We survived. Joseph “The Matador” Thompson and I survived the big, bad, intimidating terrain of Rogers Pass, British Columbia. Now, before anybody gives me too much credit, I should say–Rogers is indeed monster, but it’s nothing most of you can’t handle, so don’t let me overstate things. That said, woh–you roll in the first day and it’s game on. Thirty-one snow sheds help protect the road and rail line from the 130 avalanche paths that tower above. Some drop 5000 feet to valley bottom and/or the road, like the one off the north flank of Mount Green. Toto, we’re not on Berthoud Pass anymore…
I’ve got a buddy in Boulder who’s been up to Rogers 11 times. When he told me, it sounded over the top. Now having spent eight days on the pass it strikes me as common sense. Huge. Gorgeous. Challenging. Limitless, fun, and definitely epic! I can’t wait to go back. Joey and I were there mostly for fun, but also to prep for our final ski exam as part of (trying to get) our international guiding certs through the American Mountain Guides Association. The AMGA has done final ski exams on Rogers in years past, but now that the lodge at the summit has closed, the finals have moved to either Lake Louise or Pemberton, to the east and west respectively. We’ll see what next year brings.
Rogers Pass was closed to skiing until the ’90s, at which point the Canadian parks system implemented a permit system to facilitate safe winter recreation. Consequently users need to observe all closures throughout the different permitted areas. A handful are closed all winter, while others are open on different days, depending on avy control. In short, it’s a bit of work to make sure you’re compliant, but in the end it takes a few minutes of your day and gets us access to a world-class venue. Worth it, for sure.
We arrived to the first big warm up of the year. North aspects were still skiing really well, so our first day we hit “The Seven Steps of Paradise,” a classic line that drops off the summit of Youngs Peak (2815m/9236ft). The tour is pretty simple: park the car, paste on the hides, and skin from the car (approx. 1200m/3960ft) to the summit of Youngs, take a drink, rip the hides, turn 180 degrees, and bomb back the parking area.
Great visibility meant easy route-finding and a great introduction to the area. The warm up, though, turned into an uninterrupted week of hot weather, with rain up to 2100m the last day. Ouch! Gradually the snowpack turned into a sunbaked mess of guanch and grabby snow. North aspects held on the longest, but even those suffered from weak-to-non-existent refreezes at night. South aspects were a gong show of wet slides and wet (not moist, if you’re a snow geek) grains more than a meter deep. So much for winter!
We ticked a bunch of A-list tours like Sapphire Col, Cheops 5, Hermit Meadows (the ski out was horrendous!), and Illecillewaet Glacier. I’d love to get back when there’s soft, winter time snow on the ground. Not that our time there sucked. We loved it, no doubt.
Now we’re home and it’s time to think about steep skiing and rock routes. I’d love to ski into the Petit Grepon in the park, do the classic 5.8 route, then ski out. Consider it a spring time biathlon. Stay tuned for pics. In the meantime, enjoy the last snows of the season and play safe. Oh, and one last thing–anybody up for Rogers Pass next winter?
