Author: PowderHunds

Shortly after the last post we officially entered the Alaska Highway.

Dawson Creek, BC, milepost 0.

Despite the arbitrariness of mile 0, it’s fun to officially be on the last leg of the drive, also the longest leg of the drive as we have 1642 miles to Anchorage. We have The Milepost, the mile-by-mile guide to the Alaska Highway so we get all kinds of fun facts. For example, we know that at mile 34.4 we cross the Peace River Bridge, the longer water span on the AK Highway.

We stopped in Fort St. John (milepost 47) to figure out if we want to go on further for the night and decided to just call it a day. We originally said we would sleep at ski areas and Walmarts and Fort St. John just happened to have a Walmart. Time to bite the bullet and camp in the parking lot.

DISASTER STRIKES

It was 7 deg. and getting colder when we stopped, but when we turned on the heater we got nothing. It blew cold air so the fan was working, we could hear the fuel pump clicking, we could feel air intake on the combustion air, but we had no heat. No heat is no bueno when it is going to be 0 deg. overnight. I suppose we could have just fired up the van every once in a while and used the engine heat, but there were nice warms hotels that allowed dogs just across the street. Oh well, that was always the backup plan if things went awry, better to be comfortable and safe.

There are only a few known problems with Espar heaters and I was most worried that the combustion chamber was fouled with soot. I don’t have the tools or parts on the road to begin dealing with that kind of problem so I checked the company web site for anyone who services Espar heaters in the area. In what is likely the second most impressive Easter miracle there was a service tech 10 miles back along the road listed on the company web site. Of course he was not likely to be working on Easter so we rented the room a second night and hung out in Fort St. John.

Monday morning I called the shop – Hans on Mechanical Services – and the miracles continued as the phone was promptly answered and I was invited to come right by. The shop was warm and clean and Hans went right to work to see what might be wrong. In the end we could not figure out anything specific that was wrong, but Hans resurrected the heater. Hans checked that the pump was drawing fuel from a jerry can, he separately ch died the fuel flow was good from the tank, he checked the exhaust was not obstructed and the air intake was good. The only thing he changed from my install was to use a slightly different fitting from the fuel line to the pump to clean up the connection. The only particular thing he noticed was some moisture in the exhaust pipe between the heater and the muffler. It’s possible some of this could have frozen and partially obstructed the exhaust, but it’s not clear that would have prevented the heater from firing. We also decided to very slightly change where the exhaust ends so tire spray does not hit it.

Whether it was the checkup or the warm shop, the heater was working well when we left. Hopefully it will keep working in the cold as it is unlikely we will be camping in any warm shops on this trip!

Now we are again headed north, guidebook in hand and book-on-tape rolling.

(I was going to post this shortly after Fort St. John, but we have had zero coverage for the last few hours. We are now using the free WiFi at A&W in Fort Nelson. We also learned there is only one restrictive cell company and we aren’t likely to have roaming for a quite a while so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for a while.)

After leaving Golden on … [checks calendar because days no longer have any meaning] … Wednesday afternoon, we just made the short drive to Lake Louise. Some new friends from the Revelstoke parking lot told us that no overnight parking is allowed outside campgrounds in national parks so we stayed at the campground right in Lake Louise. Our campsite did not have a bad view.

There was even a walking trail with ski tracks for Sara. Nothing makes Sara happier than being able to XC ski so that was a good score.

On Thursday morning we headed north to Jasper through Banff NP along the Icefields Parkway. The forecast called for 8″+ of snow Thursday night into Friday morning at Marmot Basin so that was our goal. We did not have a particularly early start with the additional XC skiing Thursday morning and we were incredibly lucky because as we started north there was a road sign indicating the Icefields Parkway would be closed at Saskatchewan Crossing at 2:00 p.m. It was 12:45 and we were 80km away on a slow, incredibly scenic road. We made it in an hour and just got on the road before it closed!

The drive from Banff to Jasper is insanely gorgeous. I might occasionally be prone to hyperbole, but the Canadian Rockies are so impressive that I have no qualms declaring they should be on everyone’s bucket list to see at least once. Around every turn is a mountain more impressive than the last. I did not take the time to get out the real camera as I don’t know where I would have even started, but we took plenty of pictures from the van. The only stop we made briefly was at the Columbia Icefield to get a better view of some glaciers. Because the road was essentially closed we felt like the only ones out there. We probably only saw a total of 10 other cars on the road in the last couple hours of the four hour drive, which was a good thing because I could drive down the middle of the road looking out both windows at the mountains!

As Jasper and Marmot Basin are in the national park we stayed again in a campground. Not quite as nice a view this time, but it was a cool, forested campground along the Athabasca River. We went to bed early so we could be up early and get up to the mountain.

We were up on time and got up to the mountain unscathed, though the car spun out on the icy hill and the dumbasses that didn’t keep moving slowly by in the other lane almost ruined us. Fortunately we were able to keep just enough momentum with only a little skidding and made it. Despite the freezing cold we were down in the front of the line waiting for the lift to open. One guy finally made a break to line up in the corral and we all scooted as fast as we could. We made 4th chair.

Marmot Basin is the northernmost ski area in the Rockies.

The estimated 8″ was at least 10″ and probably 12″. On one run my board went under a small wind loaded patch and the snow hit my thigh. It was awesome. It was also damn cold and still snowing so after 3 or 4 runs we decided to take a quick break and warm up. We went back out for three more before heading to the warm van for lunch. After lunch we noticed the higher lift – the Knob Chair – had just opened and we raced over to see where it led. There were fields of nearly untracked powder and we just started lapping it on different lines.

Video! First run off Knob Chair.

Eventually we noticed some skiers hiking out a traverse to another bowl above what we were riding and we followed them out. The traverse was not particularly kind on snowboards but we made it most of the way the first time and found some epic first tracks on the edge of the next bowl. It was so good we decided to try it again before it was all gone. We worked a little harder this time to get all the way out and we made it to a ridge with great lines down the spine of the ridge.

It might have been my run of the year. I had three or so deep turns before I hit a rock or ice underneath the powder and spilled forward, but I kept tucked and felt the board come right back under me. I punched out of the explosion of snow only to find myself aimed straight down the pitch. No problem, though, as it was back to deep powder. I was going pretty fast at this point and needed to slip between some tight trees so I lined it up and shot between them, only to find that the hill fell away just a few feet below. It wasn’t really a cliff and it was only a few feet high, but with the speed I was carrying I just shot off the edge into the snow below. It was probably good that I had no time to think about it because I didn’t have time to tense up or worry about what happened next. The landing area was rather sketchy and thin, but the powder started again quickly below so I just rode it out at full speed until I hit the soft snow again. A couple more deep turns and I was at the bottom. Yeah, that was a good ride!

Riding the powder, hiking some, and working hard on the traverse warmed us up well and we just kept lapping Knob Chair for quite a few runs. We wanted to explore the “new” area at Marmot Basin called Tres Hombres (we allegedly rode the first chair of the day with one of the original hombres) so before we left we made the short hike to the ridge. We found a super fun, moderately steep bowl with plenty of good snow left so it was great way to end the day.

Before heading out from Jasper NP we decided to drive back up the road (still closed from the storm) to Athabasca Falls. It was cool in the winter, but it must be stunning when the river is melted out. The entire Athabasca River flows into a gorge that can’t be more than about 40′ wide. Now the falls have frozen and the water just surges up in a few places underneath. It is quite a geological marvel.

After our final sight-seeing we headed north. No more planned stops until Alaska!

Last night we randomly turned in to the Hinton Nordic Center in William A Switzer Provincial Park. We were a little concerned about the road as it had not been plowed and there was 8″ of snow. There were some tire tracks and the van did fine, great actually. We had no trouble even though I know there were few places we dragged on the piled snow. The Hinton Nordic Center appears to be an impressive, community-run nordic area with many kilometers of groomed trails, a biathlon course, and a luge run. They even have a small dog-friendly loop that we could explore.

It was a crazy cold night. When we went to bed the temperature was 0 deg. and I’m sure it got colder during the night. Despite our best efforts the water was frozen again in the morning. I got to try out my heat-tape solution to this problem and discovered it was not actually a solution. It finally thawed during the day, but when we are eventually back in the garage I will have to figure out a better solution.

Naturally Sara dragged me XC skiing in the morning. After sleeping in for a while the temperature was up to a whopping 4 deg. Though the road was not plowed the groomer had come through so we had first tracks on the new snow.

Now we are headed north for real. We have our mile-by-mile guidebook for the Alaskan Highway. Only about … 1600 miles to go. 1600. Miles.

After the avy class we stayed at KH for one more night. Our plan was to ride Monday and then head to Revelstoke because they were forecast for a pretty decent dump.

We had a pretty specific goal Monday. Hike and ski the two peaks at Kicking Horse – T1 and T2. T1 is the peak that separates Bowl Over and Super Bowl. It has a fairly open drop off the south side and some aggressive chutes to the north. Our goal was the north!

We decided on the first chute off the North – Truth. We were concerned the entry might be icy as most people (including us) typically slide that first turn to get set up, but it was fine.

Well, that was fun. Time to ride the nearly 3000 vertical feet of groomer/bumps to the bottom so we can do it all again!

T2 is a slightly more challenging hike. I’m very glad it was not windy.

Unfortunately we don’t have any good pictures from the summit as it was quite foggy and snowy. It was fairly skied out but we found some nice soft turns. The east face off the top starts was quite a gentle snow field but we had so little visibility we had to take it slow. After that field you choose what route to drop off the ridge. It is steep, but nothing scary and we found some more good snow on the runout to the bowl. Mission accomplished.

We said our goodbyes to the mountain and headed off the Trans-Canada Highway to Revelstoke. The road goes over Rogers Pass through Glacier Nat. Park, which is stunning. Steep, massive peaks and avalanche chutes that run over the road.

In Revelstoke we were again able to just camp in the parking lot. Revelstoke has over 5000′ of vertical, the most in North America, so we were not too concerned that it was raining at the base. From what we have heard, rain at Revy is not uncommon and it is late March. All we cared about was that it was supposed to be snowing up above!

It snowed up above! That’s a short video of me coming through some of the glades off the Stoke chair near the top.

We were near the front of the line in the morning as we knew the locals would be out to get first tracks. We raced off the gondola to the Stoke chair. Our first run was right back under the lift as there was plenty of untracked lines for everyone. The video is our second or third run out to some glades on the side of the mountain. There are a ton of glades at Revelstoke. I am not normally a huge fan of riding in fairly tight trees, but when you have close to 10″ of snow it makes it a lot more fun.

After a few laps we went to investigate the Ripper chair on the other side of the mountain. We again explored some amazing glades and ended up coming down a creek bed with cliffs on either side.

As we reached the top of Ripper we saw that ski patrol had opened North Bowl. Getting to North Bowl requires a short hike up Lemming Line above Stoke chair and there were already a ton of lemmings pouring into the bowl. Still, we needed to go check it out so we headed back around to join the lemming hoards.

Our first trip out North Bowl was not photographically preserved because to do so would have ruined the fact that we were chasing a pack of locals down a huge untracked snow field. We think one of the skiers in the pack was a patroller and as we followed them on a sharp traverse to the right into the bowl there was a freshly opened rope exposing an entire untracked field. We raced down whopping and hollering the whole way. Looking at the map I think we ended up on Powder Assault.

We ended up back in the creek canyon and eventually back at the Ripper chair. That was fun. Let’s do it again.

This time we decided to find another way into North Bowl. There are some serious cliffs ringing parts of the bowl but some small chutes every once in a while. We are pretty sure we chose Unlimited Assets, but they don’t exactly post a sign right at the entrance! The snow on the first run was so good we got to the bottom and decided we had to do it all over again. The pictures below are a combination of both runs.

Such a good day. Revelstoke was not on our pass but it has been on our bucket list and with the forecast for snow we had to hit it.

Tuesday late afternoon we visited the Revelstoke Aquatic Center. This place is amazing. For $5.75 you have access to multiple pools, hot tub, steam room, sauna, lazy river, and water slide. The main pool has lap lanes, a diving board, and a rock climbing wall. Even on a Tuesday evening there were a ton of folks using the facility and Sara and I just sat for a while talking about why more towns don’t have that kind of facility. Connected to the aquatic center is a fitness center, the town library, and a bunch of town meeting rooms. It is an amazing community asset. When we come back next year we are going to be here every evening!

After dinner at The Taco Shack, which was recommended to us by at least three separate people, we drove back to Golden. Our plan was to spend the night and then head toward Jasper, but when we woke up we heard them blasting up at Kicking Horse. That must mean more new snow! We still had one ticked left on our pass so we went up for a couple runs. We took one lap out Whitewall into Fuez Bowl.

Then we hiked up T1 again for a run off the south side. It was fantastic, well worth the hike. I’m not sure if they did not open the peak yesterday but we had fresh tracks in 12″+ deep powder. At the bottom we also ran into Tiana, a woman with whom we took the avy class. She, too, was summoned to the mountain by the avalanche blasting. We only got to share the ride down as our legs were already fried, but we are going to come back and mountain bike with her this summer!

Now we are finishing up our domestic activities (laundry, shopping, water) and then we will head off toward Banff/Jasper National Park. We planned to be heading up to AK today or tomorrow, but Marmot Basin in Jasper is supposed to be getting a bunch of snow Thursday night so now we are going to hit that before heading on.

Tuesday was not looking too promising for fresh turns at Fernie so we decided to head to Kimberley to … rent skis?!?!?!

Yes, we decided that as long as we were not going to have fresh snow to snowboard we might as well mix it up. It has been about 23 years since I alpine skied and probably 6 since I tele skied, but 36 years of muscle memory is an amazing thing. Sara only alpine skied a few times in her life as she was a telemark skier from the start, but her last time on skis was only two seasons ago. She even still owns skis. We had a lot of fun on modern gear, even if it was just the cheap stuff from the rental shop. Skiing definitely uses some different muscles than snowboarding so we got a good workout. With the short carving skis from the rental shop we just cruised the groomers. I was probably carving on these skis in the first hour better than I ever carved on alpine skis or on my more recent tele skis. It was a cold and blustery day, but all said it was a great day to get out and try something new.

We left Kimberley looking for a place to relax so we headed to Lussier Hot Springs. Lussier Hot Springs is a natural springs in Whiteswan Provincial Park along the Lussier River. Presumably the province maintains the trail down to the springs, which was an easy walk, and the pools. There are a few pools of different temperatures built up out of rocks next to the river to control the mix of hot water and cold river water. The access is along a decent forest service road about 18km into the mountains. As it approaches the springs the road clings to a hill with a substantial drop into the river canyon. Fortunately the road is well maintained and it was not icy while we were there. By a crazy coincidence we met a nice family from New Hampshire and chatted them up about quite a few connections we had in common.

After a nice soak we decided to head deeper into the mountains to see what there was to see. The road is heavily used by logging trucks so it is well maintained and plowed for many kilometers back into the mountains. We found a small road that was plowed just far enough to pull off the main road for the night.

Wednesday we decided would be a dedicated doggy day so we went for a snowshoe along the unplowed forest service road. Just down from the van there was a ton of fresh moose sign, but apparently our chatting and the two dogs bouncing around was enough to scare off the local moose.

We hiked a few miles up the road until we got to an area that had been clear cut so we had a nice view of the surrounding mountains.

Our plan that afternoon was to drive back to Fernie, but when we got back to cell service we found that the snow storm promised for Thursday night was both less snow than hoped and probably coming a day later. We ultimately decided to head up to Golden to ride at Kicking Horse for a couple days and chase the snowstorm up here.

Last night we stayed in the Kicking Horse parking lot because, like Fernie, Kicking Horse is awesome and lets you just stay for free in the parking lot. All they ask is that you check in with guest services so that ski patrol doesn’t see the vehicle and think someone is out lost on the mountain.

Today we got reacquainted with the mountain. We came out here last year and it immediately became my favorite resort in North America. There was some fresh snow blowing around today and, although it was foggy at the top making it difficult to see the terrain, nothing changed my opinion about the mountain. It is just an awesome mountain with crazy chutes and bowls every which way. There is not much they don’t let you access if you are skilled and/or dumb enough to ride it. As at Fernie they had too much warm weather in the past couple weeks so the south facing slopes are pretty hard underneath, but the north facing slopes where the snow has blown in were quite fun.

When we got to town last night we saw a flyer for an avalanche class this weekend through the Kicking Horse Ski Patrol. We have been wanting to brush up on our skills – neither of us has had an avy class in 25 years or so – and there was space available so we are now here through at least this weekend.

We spent Saturday night at Murphy Lake outside Eureka, MT on a forest service road before heading on to Fernie, BC Sunday morning.

They have had a great winter up here, but it ended a couple of weeks ago. The last week has been really warm and warm makes icy. We did manage to find some good turns Sunday but we mostly just took it easy. North facing slopes had not melted out too much and were decent. They also opened a hike above the area that provided some really great turns.

Fernie is super awesome and let’s you stay overnight for free in the parking lot. It was nice to not drive anywhere so we could just relax right after riding.

The forecast Sunday night called for a couple cm. of new snow so we were not expecting much. We woke up (late, of course) to about 10 cm. 10 cm. is not enough to cover all of the icy spots, but it sure helped. The steeps that had not iced up as much held the snow well and it blew in plenty of places to make it even deeper. We found a lot of really good turns in Timber Bowl (Big Bang and Black Cloud) and Currie Bowl (Currie Glades and the north-facing steeps off the ridge). The lower pitches that were not groomed were also a ton of fun. It was fairly heavy snow and it warmed up more during the day so it was tiring riding as you really had to power through even the soft snow.

Sara making steep turns on Big Bang.

Now we are camped again in the parking lot. We got Sara an avalanche transceiver in Bozeman so we practiced finding beacons in the parking lot. Sara has now taken the dogs for a ski and Kenai is trying his new booties. The experiment does not seem very successful as he threw two of the booties before they even started out.

It is currently lightly raining/sleeting/snowing here at the base so hopefully they are getting snow up at the top. There is not supposed to be any meaningful accumulation until Thursday night so we will probably just mess around the next few days and make sure we are here Friday. With any luck the 18 cm. forecast (which may have just dropped to 10 cm. anyway) will be more. Regardless, we have no set plans other than gradually heading north so if the snow doesn’t cooperate we will just head for AK.

Sorry for not updating the blog sooner during our Big Sky trip, but we had poor coverage Thursday night and we were visiting a friend last night.

Anyway, we spent Wednesday night in a parking lot next to the Henry’s Fork River just off Highway 191 near Island Park, ID, just south of West Yellowstone. The drive after our post Wednesday seriously deteriorated and from Rexburg, ID to just shy of our camp was a pretty solid snowstorm. I continue to be impressed by the handling of the van with our upgraded tires, even if Sara is not impressed with my [over-]confident driving of said van with upgraded tires.  At least this time the police officer I passed in the snow did not pull me over and give me a ticket for “unreasonable speed.” (Some of you in NH know that story all too well!)

On Thursday morning we eventually made our way to Big Sky. On our way we put the dogs up on the bed, but we heard some odd noise and looked back. This is what we saw.

It was still spitting snow all day and visibility was quite low. We had not been there since 1997 so we did not have a good memory of the mountain. Although Big Sky has had a reasonable snowfall this year, they have also suffered some warm spells and the week before we arrived was super warm, including some rain. The snow Wednesday night into Thursday was enough to cover most of the ice, but on the steeps we still sometimes scraped through the soft snow to icy moguls. No fun on a snowboard, but fortunately we found a lot of spots that were not bad. There were great trees off Challenger and Lone Tree Quad. We also traversed out off Headwaters Double to Alder Gulch, which was a steep north facing slope so the sun crust under the powder wasn’t as bad. Overall it was a really fun day. No pics because the visibility was pretty bad the whole time.

Thursday night we drove to the trailhead to Beehive Basin. We quickly learned our chains are easy to install and work great! The best part of the story is that they were not needed on the van. A kid who works at Big Sky and lives in his Volvo was parked out there and his nearly bald tires had him seriously stuck on the hill trying to get out of the trailhead. Lucky for him we had nearly the same size tires and so he used our chains to get up the hill back to the resort. We tried to find him and the woman he was with at the lifts the next day, but we missed them. They get a shoutout, though, because they promised to follow the blog!

There was another young couple sleeping in their truck in the parking lot with a dog who quickly became Kenai’s best friend. The couple was doing an insane ski mountaineering race today. Seriously, check out that map and look at the requirements. (I know they have to make it sound ominous, but knowing the area they are serious about the potential for a 1200 foot fall that could result in serious injury and/or death.) They have to climb Lone Peak twice, ski down Big Couloir once, hike some knife-edge ridges, and otherwise complete 16-18 miles and 9000-10,000 feet of climbing. It was great fun hanging and talking with them so I hope they rocked.  We are going to check in with them to see how it went and follow some of their other crazy ski-mountaineering events.

For the first time we really put our induction stove and electrical system to the test. Sara made a delicious one-pot sweet potato-chorizo skillet. It required simmering for 30 minutes so I was curious how much it would draw down our batteries, but it was not a problem at all. The solar charged it back up super quick the next afternoon.

Friday was a much nicer day. This was the view as we climbed out of the trailhead back toward the resort.

Lone Peak has to be one of the most gorgeous ski mountains. Not many ski areas are on a single peak like this and I think it is unique for North America. When we finally got to the mountain (because we have been sleeping in seriously late) we headed straight for the tram. The tram line was quit long – probably 45 minutes – but we wanted to get to the top. The clouds were blowing in intermittently so this was the view as we were headed up the first time.

These clouds blew through it was largely clear off the top. Our goal Friday was to the southern exposure of the mountain so we dropped off the other side into Liberty Bowl. There was actually a fair amount of powder still to be found, but the sun crunch underneath was pretty significant. It was a mix of powder, heavy crud, and a bit of ice, but overall still really fun riding as long as you didn’t relax too much. There was also a lot of exposed rock just under the powder so our bases and edges took a beating. It was worth it for the sweet turns, though.

Sara in Liberty Bowl

After a couple more tree runs on that side we decided to go back for another tram ride. The snow off the top was too much fun to pass up and we saw another steep bowl we wanted to hit. The view this time was much better than before.

We came down Marx chute/bowl and it. was. awesome. After a single, super steep icy turn off the traverse at the top we were able to hug the right ridge where all the snow blows in from the west. It was as steep as anything we have ridden (our gps says 46 deg. and, although I would say using the gps app to calculate the slope is questionable at best, in this case it happens to match my estimate so I’m going to call it dead on accurate) and even though it did have a hard crust underneath there was enough firm, windblown powder on top to give a consistent, soft ride. (I realize that sentence may not make sense for non-skiers/snowboarders, but I promise it makes sense.) It was fantastic and a great surface for something that steep. Worth every minute we waited in line for the tram.

Michael in Marx

Friday night we met up in Bozeman with one of my high school buddies who I haven’t seen in about 17 years. It was great catching up and talking about high school stories and the sometimes stupid things we did. We went out to a true Montana hole-in-the-wall steakhouse and I one of the best ribeyes I’ve eaten. (No one will ever top the pan-fried moose ribeye w/maple butter prepared by Colin in Hellgate Gorge. I am 100% confident I will never have a better steak in my life.) We spent the evening bs’ing about high school and catching up on the last 17 years. I’m sure Sara was completely entertained.

This morning we caught up with a Wight family friend who we last visited in Bozeman in 1997 – the last time we were at Big Sky and on the same trip during which I proposed to Sara while skiing at Bridger Bowl. Having no schedule and getting to catch up with old friends has been a great part of the van adventure. If we haven’t seen you in ten or twenty years, expect us to show up in your driveway (and shower) with minimal warning!

Now we are off to Fernie, BC and the start of the Powder Highway. Let it snow!