March 27 - Roy and I heading into Monkey Bowl. A great run with many different snow types. Great fun.
March 27 - Looking towards Shames and just a few of the bowls in the impressive backcountry around the resort. Left to right is Super Bowl, Thunder Bowl, Cat and Dogs and then various runs before getting into the resort itself. This is only a bit of the lift served backcountry. There is loads more over the backsides.
March 27 - Nearing the top of Obi-1-Ski-Nobi and just about to crest the ridge for some fantastic 360 degree views.
March 27 - Roy and Brad above the small lake on Obi-1-Ski-Nobi. Some great looking skiing in the background with a few steep chutes to the lake below.
March 26 - On top of our 6000ft run south of the Skeena River on the edge of the Gitnadoix Watershed. Looking east into the headwaters of the Dasque, Middle Creek, Wedeene and Clay Rivers.
March 26 - Brothers Mark and Steve in front of a very impressive Mount Valpy. The peaks behind are in Gitnadoix River Recreation Area.
March 26 - Brad punching a trail (as usual) up onto the summit ridge. Was a little unnerving being under those overhanging and massive cornices. 
March 26 - Gaining elevation and maybe halfway up our 6000ft of gain.
March 26 - Kris finding it easier to walk on the very firm snow. We summited above his head via the out of sight couloir that heads diagonally to the right through a gap. The summit is about 5000ft above. We are going to call this run Big Bunny.
March 24 - Josh booting up a steep section of ridge to gain the small glacier next to Mount Little. Amazing snow that we were really lucky to ski. 
March 24 - Looking south into the headwaters of the Wedeene River from the 1878m summit of Mount Little.
March 24 - On our way to the summit Mount Little shown here. We went around the backside for a more friendly skiable route.
March 23 - Myself skiing an incredible section of snow skiers left of the Oscar Glacier. A really fun ascetic run. 6000 ft of greatness!
March 23 - Kris just after riding a fun section next to the summit of Oscar Peak. A fantastic ski and real adventure. 
March 24 - Brad looking into our run while Kris climbs up to him. Oscar Peak behind and looking very much unskiable. 
March 23 - Myself nearing our highpoint on Oscar Peak. Great day out and my first 6000ft climb and ski. 
March 23 - Skin track to gain Oscar Glacier. 
March 23 - Brad and Kris on their way up and onto the Oscar Glacier. The start of a big day.
March 23 - Part of our ski descent. Small pyramid to the right of the summit and down behind the two rick knobs. Just a section of the 6000ft run.March 27 - Last day of Spring Break and as well the last day that the good weather would hold. With no sleds and another timeline that we had to stick to we headed up Obi-1-Ski-Nobi to ski a north facing run down into Monkey Bowl. We had a late start and while heading through some low elevation trees heard a loud and close rumbling. A class 2 wet slide had spilled down off the rocks right next to where we'd be skinning up. It was a bit unnerving but as we gained elevation the snow firmed up and we gained some confidence. We headed right to the highest point above the lake finding some snow that was of a really nice quality. It was hard to pass up but figured we'd get a longer and more entertaining run into the north facing Monkey Bowl.
The views from the summit were again great. Seems like that is a theme in this area. But with the coast mountains, the rare sunny days if you are standing on top of something the views are going to be incredible. We were able to pick out the areas we'd been skiing the previous few days and even planned out a few new routes for future trips. So many possibilities.
The skiing was fun for the top half but with time quickly going and the south facing slopes we'd be passing under constantly shedding snow we had to move fast and couldn't start exploring an exit we didn't know would go. So we headed left into a couloir that Brad knew went to valley bottom and got the heck out of dogde. I ended up doing an incredibly long power slide down some smooth slide debris that was a lot of fun but had my right glute and legs on fire by the bottom. We didn't stop until we hit mature forest and were finally able to let our guard down to have some fun and joke around.
All that was left was a fun ski down the steep creek which was great with dog tossing and creek jumping. We easily made it down to the truck with loads of time to spare which meant we caught happy hour at the resort for some tasty beverages.
An amazing stretch of skiing. I skied 9 out of 10 days, with most of them being incredible days out. Such a good Spring Break and what I've been going for all season.
March 26 - I really needed to break after the last 3 days and 4 previous ones before that so marched Heather up to the top of the Dome for another go at North Bowl. The snow wasn't nearly as nice but the views were pretty good and we had a fun time even though she re-injured her tender ankle.
March 25 - Brad had been talking about this 6000 foot run he'd skied a few years previous about 30km west of Terrace on the south side of the Skeena. We had to check it out and so headed out with a group of 5 Friday morning under clear blue skies to ski a big run and get back in time for an 8:00pm concert which some of the guys were going to.
We started skinning about 100m above sea level and after something like 6 hours reached an elevation of 1870m. We'd spent most of that 6 hours in a massive terrain trap of a bowl trying our hardest to work the terrain to stay at least a little bit safe. A small condolence was that the avy danger in the alpine had been moderate for over a week. Our main concern even with that rating were the huge over hanging cornices looming far above our heads for the 600ft boot up a steep wide couloir. We all made it though and nothing ever fell down while we were there that day.
The views once on the ridge were incredible. South into the Gitnadoix Watershed where there are some truly spectacular summits. Steep mountains with glaciers spilling off of them. It was amazing. We had a timeline though and turned tail from the highpoint on our ridge at 4:00pm.
The skiing wasn't as good as Mount Little but we managed it and had some fun. We went from firm snow to crusty powder to pinwheeling slop and finally back to frozen corn here and there. We were right on schedule for getting the guys home when while being shuttled back to the waiting trucks, Brad's sled broke down. We were saved though by Kris who was able to tow us out in two trips. What followed was probably the most pain my legs have ever been in. Towing behind a sled for close to 20km of wet snow. The lactic acid buildup in my legs was impressive and the km markers ticked by slowly. But we all made it back just as the light was failing. Brad, Mark and Steve were able to get the final few songs at their concert but were in a bit of trouble for being late. Kris really saved the day as it would have been a real march to get out of there without the tow.
March 24 - With such a big day up Oscar the day before I was really surprised when I felt ready to go for another big day. We headed up Middle Creek for a summit of 1878m Mount Little finding the best snow of my Spring Break. We skied off the summit onto the pocket glacier via a run called F.U.B. Face finding hero snow and sunshine. It was amazing! We then reskinned to the back of the glacier to ski a short new couloir we are calling "No Goats, No Glory". We'd been poached by an adventurous goat that had walked down this thing to get around a cliff on the ridge. It was a fun ski and from there we skied right to valley bottom on really nice snow. A good 4500 foot day with powder just about to valley bottom!
The views were spectacular once we were up on the ridge and it was hard to get moving looking south and imagining all the cool skiing in the Wedeene and Dasque River watersheds. What a great day out. I was feeling strong and with great weather and good stability it was getting hard to turn Brad down.
A few days previous we had had a pretty good look at the glacier from the top of Big Bird to the north so knowing we'd be travelling through an area with some really large holes and long partially covered cracks we brought along a rope and glacier gear just to be on the safe side. Nobody fell in though and it was good practice tying in and travelling as a team. It was an amazing day out and one of my larger ascents and descents on skis. I was physically spent that evening and didn't know if I'd be able to ski the following day. Who knew I'd end up skiing 4 more...
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