Epic Skiing

Roger's Pass

Skiing in Roger’s Pass is any skiers dream come true. The mountains are big, beautiful, steep and numerous. You can get whatever you want: huge open bowls, glacier skiing, steep trees, and remote huts. This place has it all.

Getting to the top of the mountains is challenging.  Breaking trail takes a lot of effort and burns many calories. Thankfully the scenery is stunningly beautiful on the long up tracks.

As of my last post, we skied 4 days with our friends.  After they left, we skied 2 days in Christiana Trees, which we had to ourselves. Each lap is 2300 vertical feet, so not many laps! If you are wondering how this area got its name, see photo below.  Some major old growth here.  I have literally become a tree hugger!

Next we climbed Little Sifton.  It was a bluebird day with lots of great views.  Nice to get up high when the sun was shining and the wind was calm.

                               

After much sun and warmth, we got hit with a lot of new snow … even more than Boston last week!   We skied Grizzly Shoulder, Teddy Bear Trees, Balu Pass, Hospital Gullies, Ursa Major, 8812 Bowl, Christmas Coulior, Camp West and other great lines throughout the Pass.

The routine each day goes something like this…..

• wake up

• eat a lot of food

• skin uphill for 3-4 hours to start

• eat a lot of food

• ski and skin awesome powder until dark

• eat a lot of food

• collapse

• repeat

Backcountry skiing is pretty much the funnest thing we do…..Wordle aside! 

Van Dwelling

As promised, an update on van dwelling.  We’ve got almost 2 weeks under our belt of living in our van.  As suspected, RED is coming through on all fronts. Everything works and we are loving it!  Here are some of the details:

• Space is small!  Inside the van we cook, clean, dry gear, fix gear, relax, stretch, wash up, plan for the next day ski, and do all other activities of daily living.  The entire space for movement is about as big as one yoga mat - for two people!  And Greg is 6’2”!   I know, right?  

• Drying gear is a major activity each day.  We have one small heater where the wettest gear is placed.  All other gear is hung on clothes lines strung throughout the van and rotated as needed.  For the most part, we can get everything dry, but it is not without a cost….see photo. What was a small space becomes even smaller with this drying routine.

• We eat all meals in our van.  We have a one-burner induction stove. This induction cooking is new to me - it’s like speed cooking. In iterally minutes, food is cooked.  I burned a few meals in the beginning but I’m getting the hang of it so there is less buring and more fast eating in recent days.

• No more worries about being cold in the van.  It takes about 10 minutes to get the place warm and toasty with our heater.  We are way warmer in our van than our home- Sawyer can attest! 

• Bed is queen size and soooo cozy. I’m still not sleeping in. I will be sure to let you know if that EVER happens.

• We found a remote parking lot in Revelstoke (“Revy” as the locals call it)  where no one has bothered us.  We stay there most nights.  We’ve heard not to walk your dog near this lot or the cougar will get him. Hopefully this local cougar finds enough dogs to keep him satisfied. 

• The best part of “Revy” is the Community Center . For $5 you get a shower. For $6 you get a shower plus hot tub, sauna, pool, water slide, lazy river, and wifi.  Even Greg sprang for the extra buck to have it all. 

• We have two 5-gallon jugs of fresh water.  We fill ‘em and go for about 4 days.  They are not freezing so that is a relief.   

• At the expense of TMI….. the bathroom….. We have a pee jug for use inside the van.  For other bodily needs, we found a gas station along our daily route.  As you can imagine, timing is everything on that front.  Sometimes, when nature calls and my timing is off,  it’s just me, deep powder, and the cougar.  

Okay signing off…. Thank you again for reading.  I’ll be back soon.