TLH Guiding Season

I will open this post with one image, found below.  When it snows 5cm an hour, starting as fast as a you can flip a switch, you know the skiing is going to be good.... providing you can scrape the ice of the rotor blades before you can go skiing.

(Photo Above:  The whole group pitching in to clean ice of the rotor blades so we can fly!  Credit:  Andrew Doran)

This winter season started on an interesting note.  We had a few challenging days trying to find high quality snow, but were still finding good quality, so began exploring more.  Not just exploring, but adding more fun to the package, and making sure people got the full experience of the mountains.  We decided that if it wasn't going to be the best snow in the world, each descent had to be special.  So, we went ski-mountaineering via helicopter.

(Photo Above:  Guest rapping in, Scott Flavelle ferrying gear for the descent.  Heli-Skiing at it's best!)

So after a day of ski-mountaineering from the helicopter, it started snowing, and lots.  My friend Vince Shuley, who I've skied with lots and who also happens to be a talented photographer and writer in Whistler, showed up for a week with us to shoot photos so we focused on mining only the deepest snow possible.  The snow ended up being so deep, many shots were thrown out due to the skier being completely invisible from the immense amount of blower pow around them.  Can't really complain about those problems.

(Photo Above:  Jeff our ski model mining white gold in the Slim.  Credit:  Vince Shuley)

(Photo Above:  When's it starts to clear, go to the alpine, Chad harvesting.  Credit:  Vince Shuley)

Fast forward to later in the season, and we're dropping into 50 degree lines with hero snow, and skiing perfect 38 degree slopes and dry snow.  Skiing was so good, we parked our photographer's Randy and Andrew across the valley to shoot some great photos from across the valley, while skiing in the Leckie zone.

(Photo Above:  Guiding an amazing line with perfect hero snow in the Leckie.  Photo:  Andrew Doran)

(Photo Above:  Rolling the steep couloirs with the group finally!  Photo:  Andrew Doran)

Finished my last shift Heli-Ski Guiding, but so stoked on a great season, ready for more next year!

Guiding At Whitecap Alpine

February was a busy month, so was March, and generally the whole winter.  One of the most fun weeks of guiding I've had this winter was at Whitecap Alpine.  Whitecap has an amazing mix of tree skiing, alpine tours, peaks, and long circuits to complete.

(Photo Above:  Whitecap under the stars)

The poor start of the season definitely didn't help stability for the long term of the winter, but that didn't stop us from finding great skiing, and staying safe.  The group I was guiding was a great mix of strong skiers, fit athletes, and hilarious antics that kept us laughing through the whole week.  The week's weather started out cold, turned incredibly warm, then cold again keeping the guiding very interesting and the sleuthing for good snow tricky but not impossible.

(Photo Above:  Guests staying cool in hero snow on a warm day that shouldn't have felt like spring.)

Among the many circuits we did, I finally got a chance to take people up the super cool Mt McGillivary.  The snow that day wasn't perfect, but it was our last day, so instead of scratching around in pockets of hero snow we went for the summit.  After a long skin, we dropped our skis, and boot packed up the ridge to the tiny summit, looking down over many other mountains on the way up.

(Photo Above:  The group coming up the last few feet of the summit ridge.)

Ultimately, we skied and saw a large portion of the tenure, going somewhere new everyday.  We skied great snow, got on some peaks, had a hilarious figure eight competition, drank beer, ate great dinners, and had a great time.  It's always such a pleasure to guide at Whitecap.  If you haven't been, it's really worth checking out!

TLH Setup 2014

The Guide's work is never done, and it's an interesting year out there, as British Columbia has definitely seen so far.  We just did a shift working on setting up TLH Heliskiing, focusing on getting everything ready, but more importantly sussing out the snowpack and checking out glaciers.

I think the one thing many people can take home from a few of our observations is that we need more snow, but not as much for our snowpack depth, but for the coverage on glaciers.  Crevasses have started to bridge, however, with the winds they are bridged very thinly and very discretely.  This was discovered very quickly, when we descended down a pocket glacier (probing our way down), and found a few crevasses that were perfectly smooth on top with no visible sagging.  So with that discovery, our goal was to find runs that either had smooth glaciation with no holes, or simply no glaciation at all (at least until we get a number more big storms coming through).

(Photo Above:  Scott Flavelle probing a unknown width but deep crevasse, perfectly concealed by the wind and snow, only a small amount of snow bridging it.  Notice the clues on the rib in the background, where the crevasse goes up to, and subtly suggests it's there.  Too bad those clues aren't everywhere.)

(Photo Above:  Deciding we don't want to ski down a glacier riddled with slots that we are unable to see.  Erika Flavelle and Conny Amelunxen escaping to a new pick-up.  You can go Ski Mountaineering when hell-skiing!)

The other main goal while setting up is to establish a strong understanding of what is going on in the snowpack.  We go out, dig multiple profiles, in different elevation bands, different terrain features, and different aspects to learn what's going on.  During the guides meeting, we focus on what we don't know, and then form our field objectives around learning and shedding light on those concerns.  By the end of the week, we've got the snowpack pretty sussed out, and understand the variety of changes though out the tenure which is a touch larger than Switzerland.  This process is key for us, but the process is standard even for recreationalists.  Find our as much information as possible, if you have questions about an aspect, elevation, or layer, answer those questions.  Just don't go ski something if you are unsure.

Overall, it's great to get out check out the terrain, travel through the mountains, and of course heli ski with friends in between "working."

(Photo Above:  Alex Wigley on White Cross, "working".  Photo Credit:  Conny Amelunxen)

Closin' It Down On The Last Week At TLH

I just got back from the last week of operations at TLH.  Great group, actually fantastic, and probably some of the best conditions we've had all year.  Dry deep snow, sunshine, and a single helicopter to use in an area bigger than Switzerland.

(Photo Above:  Alex Wigley (left) Ken Gray (right) flying laps in The Gun.  Credit:  Andrew Doran)

Guiding this week wasn't as simple as most spring weeks, as there was a hair trigger layer of 20mm Surface Hoar buried 30-75cm down on a hard Melt Freeze Crust.  The snow on top of it was high quality dry snow, but continued to build a slab with multiple convective flurries dropping 10-25cm each day on top of it.  Needless to say, anything above 2350m steeper than 30 degrees was avalanching when we walked or landed on ridges.  It took careful planning to negotiate through and avoid run outs.

(Photo Above:  One of many remote triggered avalanches on Surface Hoar)

(Photo Above:  Alex Wigley leading another line in The Gun.  Credit:  Andrew Doran)

As for our guests, one in particular spent the time to create an amazing video of his trip, and it turned out great.  Check it out.

Heli Boarding BC, Canada, April 2013 from Niki Luysterburg on Vimeo.
Great season, stoked to be out exploring such amazing terrain with such great people.

Lucky 13 - TLH Spring Work Shift

Week 13, lucky 13, at TLH was on.  And when it's on... it's on.  46,000m skied in a week, with some down time and hanging out at the Meager hot springs, 11 First Descents (1 more may be confirmed), major peaks and aggressive lines skied every day, teetering landings with the helicopter no wider than 140cm, bluebird skies, and making ice cream at lunches.  I can say, wow, what a week.

(Photo Above:  Jonny Simms standing on top of Toba Peak after a knife edge landing. 50 deg roll in!)

When conditions are so good you can simply point to the line you wish to ski and be there moments later.  Exploring massive ranges far from any signs of human life, and white expanses as far as the eye can see, the feeling of being "out there" can be hard to achieve with a helicopter; but for the time spent last week we felt... "out there."  So out there we could even see Mt Waddington and the Tiedemann Range all week!

(Photo Above:  Tiny knife edge ridges after balancing the heli to land, Jonny fired up for the down climb.)

(Photo Above:  Alex Wigley warming up on Bridge Peak North. Photo Credit:  Randy Lincks)

Among some of the lines we skied, was Thor.  Mt Athelstan's massive couloir dropping from high in the alpine down through a usually ice filled couloir, and large avalanche chutes to the valley below.  The line hasn't been skied by a group in 11 years, but this week it was in condition.

(Photo Above:  Mt Athelstan and "Thor" as seen in February this year, waiting for a descent.)

(Photo Above:  Jonny Simms dropping into the legendary Thor)

One more week to go up at the lodge, hopefully it will be sunny so we can crush more lines!

(Photo Above:  Mt Magaera.  Waiting for some skis to paint on it's white canvas.)

TLH Work Shift: Exploring

A few years ago I remember starving, surviving on cans of soup, no money in my pockets, and weeks away from any decent sum of money that would help correct my starving belly.  I skied in white-outs on huge broken glaciers that week, while stressing about the snowpack on the slopes ahead, and training for guiding and avalanche exams in the future.  This week of guiding made me remember back to that week as I've given so much towards guiding, skiing, and especially the mountains; but know how they give back more than you could ever expect.  This week filled my craving for exploring new areas, that feeling of being way out there, the need for feeling small in big places, and the feeling of the ground moving quickly beneath my feet.  

(Photo Above:  Mathieu smashing pillows on Trinity, The Matrix)

Starting out our week we began by taking our guests to ski pillow lines, 1000m tree shots with hundreds of diving boards to launch on the way down, and some big high speed alpine runs.  The snow felt creamy, and had that fantastic feeling of never ending length to each run, even though we skied comfortably as fast as our skis would allow.  

(Photos Above:  Conny shucking Oysters for Lunch, the view out Jervis Inlet from our lunch spot)

Taking a step beyond the norm of eating lunch below or on top of some massive mountain face, we stepped outside of the large glaciers, and flew to Jervis Inlet to land on the beach and pick Oysters.  A completely different landscape than what we were skiing 20 minutes ago, complete with seagulls flying over calm salty waters with steep mountains fencing the inlet on all sides.  It was too hard to believe we had skied a 1200m run on Mazerati Highway moments before, and now were standing with the ocean lapping up against our ski boots, while we picked Oysters straight out of the water at our feet.  After eating our fill, we were out through the Clendenning Range and back through to the Manatee for more enormous runs and pillow lines.

(Photo Above:  Mathieu speeding through the side of Mazerati Highway, in the Manatee Range)

(Photo Above:  Conny Amelunxen cruising through an endless glacier of interesting snow bridges and remarkable features.)

On the morning of our first group of guests last day, we had been skiing big curling glaciers, with beautiful and stable snow.  Conny spotted a line between two regular runs, that had never been skied, but with the conditions at hand looked like it went without too much fuss.  Within 2 minutes we had flown by and dropped off the top.  We threaded our way down between two patches of exposed ice, and to the helicopter, naming the line "Treaty of Ghent".  Another first descent on the list, and weirdly done without punishing ourselves climbing it first, a first for me (so I guess to the true pure FD is still up for grabs!).

(Photo Above:  Alan dropping in through the ice on the First Descent of "Treaty of Ghent")

(Photo Above:  Conny Amelunxen leading the charge down The Fasp)

Skiing with another group of guests, on a bluebird powder day, we lucked out and ended up spending a day in "The Gods".  The Gods are a massive array of broken glaciers, summit to valley ski descents, spines, and everything a real skier could ever ask for.

(Photo Above:  Alex Wigley warming up on Nectar, before heading to the Gods.  Photo Credit:  Randy Lincks)

Spending time in the mountains away from home helps keep my demons away, and keeps others close, as perfect conditions allow us to step into terrain that force us to realize how small we truly are.  I'll always give everything I could ever give to the mountains, because they give back more it so many ways, and sometimes in ways you would never expect.  This past shift made me remember that.

(Photo Above:  Mount Athelstan, The Gods)

Guiding At Whitecap Alpine

There are a few places where everything lines up; terrain, location, snow quality, storm and good stability skiing, good food, etc.  I had the chance to get up to Whitecap Alpine to guide last week and spent an amazing week skiing blower snow in a deep cold Coastal storm, and also under the blue skies of an Arctic Outflow cruising around the high alpine.

(Photo Above:  One of our guests taking his skiing to new heights, Melissa's Run Area, Whitecap Alpine)

The first group of guests were lucky enough to see a solid amount of snow fall under perfect conditions, with little to no wind, on top of a well settled snowpack.  It was exactly what every guide hopes to see from a storm, with little issues in stability and thus able to get high reward skiing in on the steeps.

Among our guests were two professional photographers who took every chance they could to capture amazing images, and also got some amazing lines into their photo spots.  Jonathan Hayward from the Canadian Press had his shots published in the Vancouver Sun (see them here), and Paul 'Harv' Wright was nice enough to toss me a great photo; seen below.  Check out his website at wrightmoment.com.

(Photo Above:  Owner Lars Andrews hard at work, photo Paul Wright)

Our first group of guests were lucky enough to be snowed in at the lodge for an extra day, so while we waited for the helicopter we snuck in some of Chef (and amazing rock climber) Kinley Aitken's amazing food and sampled more deep deep powder.  Each run more amazing than the last.

When the storm finally lifted, and we managed to transfer our new group in, the weather really improved.  Lars Andrews, Joey Vosburgh, and myself ended up taking the crew on a huge loop up one side of the range, around, down, and back up the other side for a mega tour to really visit as much of the tenure as possible.  Conditions were stellar with cold powder, blue skies, and still yet deep trail breaking.

(Photo Above:  Group skinning up for another summit bootpack)

(Photo Above:  Group arriving up high in the alpine on the first day, amazing views in every direction)

Each day we skied thousands of feet of vertical, in an area that could be described as a ski and snowboard touring playground.  If there is one place I am stoked to work and ski, this is it, the possibilities are endless.  Guests were stoked, guides were having a blast, it was the way it should be.  Now after a few days off it's off to TLH for some Heli Skiing!  I'll miss ski touring, Whitecap was amazing.