to KHMR and always wanted to go back. Revvy is on my wishlist.

Some day we'll get out there again. Just gotta keep putting the pennies in the piggy bank.

Glad you had such a great trip.

Great itinerary. Great read. Thanks for writing this report! I just might need to go to BC next season...

  WOW nice job.  

thanks for the comments
it was definitely a trip that one had to set aside money for and gave the fall workout schedule a little structure. i have never skied either red or whitewater, we thought about flying into spokane and heading north which would have put both of those on the itinerary rather than KH. luckily we did not do that as red at least got two days of rain like 4 days before we left- they cancelled their cat skiing for a whole week. whitewater is supposed to be great- laid back vibe with great skiing and when we head back this this area we will try to hit it.

Yes, Red is not that high in elevation, so best to catch in Feb/March. From what I've seen, they get the most snow late in Feb. Being that you traveled in March, going to the bigger/higher mtns was ideal. If ever I go that late, it has to be the highest mtns.