Good, Sobering Avalanche Video

Bruce, a team mate from search and rescue, sent this video to the group. A well done video showing the risks of pushing it "just a little further" on a day in which the avalanche rating was "high".

Sir Edmund Hillary Dies

Sir Edmund Hillary | Obituaries | Guardian Unlimited

Skiing at Kimberly

After skiing at Skoki, I was due in Fernie for a week-long Avalanche Level 1 course. Killaine & I drove down from Lake Louise to Cranbrook, and stayed at the St. Eugene's Mission Hotel. It's a converted residential school (i.e. it doesn't have a happy history), but the local band owns it and has converted it into a very nice hotel. It was a nice place to stay.

The next afternoon, we went skiing at Kimberly. Unfortunately, we missed the big dump of snow they had overnight, but there were still a few bits and pieces of powder to hunt down.

... and enough for Killaine to bury herself in ...

A few photos don't do Kimberly justice - it's a nice sized hill with lots of exploration potential - and a pretty laid back atmosphere.

New Years at Skoki

Killaine's birthday present this year was a trip into Skoki Lodge.

Skoki Lodge is a rustic old lodge-type-large-cabin located back behind the Lake Louise ski area. Killaine & I had hiked past it a few years ago on a backpack trip through the area during the summer, and thought it would be a great place to go back and visit in the winter.

We started in on January 1st (Killaine's birthday) - it was clear, but chilly - around -18 or -20 that day.

Skiing in, just past the ski area. We scrambled a couple of the peaks in the distance when we were last in the area.

Approaching the lake before Deception Pass.

Skoki Lodge. It was built in the mid-1930s as a backcountry ski destination for the early visitors to the Canadian Rockies. The ski in took about 5 or so hours.

The weather was quite blustery the next day, so we did a long, flat but very neat tour around Skoki Mountain. In this photo, Killaine is skiing across one of the Red Deer Lakes - the headwaters of the Red Deer river that ultimately flows through my Mum's town of Red Deer.

The next day, we did an interesting ski up to Merlin Lake. The route up was a little steep and tenuous in places - it was much more fun to ski down. Oh yeah, the snow was a thin crust over a heavily faceted base - ski penetration almost to ground at times (but better higher up).

Merlin Lake is in the upper basin to the top right.

Killaine skiing below Merlin's Castle.

The next day, time to leave. By the way, the staff at the lodge was super friendly, and the food was excellent - definitely a good, historical Rockies place to visit.

A blustery climb back up to Deception Pass.

Looking out across the lake below Deception Pass. The posts are put in to guide folks in/out in whiteouts.

Killaine on the ski out, with Temple and Aberdeen/Haddo in the background.

All in all, a great trip!