2004-10-01 00:00:00, Kevin Hjertaas
1333 Views, 0 Comments
Larger Lines (not necessarily BIGlines), volume 2:
Canmore Couloir and ‘S’ chute
April 21 and I’m at Yannis’ door again, way too early. Of course he’s wide awake and ready to go. I was fired up, but tired after two other early mornings attempting and skiing a different chute. Today’s objective was a bit less ambitious, luckily. We were off to do the classic, Surprise Pass at Lake Louise. If you haven’t done this tour, I highly recommend it. It’s just a fun trip that starts at the north side of the lake and loops around Mt. Fairview to the south side of the lake. It’s a beautiful trip and the descent is a wide north facing chute that preserves good powder. One of the highlights is cruising back across the lake for tea at the Chateau. (Don’t worry about how out of place you feel. The Chateau was built on stinky mountaineers like you, even if they don’t remember it.)
April 21 and I’m at Yannis’ door again, way too early. Of course he’s wide awake and ready to go. I was fired up, but tired after two other early mornings attempting and skiing a different chute. Today’s objective was a bit less ambitious, luckily. We were off to do the classic, Surprise Pass at Lake Louise. If you haven’t done this tour, I highly recommend it. It’s just a fun trip that starts at the north side of the lake and loops around Mt. Fairview to the south side of the lake. It’s a beautiful trip and the descent is a wide north facing chute that preserves good powder. One of the highlights is cruising back across the lake for tea at the Chateau. (Don’t worry about how out of place you feel. The Chateau was built on stinky mountaineers like you, even if they don’t remember it.)
Back in Banff that afternoon we sat on a patio drinking beer and laughing at how summery it was. Instead of enjoying it though, I went for a nap and got ready for tomorrow’s objective.
After another short sleep, I woke young-buck, Chris Rubens up at 4:30 and we drove up to Ha Ling (aka Chinaman’s Peak above Canmore). Hiking by headlamp, we made our way up the icy tourist trail on foot. We were groggy and there was minimal conversation, but we made good time and after 2 hours we were above Canmore Couloir and watching a beautiful sunrise over town (pic). Chris dropped in first as the first rays of light turned the chute orange. As romantic as that sounds, the chute was its usual tracked up self and had refrozen shin bruising hard (pic). We were forced to made jump turns down it like we were true French Exxxtreme skiers from the 70’s. We weren’t too upset, because our real target was the north facing ‘S’ chute that drains into the same bowl (pic) and luckily the snow there was untouched and way softer.
The boot pack wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard either- just enough to make sure we earned it. The rock walls in the chute were bigger than we expected and the way it curved, you could never see the entire line. As a result, route finding was a bit tricky and we almost got off track a few times. The chute was first skied by Gord Mowbray and Brian Salzgaber 2 years ago. They were stopped at the top by a large cliff and as we neared the top we could see why. The line didn’t actually go to the top ridge, even though I could have sworn it did from the valley. In hind sight, you could ascend climbers left 60 feet from the top cliff and top out that way. Either way, the chute pinched to about 2 feet wide twice below that cliff so we put our skis on there and got ready.
The snow was a bit variable, but the line was amazing. There’s something that’s really cool about not being able to see past the next bend in a chute. It just keeps revealing itself to you with every turn. We leapfrogged at every safe spot so each guy got some freshies, and had to guinea pig the changing snow.
When you finally emerge from a chute you’ve been in for over an hour, it’s such a feeling of relief and contentment. I think the Sufi word for it is STOKED! The turns in the bowl and then down the drainage ranged from poor to heinous, but we laughed at each other and enjoyed all of them. Even the hour bushwack back to the road didn’t damper our spirits. After 3 days of 3 good lines, I couldn’t wait to get home, open a beer and plan tomorrow.
Kevin is sponsored by
After another short sleep, I woke young-buck, Chris Rubens up at 4:30 and we drove up to Ha Ling (aka Chinaman’s Peak above Canmore). Hiking by headlamp, we made our way up the icy tourist trail on foot. We were groggy and there was minimal conversation, but we made good time and after 2 hours we were above Canmore Couloir and watching a beautiful sunrise over town (pic). Chris dropped in first as the first rays of light turned the chute orange. As romantic as that sounds, the chute was its usual tracked up self and had refrozen shin bruising hard (pic). We were forced to made jump turns down it like we were true French Exxxtreme skiers from the 70’s. We weren’t too upset, because our real target was the north facing ‘S’ chute that drains into the same bowl (pic) and luckily the snow there was untouched and way softer.
The boot pack wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard either- just enough to make sure we earned it. The rock walls in the chute were bigger than we expected and the way it curved, you could never see the entire line. As a result, route finding was a bit tricky and we almost got off track a few times. The chute was first skied by Gord Mowbray and Brian Salzgaber 2 years ago. They were stopped at the top by a large cliff and as we neared the top we could see why. The line didn’t actually go to the top ridge, even though I could have sworn it did from the valley. In hind sight, you could ascend climbers left 60 feet from the top cliff and top out that way. Either way, the chute pinched to about 2 feet wide twice below that cliff so we put our skis on there and got ready.
The snow was a bit variable, but the line was amazing. There’s something that’s really cool about not being able to see past the next bend in a chute. It just keeps revealing itself to you with every turn. We leapfrogged at every safe spot so each guy got some freshies, and had to guinea pig the changing snow.
When you finally emerge from a chute you’ve been in for over an hour, it’s such a feeling of relief and contentment. I think the Sufi word for it is STOKED! The turns in the bowl and then down the drainage ranged from poor to heinous, but we laughed at each other and enjoyed all of them. Even the hour bushwack back to the road didn’t damper our spirits. After 3 days of 3 good lines, I couldn’t wait to get home, open a beer and plan tomorrow.
Kevin is sponsored by
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