Last year I went to Rogers Pass with Lane for two days and had my mind absolutely blown. The scale, breadth, and mass of the mountains around you at all times is humbling.
With a warm and wet start to winter ’24/’25, Letty and I headed up to Revelstoke over the Christmas holiday seeking powder turns.
Day 1 (Dec 20th, 2024): McGill Shoulder
For our first day we wanted a relatively safe and low-stakes entry into the Rogers Pass backcountry. We tossed around a few ideas but landed on McGill Shoulder. Freezing levels were approximately 1500m (~5000′) which would make the first 1000′ or so a soggy reminder of home.
McGill shoulder was a lovely time. The skinner was relatively steep but manageable through the trees. Coverage in the trees was acceptable for skinning but not great for skiing until we got above the rainline, then it improved pretty drastically.
We skied a lap in the main chute, a lap in the glades, and exited out the Gunbarrel chute. Skiing down to the Bostock summer trail was a bit blue collar but nothing too out of the normal. Some creeks to cross and lots of wet snow.
Digging out my car at the end of the day was a not-so-fun way to end the day. Big thanks to the gracious Canadian who helped push my car out!
Notes on McGill:
- The chutes/gunbarrel runs are a better exit than they are a lap. They put you pretty far skier’s right and you have to traverse a lot to get back to the skinner.
- The Bostock parking lot isn’t always well plowed. Be careful before pointing it in haha.
- Bostock needs good low elevation snow coverage, it’s one of the lower parking lots at the Pass.
Day 2 (Dec 21, 2024): Young’s Traverse / 7 Steps of Paradise
After a day of lapping powder and high pressure in the forecast, Letty and I opted for a more scenic tour. We tossed around a few ideas but landed on doing Young’s Traverse out of the Illecillewaet trailhead and either skiing the 7 Steps of Paradise or skiing the Forever Young couloir.
As should be expected on a weekend, the parking lot was packed. No surprise. We had to dig out a spot.
After much flat skinning, we found a skinner to follow up towards Glacier Crest. It wasn’t the ‘normal’ route but worked well to get us to the toe of the glacier, especially with the early season coverage down low.
We began to break trail on the glacier, after passing a few groups. One group took a strategically timed snack break and allowed to break trail…ha! We didn’t mind, gave us the humungous icecap to ourselves. The Illecillewaet is so massive it’s disorienting.
We topped out Forever Young and seriously gave it a look. It was pretty wind affected at the top above the convex choke that’s the crux of the line. After discussing for 15-20 minutes, we opted to continue towards Young’s Peak and ski the 7 Steps. Even though the summit is only a few hundred feet higher than Forever Young, the ridgeline to it looks Alaskan. It has huge cornices on the northside and puts you in a wild position looking over the Asulkan valley. With fading light and overcast skies, it was quite a mood.
As we summited visibility deteriorated and the group that took their snack break crested the top just as we clicked into our bindings (wise, you might say). I led us onwards, skiing by braille and cautiously trying to set off a massive wind slab. I probably didn’t need to be so cautious, as the snow didn’t move and I radioed back up to Letty that she could ski more fall line for the 500-600′ off the summit. She enjoyed the turns more than I did HA!
The ‘steps’ are fun skiing, low-angle in a great position. Unfortunately we entered a valley cloud and didn’t really get to experience that. Some pushing, sidestepping, and luging got us back to the car just after dark.
Notes on Young’s Traverse:
- Get to the parking lot before 8AM to ensure parking.
- The typical approach up the ‘gut’ of the drainage requires pretty good snow coverage. You can also ascend the summer route closer to Glacier Crest and then traverse over the glacier.
- The toe of the glacier is the most crevassed area of the traverse. The icecap itself is pretty benign. We had harnesses, a rope, and a very light glacier kit. I could see an argument being made to forego that equipment.
- Forever Young is a good way to make the traverse a little more ‘skiing’ heavy’. It dumps you out right below the 7 Steps.
- The 7 Steps are pretty mellow skiing with a touch of mountaineering. No special gear really required. The final ridgeline to Young’s could be skinned, but it’s also a very easy booter.
- The traverse is beautiful: that is why it’s a classic.
Day 3 (Dec 22, 2024): MacDonald West Shoulder / NRC Gully
After skiing back-to-back longer days, Letty and I wanted to ski but with a later start. We got breakfast at La Baguette and had our eyes on the west shoulder of MacDonald. A close-to-the-road classic, MacDonald seemed like a good option for a shorter day with little approach. There were plenty of other people but it wasn’t too crowded. The skinner was steep, at times, but we gained elevation quickly.
We took a lap on the typical west shoulder run, just as the clouds parted and we got good visibility. The expansive views out towards Cougar Valley were awesome!
We went back up and contemplated skiing west shoulder again, but at this point it was pretty hammered and skied out. We peered over into NRC Gully and there wasn’t a single track. We were concerned about the convex roll skiing into it from the west shoulder, but we discussed options and felt we could safely enter below the roll by skiing more skier’s left.
I went first, found good turns with nothing moving. I wasn’t sure if you could ski fall line down into the NRC Gully so I opted to traverse over towards the col, the typical entrance. From there, lovely low angle turns were very enjoyable.
Notes on West Shoulder / NRC:
- Great option for half day tours.
- Gets tons of wind if there’s a western track storm.
- Pretty popular so it can get skied out fast.
- Good option for days with higher freezing levels since you are starting at the top of Rogers Pass.
- While NRC may not be super steep, it’s a pure terrain trap.
Day 6 (Dec 25, 2024): Cheops Mountain, Nicci’s Notch + N Bowl
After a few days off of touring, we had one last day on our trip. We liked checking out a different zone/parking lot each day so we opted to head up Connaught Creek. Cheops Mountain seems to be a playground for all sorts of skiing with a low barrier to entry. There’s steeps, low-angle, and scenic options.
The STS Couloir seemed a good option for a mix of some engaging skiing without too much entry cost/rowdiness. We also threw around the idea of going up to 8812′ bowl. In short, we had an open plan for the day.
We headed up from Spruces with low viz and great snow. The skin track to Balu Pass was a nice easy walk. Coverage was good so walking along the creek wasn’t a problem.
We took one run down Nicci’s Notch first, found great right-side up snow, then headed back up to check out STS.
The viz was in-and-out, so going up 8812′ was out of the picture. STS is known for having a tricky entrance, either rocks or a huge cornice. We had brought a 30m rope, harnesses, and some corn to rappel in. I set up a belay off a rimed up tree and had Letty belay me over to cut the cornice. With shovel in hand, I tried to progressively dig and find the edge, rather than run out to the edge and risk a toe-to-toe battle with the massive cornice. Unfortunately, this was slow and Letty got quite cold fast. Once I finally got to the edge, her hands were going numb and we needed to begin moving. Oh well, I’d rather have practiced caution in toeing over to the cornice than stupidity.
We skied down the ridge to the North Bowl and enjoyed some great, high quality skiing back to the car.
A week later, I read an obs that a party had cut a refrigerator size block of the cornice.
Notes on West Shoulder / NRC:
- Connaught is probably one of the busiest parking areas, second to maybe Illecillewaet.
- Cheops has so many good steep skiing lines on its north face!
- You can easily link other lines in the drainage, the Connaught/Cougar Valley is a linkup paradise!