Dust on Crust

Our final stop on our ski tour was in Nelson BC (pop. 10 230) at an elevation of 535m and located in the Selkirk Mountains on the edge of Kootenay Lake. This town was incorporated in 1897 and has extensive and scandaleous history surrounding mining.

 

 

We came here in search of the famous "cold smoke" (light, dry snow. Also known as "champagne powder" or just plain "pow") and we found it...only there was about 10cm on top of a hard icy layer; known as "dust on crust". It was definitely tough travelling.

Too icy = boot packing

Too icy = ski crampons!

Too much alder

 

It was still fun skiing and, as ex-Ontario skiers, we could handle that hard crust :)

 

Tom

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Skiing the steeps

First stop on our BC ski road trip: Steep Creek. Just north of Pemberton on the Duffey Lake road, the "Steep Creek" drainage is a large area in the coast mountains surrounded by steep trees, large alpine bowls and gnarly couloirs. We skied into the backcountry near Darkside lake on Friday afternoon, and were joined shortly by Dave, Jenn, Tia and Greg just after midnight. It was a busy weekend, with around 30 people staying in the area for a couple of days. Not surprising - it was the first big dump of snow in a long while. With 30cm of new snow the skiing was great, and we managed to escape the crowds by heading into a hidden hanging valley just north-east of the lake - seems like no one else found it but us. The visibility was great and we managed a couple of laps.

Being unemployed, Marie and I spent a couple of extra days in the area skiing some steep trees in another area south of the lake. We were the only ones around, and had the place entirely to ourselves. An incoming storm provided good lighting for some dramatic pictures. 

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