3 Dog Days

Hey All,

Just arrived home from three great days of ski touring
with Jeff MacPherson, Marc-Andre Cousineau and Chris
Haywood.


Day 1 we fired a 1000m up-track towards the col above
Emerald Lake slidepath, noses out and ears perked,
waiting for signs of instability. The conditions and
snow were oddly silent and after digging around we
found a pretty decent pack with about 180cm at around
2160m, no major reactive layers either...hmmm. We
ripped the skins off and let the skis run. Cranking
the first turn the snow hit the knees, the second and
third turns blew our minds as perfect rocky mountain
powder eventually hit our waists and caused enormous
smiles to span our shiny faces. Steak and scotch
awaited us at the Hostel, as well as enormous talk for
the upcoming days.

Day 2 we ventured to the "snow zone", a line of peaks
just east of the south wapta that seems to trap absurd
amounts of snow. Last year for instance, we found 2+m
of snow there in December, perfect untracked dream
runs and bowls noboday seems to go to. Deep and
perfect snow awaited as we went back up tp the sunny
summit of one of the peaks as many times as we could,
trying to soak it all in and revel at some of the
deepest and best snow we had seen-anywhere. With the
fading light, we shot back to the trees and made our
way to the highway and to the huge meal and sauna we
knew was waiting.

Day 3 we awoke tired and content from skiing dark to
dark days in a row and a relaxing pace was in order.
We skied up the frozen creek and canyons leading to a
valley south of Observation peak in the bow summit
area. A weak snowpack and highwinds kept us from
venturing too high but allowed us a few nice runs in
the trees as well as another great day in the
mountains with good company. We could smell the dark
roast coffee and pastries at Laggans so we did the
luge run out to the road and answered the call in
short order, reflective and happy.

A stellar few days!