We return to Whitecap Alpine and the McGillvary Lodge this year with less snow, but at least its not wind hammered. Instead of flying out from Pemberton, we drive to Darcy and fly in from there. This is a shorter flight, but longer drive, but its always interesting to see more of this area. There are 6 people in our group – Lee, Sharon, RobM, JLo, Stu and Linda. We are joined by 14 other people, to make 20 guests in the Hut. Our custodian this year is the Legendary Ron Andrews, still hopping and hard to keep still, our cook Julie Perkins, two guides – Ross Berg ( Altus Mountain Guides) , Joey Vosburgh and the powder slave Sam McKoy. Despite the low snow and limited terrain we still got long days of skiing and some pow! Considering how poor conditions are in the Duffey and Whistler we were pleasantly surprised by the conditions at the hut. Since the hut is at 1840m we didn’t have to deal with the low isothermic snow in the trees, and we stayed away from the rocky ridges which have been active so far this year.
Heli Orientation
At the hut new signs! Always new things are happening at this place, they never stop improving. Now all guests stay either in the Yurts or Sauna rooms. We were in the Sauna this year and it was quiet, spacious and warm.
Our Guide – Ross from Altus Mountain Guides.
Snowy skinning
Getting into it with the DPS!
Rob
Hut Low Down from Ron
Excellent dinners from Julie!
Lots of Dynafits in this cabin! From all the groups.
Cloudy alpine, but good vis in the trees, good snow there too.
Joey Vosburgh, the only splitter on this trip
Julie Perkins, she can ski too!
Waiting for instructions, can we go yet!
The Lodge
Chillin’ in the Lodge
Each day the guides make sure our beacons are working, thanks Sam!
Day 3 we go to Melissa’s, we went here last year and you couldn’t see these boulders.
We head up and hit a couple of slopes, not bad skiing!
Ross sends Sam ahead to get some trail breaking experience.
Snow was not bad.
Skinning by the cabin and yurts for another run.
Transitioning at the top of another run
Jason getting snowy!
Zohar getting a face shot!
Linda seems to be enjoying herself!
Fred, who is a ski racer, seems to like the pow too
Rob crashing through the snow
Sharon getting into it
Back at the hut more food!
Thanks Ron, Ross, Joey and Sam for Finding POW!
The group – Harve, Ron, Joey, Jim, Toby, Mary, Julie, Stew, Linda, Dave, Jason, Zack, Susan, Sharon, Fred, Zohar, Rob, Sam Ross, Lee,
Map from Mile One
Day 1 – Home Run – 500m climbing (Green)
Day 2 – Standard Ridge – 1240m Climbing (Blue)
Day 3 – Sparkle – 1450m Climbing (Red)
Day 4 – Melissa – 1240m Climbing (Light Blue)
