Trip Reports

The Grand Daddy Couloir is a fun romp in good conditions or an ideal challenge for novice ski-mountaineers. 3-4 Couloir is a classic by any definition; the iconic Moraine Lake vista with a perfect descent sliced through it, which allows a descent from glacier to lake. Both lines provide skiers with grand adventures and great turns every year.

The Skyladder is something different. In the middle of a dramatic landscape, with an enticing name, Skyladder is a legend, but I have never had nor heard from friends who enjoyed actual good turns down it.

The Grand Daddy Couloir on Bow Peak has told many stories to Rockies skiers. Some of us have been told warm, fun stories that we cherish and retell often. Some of us have been told harsher tales that everyone can learn from. The couloir is not as big or as steep as the Aemmer. It’s not a technical climb like the Birth Canal. It does not see as much rockfall as 3-4 Couloir. It’s more approachable than those other classics, like a smiling old man sitting by the fire in a backcountry hut.

Throughout the Winter Kevin Hjertaas has been writing pieces on classic lines of the Canadian Rockies. We have had these articles as centre pieces to our triweekly(ish) newsletter, the Uptrack. And, as we are now firmly in spring objective season, we thought...

This has been a weird winter in the Rockies, or the east Selkirks as a friend calls it. Things that aren’t really ever in are in, and vice versa. The Dolphin had been in earlier in the winter and then went out, but now it was in again and I honed my edges and mustered the lads to go and poke it. Joel and Chris are as good as it gets if you’re looking for someone to set the bootpack so they were wrangled and we headed up in the dark.

If you need proof that people make a place, look no further than the trail runners of Crowsnest Pass.     When I texted Susan Lowe-Wylde for advice about trail runs in Crowsnest Pass, she thought for a moment and texted...

The alarm goes of at 2AM. Today is going to be a long day...!

I’m in Squamish. Eric and I shuffle down to the kitchen to force down some meager breakfast and caffeine, we’re going to need it.