Cranberry Mountain
I have attempted this summit three times and never had much success. The access has always been to sled up to around 4500 feet and start touring up the east side, the terrain has always been really steep and committing. Each time I have gotten to a spot where it’s time to push on but the terrain and conditions have told me to turn around. So we have made it progressively higher but never to the summit.
I discovered a plowed road that gives access to the North Cranberry creek. Judging by the maps it looked like a longer approach but a safer one. I had thought we would ski back out the way we toured in. But as the nine km of valley took longer and longer to tour up I began wondering if I did want to come back out this way. Finally after 4.5 hours we gained the col (where the red dots begin), by this time we were all beat but so much closer to the summit that we pushed on.
Winds have played havoc with the alpine and the tour up the ridge was like walking on Mars. Bullet proof frozen waves of snow. But we pushed on and soon enough we were skinning and boot packing up the summit. Wow years of waiting and now finally I was standing on the summit, not for long since it was 4.30 and we had a ways to go.
We skied down the east side and had bullet proof, "cock hard" skiing for the first 1500 feet and then we skied a small chute into the east proper and found some decent powder for the rest of this run. Some good turns down the entire bowl made up for the epic cross country ski we were about to embark upon.
By 5.30 we were on Coursier lake and the full moon was illuminating our way. We drank some water, then hit a logging road back to our car. The logging road was not great, it seemed to never quite go down, and occasionally went up. We were beat and hoping for a quick and easy exit. It never came so we put our heads down and walked our way down the road.
My first epic in a long time, 30 + km, 8000 feet and a new summit.
West Twin
photo:Doug Sproul
Thanks to an overabundance of forests, Canada is blessed with an amazing logging road system. There are logging roads that go up every major valley and most broad ridges. In the summer I spend my time driving these roads for work and in the winter for access. If I had a sled I would access more but I usually wait and find out which roads are plowed.
This year West Twin is plowed up to around 4000 feet. This is a perfect starting point for a variety of runs. I usually wait till weekends to access these roads so as to not bother the logging truck drivers. A large group of 9 boys traveled up there this Sunday.
Initially we had thoughts of traveling up valley and finding some decent runs but our skins decided to start touring upwards immediately. We wrapped right up 4000 feet to a ridge and had some amazing turns down the south face. and then perfect powder turns the whole way down the avalanche path. Nine men on all forms of backcountry gear, Splitboard, Tele alpine, Dynafit, Diamar. Regardless of type we all had great turns to the valley floor. And then from there we were able to tour up through some great gladed forest up to the west side of the valley.
I had hopes of skiing the Shadow line on the right, the more direct line off the peak. But the terrain and timing decided for us and we ended up skiing down the way we came up. It was a great day of new terrain, none of us had ever skied any of the lines we toured. It’s great that after 8 years in Revelstoke I can still find lots of terrain that I have not even touched. I am always searching and it still seems limitless.
Comfort Levels
Yesterday morning we brought Charley up to the ski hill for a few runs and a Gondola experience. And then around noon, my Mom, Step dad and myself went up the lifts to access the backcountry. They had not seen any of the south facing terrain so I thought I would show them some easy access touring that they would be able to access on their own.
They have toured with me for years but this season they are living here. And since they are living here they are having to ski tour on their own. I have always “guided” them around and now that they are here full time they are starting to go out on their own. So they are finding their comfort levels. I thought that they should see some of the easy terrain so that they could grow familiar with it and more comfortable.
But since we were testing out comfort levels I decided to see where their comfort line was. We toured up Kokanee ridge and I thought we should ski Holy Cow. This little chute is rimmed with cornices and steep cliffs; its very dramatic. So we stood on top and peering down the line I began convincing them that they would be able to ski it and enjoy it. It is a short chute, 200ft, and then it has a great finish to the valley floor.
Both of them starred apprehensively down the chute, wondering if they had the skills to ski it. I knew they did and proceeded to talk them down it. The first key to success is understanding that you can side slip down anything. Its the best tool in the book. “too scared to turn, side slip a few more feet till your confidence is high enough to jump into it.” Realizing that its true, Deane and Don both slid down till they could jump turn and then worked their way down the chute. And like most chutes they enjoye d the turns down the fan the best. It was great to watch them and I believe that they enjoyed their”extreme skiing” episode.
Well the weather is looking great for the next 3 or 4 days and I can’t wait to get after it.