A World Away

While Canada is just across the border from Washington, it feels like a completely different place. The mountains are stretched in all directions – bigger, wider, taller. In addition, the Canadian luxuries (huts) could not be more different from Washington’s rugged, inaccessible wilderness. This year, Kelly and I were lucky to be invited on a weeklong trip to the Kokanee Glacier Cabin with our friends Dave and Kathryn, who had won the lottery. While I had been to some more primitive Canadian huts like the Bonnington Huts and Asulkan Cabin, Kokanee was going to be a very different experience.

Getting There

Like the Bonnington Huts, the trip begin with a 7 hour drive from Seattle to the Nelson, BC area. Along the way, we had a unique cultural experience in Trail, BC. We stumbled into an Indian restaurant, where the local Indians were having a celebration, complete with a small band playing a mix of Western covers and Indian music. We had some incredible dishes like butter chicken poutine and Chinese-Indian fusion dishes. Kelly and I even took the mic for a few songs on guitar and piano.

The next morning, the whole group met at the helicopter barn in Nelson, BC. Unlike other hut trips I had done, this one included a helicopter ride in and out. As a result, we could bring up to 100 lbs of personal gear. It was wonderful to bring luxuries like fresh vegetables and drinks, but it also made for some careful planning. With 15 people in total, our plan was for two people to make breakfast and dinner each day for the entire group. Thus, we only had to cook one giant breakfast and dinner all week.

As we gathered at the heli barn, we realized that the gloomy clouds overhead were a problem. The helicopter requires moderate visibility to be able to fly into the mountains. After delays, they finally took off with the first few people. 45 minutes later, they returned. Visibility was not good enough to land. So we waited.

Around noon, the clouds started to lift and the helicopter began making successful deliveries. Kelly and I were on the last flight. It was our first time in a helicopter!

The best way I could describe the helicopter ride would be if high resolution satellite imagery and LiDAR became 3-D. It was fascinating looking over the terrain so closely. And in a matter of minutes, we left spring in the lowlands and were in a snowy winter wonderland!

A Sunset Ski

It was mid afternoon by the time we all landed, so we were eager to get out and explore. However, we first had to practice companion rescue. This is a tradition of BC huts, and I think it is a good thing to slow down and ensure everyone has fresh practice before venturing out into avalanche terrain.

So it was not until 5 PM until we started touring. Eric, Alex, and I decided to skin up the ridge behind the cabin and see if we could find any good snow. A warm atmospheric river had dumped rain up to 8k just a few days before (also flushing out the persistent weak layer), so the snow was crusty in the trees, but it started to improve above the cabin. The sky alternated between snow and sun, sometimes both at the same time. We found a some tasty looking north facing slopes and went for it.

Going into the trip, one of my goals was to experience a sunset in the mountains. Huts allow you to linger in the alpine before rushing down to a cozy respite. And on our first evening, I got my wish.

We dropped in for our second lap just as the clouds began to turn pink on the horizon. The only other time Alex, Eric, and I had skied together was an infamous evening skiing the refreeze at SnoCrusty Pass. This time, we skied sunset powder deep in the Canadian Selkirks. Pretty much the same thing, right?

Boot-top Bliss

With a sunny forecast and first hand knowledge of the snow, Kelly, Kim, Bryan, and I planned to go up to the Kokanee Glacier. Despite doing a short tour the evening before, everyone was somehow more disorganized on this morning, scrambling around to find gear. We got started after 9 AM, which was pretty normal for this trip. When it is light until 7:30 PM and you start at 6400 ft, there’s really no need to be in a rush.

Each tour towards the Kokanee Glacier begins and ends with a brief steep forested section which Kelly and Kim named “Mt. Crusty”. After that, it was smooth sailing, following the immaculate skin track set by our hut keeper, Keith. Pro tip: if a hut keeper is going somewhere to ski, it is a pretty sure bet to follow them.

Sections of the glacier were a bit windy and cold, but the summit of The Pyramids, at over 9,000 ft, was actually not too windy.

Our group was well dispersed – some were over on the Joker Glacier, others were across the valley on John Carter. Radios allowed us to keep tabs on each other.

We waited for a window in the clouds to ski. Just as I had hoped, the snow was perfect boot-top powder off the summit. We dropped northeast into a big bowl between two cliffs – “The Battleship”. For over 1500 ft, we had first tracks in absolutely perfect snow.

While I’ve had similarly epic snow and views on other late March / early April trips like the Spearhead Traverse last year, it made me so happy to see Kelly and others realize how great backcountry skiing can be. It really doesn’t get better than this.

At the bottom, Kim (Mrs. “I don’t do laps”) asked us unprompted if we wanted to do another lap. She said she never knew backcountry skiing could be so fun!

We took a second lap down The Battleship before calling it a day. Below 7k the snow was dust on crust, but it was still fantastic skiing overall.

Variable Vibin’

The middle few days were characterized by variable weather and snow. Kelly took a rest day and I explored towards Nansen and Robert Smith with a big group of guys. This day was mostly a strikeout, skiing chunder on north aspects and lacking the visibility to get above the crusts. It even rained on us briefly. We traveled through one north facing valley where nearly every feature had a 1m deep crown from persistent slab avalanches the week before. It made us grateful that we were not there the week before during the warmup.

One silly side-quest we did was to the generator. The cabin is powered by a micro-hydropower plant downstream. There were many theoretical debates about the voltage and phase, so Eric, Alex, Kelly and I embarked on a quest to find more details. We only really found more questions.

For the next few days, we returned to the familiar north facing terrain above the old Slocan cabin (“Smuggler’s Bowl” and “Grizzly Trees”). Visibility was constantly in and out, but typically improved through the day, although the afternoon could be prone to snow squalls.

It was really nice having different groups to ski with and the hut nearby. I could ski with some people in the morning, then radio to Kelly and meet up with her for a few afternoon laps.

While there was a wide variety in ski motivation and experience in the group (age was positively correlated with ski motivation, as demonstrated by the three old guys, who averaged 7k ft vert per day, despite the fact they were double our age), there was never any pressure to ski more than you wanted to. People enjoyed skiing, but equally enjoyed playing board games and hanging out in the cabin. Bloodbound, Wingspan, and Splendor were group favorites.

Everyone did a great job with cooking.

One afternoon, Alex and I were taking another lap up Smuggler’s Ridge when we decided on a whim to go for a prominent couloir at the head of the ridge. We felt pretty good about the snowpack at this point. We had about two feet of powder on top of the crust, making for moderately challenging booting. It was the only booting we did all trip!

A storm squall engulfed us as we skied deep stable powder, and we scurried all the way down to the lake. Then the skies cleared again and we could admire our tracks from back at the cabin!

A Cold Smoke Surprise

While Keith gave us general forecasts each day, it almost always was an ambiguous “Cloudy, 0-10cm snow”. So when we woke up Thursday, I was surprised to see a fresh 10cm of blower powder had fallen on top of 10-15cm of warmer snow earlier in the week. This meant conditions could be really good.

Kelly was feeling low energy, so we relaxed inside for the morning, learning guitar songs. With hopes of clearing skies, we headed up towards John Carter across the lake.

The weather alternated between sunny and blowing snow multiple times on our way up, but it cleared in time for our summit of “Little John”. Even with the sun, the wind chill was downright frigid.

Kelly’s hands got frozen at the top, but she quickly forgot that when we started skiing down the north slopes of John Carter. The slope angle was probably 15 degrees – a backcountry green run. And the snow was total blower powder. We kicked up trails of cold smoke behind us as we cruised easy turns. Kelly thought it was the best thing ever.

We skied amazing powder all the way down to the lakes – the first perfect top to bottom run of the trip. It was incredible to be able to ski not a single turn of bad snow hut to hut in such epic terrain.

Kelly returned to the cabin with some others while I convinced Alex, who had already spent a full day skiing, to join me for another golden hour lap. It was wonderful.

A Fantastic Finale

Our trip was bookended by great weather. For our final day, we got a cold, sunny day with stable, amazing powder on north aspects. We felt incredibly lucky. We could not have dreamed of better conditions. It even got down to 0F overnight!

On most days, the group generally went to the same area. However, on our last day, everyone else went back to the mega runs on the Joker Glacier, while Kelly wanted to return to the powdery green runs of John Carter. Patrick joined us for a morning lap.

We first took a morning on lap on east-facing “Complex Pleasures” before it got cooked by the sun. This rolling post-glacial terrain on the east side of John Carter reminded me a lot of the Baker Backcountry.

After climbing back up, we went all the way to the summit of “Big John” Carter. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and we could see for probably a hundred miles into the Selkirks. For backcountry skiing in general, the Canadian Selkirks might be the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). From the steep terrain of Rogers Pass to the mellow alpine slopes of Kokanee to all the rowdy tree skiing in every valley between, this range has every type of skiing, for every season. The Selkirks get a lot of snow, and the quality is usually high.

This time, Kelly and I skied off Big John to the northwest for a long run. She got to practice her farming more.

With such beautiful weather, we decided to explore Sunset Mountain. No one from our group had skied it, so I had the pleasure of setting a skintrack up the steep face, which was just going into the afternoon shade.

The snow was excellent on Sunset. Next, we climbed back up to Little John. It was a bit slow trail breaking in the warm afternoon snow, but I took the opportunity to watch the shadows creep across Glory Basin. While I usually want to move fast and optimize skiing, it was nice on this trip to slow down and focus on creating beautiful memories with Kelly. This is one I will cherish for a long time.

We took one last break atop Lil’ John. To the south, I could see the Bonnington Range. It was there I did one of my first backcountry tours ever, 7 years ago. I remember seeing the stunning peaks of Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, and Brant telling me there was a cabin out there. It felt a bit full circle to be here years later.

We skied off at golden hour, farming our tracks from the day before. Across such a vast landscape, we left a small, but beautiful mark.

Once again, the powder was excellent all the way to the bottom. Everyone was all smiles at dinner after an amazing day.

A World Away

Our week at Kokanee Glacier Cabin epitomized what I love about backcountry hut skiing: spending time with friends, getting away from the world, and slowing down in the mountains. It really does feel like a different state of mind. The fact that we had some of the best skiing of my life was a nice bonus.

Shout-out to Alex, Eric, Sam, Ken, Bryan, Kim, Nick, Mark, Dan, Francois, and Patrick for a wonderful trip. And a huge thank you to Dave and Kathryn for making this trip happen! Kelly and I will remember this one for the rest of our lives.