Burstall pass, Healy pass and valley of the birds

First ski touring of the year at highwood Pass.

Climbed with Parry and Orion. We protect a lot of 4th class exposed terrain so when we got to the climbing pitch we were short on time and didn't want to go for are 2nd bivi in 1 trip. Fun trip but give your self twice the time given the Selkirk North book.

We climbed the SE ridge (4th class with the odd step of low 5th class) with Wayne and Dana after being stuck out the night before. Nice fine day out in the Selkirk and is highly recommended.

Climbed the SE ridge (4th class) and decided to descend the North Ridge(3rd class) this turned out to much longer and difficult than we expected. We also got stuck halfway down in a thunder storm. Long and short is we got stuck halfway down the mountain overnight.

Scramble with COC. With a mixed bag of weather it was still fun.

Three day trip into Forbes with Paul T. and Greg M.. Fine climb.

A scramble up peaks 2,3 with the COC mostly easy with one moderate step.

A fine long weekend of climbing in skaha. I was doing too much climbing to bother to take pictures.

Mike F. and I went to do some training for our trip to the Columbia Icefields. We decided to go for an afternoon tour up Nakiska. Travel conditions were fast for are ascent and we made it to the top of the Gold chair in under 3 hours. I was able to ski down and make some nice looking turns but mike had alot of problems because his din setting was too low.

The gate was closed at the entrance of the Nakiska parking lot but we got the family that lives on site to open it for us. I recommend parking on the road before this gate.

The avalanche conditions were not looking good so we had to give up our ambitions for a big peak. We need practice for our upcoming tour to the Columbia Icefields so we decide to tour up Burstall pass. Travel conditions were quick but the decent featured the worst skiing of my life. The Pass had been plastered with 70cms of snow the day before and the sludge had turned into a breakable crust over top moist snow.

Unfortunately my camera was not functionally correctly so the pictures did not turn out too well.

I have been waiting for 4 or 5 years to do the Dolomite circuit. It was well worth the wait! We stayed at Lake Louise hostel after ascending Crowfoot Mountain the previous day. It was Mike's first backcountry tour and Barendʼs second. It was my sixth day over the last 4 weekends with a completely blue bomber of a day. I also learnt how inefficient the old skins are. We had to take our skis off to kick steps up what other groups could skin up. Once we gained the Ridge above Helen Lake, we stopped for a well deserved 45 minutes lunch while waiting for the slope below us to soften up. Great corn turns were made by all and then it was another slog to the top of the pass in behind Dolomite. We thought we were home free and made more great turns. Mike had a kamikaze face plant and really showed the snow who the boss was. We then finished our day practicing our survivor man skiing. The treed south facing slopes were all isothermal crap, but were soon forgotten.

In spite of a very early start from my house Heather, Barend, and I only got going from Bow Lake at 8:45. It was bright sunny and already T-shirt weather. This was Barend’s first tour in the backcountry and I lent him by telemark gear for the trip. Heather skated across Bow Lake while Barend and I preferred to slog across the lake with our skins on. Once passed the crowfoot glades, the snow started to soften up rapidly. At little crowfoot-crowfoot pass we had much discussion about the correct route up. The decent started out with wet soft slab but lower down we had some delightful spring corn. It was a perfect day out in the mountains.

Ben

The Northeast spur of Panorama Ridge makes for nice ski tour. It gets you up high with good views, makes you sweat a little, and if you are cautious you can virtually eliminate any exposure to avalanche terrian. If the stability is excellent the area also offers some quite steep open slopes on which to makes turns. From Taylor lake parking lot we proceeded along the winding switchbacks to Taylor lake. The winter trail often bypasses the lake. Once above the lake we headed in a NW direction trough open glades to our objective. By approaching the ridge on climber’s right and then staying on the ridges spine we where able to minimize exposure to avalanches. It was a hot and sunny, and in spite of this, the snow pack remained strong. The turns were of low quality, 5cms of mush pow on a firm and occasionally variable crust.

Ben

On are way back from Skaha we decide to take a day in at the pass. It start as a cold and crisp but very sunny day.