(all pics by Lee Lau or Sharon Bader unless otherwise noted)
Backcountry skiing is apparently now a thing as is the experience of touring out of a hut located at 2190m elevation at the doorstep of the alpine in the Valkyr Range. When old friend Simon contacted me with news that his colleague Tyler had a prime week at the LQ Outpost it took little time to rope a few friends into getting on to this guided, catered trip.
Magic
Tyler Higgins info@flowguidingservice.com
Simon Beland sim001@hotmail.com
Evening light at the lodge
Peter of Alpine Dreams at meal prep
Our first day was wasted by a pilot who didn't know how to fly in Kootenay fog. Our second day was also short as the fog again thwarted us for the best party of the day but we eventually got it in and had a reasonab ski day and slope testing.
Waiting around.
Our first day of real touring was day 3. We thought it wise to use our plentiful allocation of lucky splitboarders to step it up ( gradually) into steeper terrain. Our group skied the steepr shots off Broom, then Windy and culminated with donger hunts in Magic.
A trace of new snow but what was already there had near surface facets and dried out superbly well making for dilbit condensate dry snow of triple tabernouche tears of Trudeau pow.
The day ended with clouds breaking and views toward the north end of Valkyr's tenure with Hilda, McBride framed in the evening light. Then we got quadruple overhead dinners from Peter
Windy Ridge on the "Priaprism" face which drops off ESE. We dropped off W
Lance
Sharon
Lee trying to snake Lance's line
Tyler sizing up Magic
In the guts of Magic
Tyler
That used to be a natural halfpipe
Then back up Magic. Sadly we ran out of time for one more lap
Just as we got close to Home Ridge we get above the cloud ceiling
image Dermott McHugh - Lance and Misha
image Remi Flament - into the light
Image Lance Pysher - way back home
Peter creating
I must have eaten six? Seven? of these wonderful creations
A bring-it-on day as temps stayed consistent and cold while skies cleared holding onto the good visibility from the evening before. A trace of new snow freshened up the snowpack. SE winds also started throughout the day. More snow fell in the afternoon with the clear skies disappearing and ceiling dropping closing out that brief window of alpine.
We skied towards Lequereux -No Name Col but backed off as height of snow went from 145cms to 80cms rapidly meaning that it would be substantial rocky slalom downhills. Winds picked up dramatically. We retreated by doing a lap in Helmet Bowl in the sun then made our way over to Machine Ridge.
Up towards the alpine
and back down (Amelie)
image Dermott McHugh - Remi
image Dermott McHugh - Sharon and Lee on the transition in the sun
Remi on the uptrack
Simon then put in a masterclass of routefinding down Machine Ridge and off the nose of the Machine and navigating cliff bands down "Turbo" Machine. Our longest run of the week at 700m + of pillowy fall-line low density pow! We then skinned back and around the nose of Machine Ridge counter clockwise back up to Magic Lake.
That itself gives you a good look at the many lines descending NNE and N off Machine Ridge replete with dongers and whiteroom hallways. Such amazing terrain and so much room for fun and choices
Amelie chasing down Dom on the Turbo Machine
Dom
Dom getting aggressive
Found a break in the cliffs to navigate through and unlock Turbo Machine
Remi
Turbo then opened up into this old clearcut making for good gladed skiing
So many pillow paradise hallways of dong-a-long-a-thons coming off Machine Ridge
The day culminated with us following a skintrack put in by Tyler from Magic Lake to the Machine Ridge nose. It was another masterclass of skintrack setting through sustained 40 deg hallway terrain marked as Magic Spout aka Magic Pillows. It was with little reluctance that we stripped skins at the top to then take the same run down gutting that quadruple overhead baby's breath blower sublimely scintillating steep pow.
Dom getting aggro again
Simon doing what splitboarders do
Goodbye Ami!
Did I ever want to dig a snowcave and hide out on Magic Spout. 45 minutes to skin up; 2 minutes to ski down; but what a ride! Beautiful terrain, consistently sloped with aesthetic trees providing hallway lines and perfectly placed dongers to boost. Unfortunately January days are short. We dragged ourselves back to LQ just before sunset tired but happy and slayed Mt Appetizers and Dinner.
