I was nervous before I left, having only toured 4 days this season prior to the trip. My worries intensified as I was introduced to the clients in the group; they all were veteran ski tourers, who looked like they lapped 5000ft before lunch. I had been invited on the trip as a volunteer for Golden Alpine Holidays, the operation in charge of coordinating the trip. My position was appropriately named ‘powder slave,’ and my duties were to make myself useful in any way possible.

Our destination was Sunrise Lodge in the Esplanade range in the Eastern Selkiriks. At 2050 meters, Sunrise is situated in a splendid location that allows groups to either ascend to the alpine or drop into the trees. The lodge is a short helicopter ride from a staging area near the trans-Canada highway. In minutes we were transported to a powder oasis, where our group had the valley to ourselves all week.



We were greeted at the lodge by 1.2 meters of storm snow and a looming avalanche cycle. The latter however, would not deter us from our objectives of skiing as much powder as possible. From the heli landing we burrowed our way the short distance to the lodge where I soon learned the reality of ‘powder slave.’

It took 3 days for the 2 guides and myself to complete all the digging that was necessary. The lodge, boot room, sauna and outhouse roofs all needed to be cleared off. We also excavated the dumpster, the burning barrel, and the stashed propane cylinders. Then mid-week, when we thought we had it under control, it snowed 25cm overnight and we did it all over again. We ended up getting 40 cms throughout the week and although it was hard work, it was awesome to be in so much snow.

All this digging was, of course, before or after the regular duties of the day’s activities: ski touring, guiding and breaking trail, as well as helping the cook and water hauling.


Guiding is about ecstasy and exhaustion; it is a sweet job sometimes and very difficult the next. There were times when I questioned what I was doing there and I was dumbfounded to hear the stories of when there used to be no cook and no powder slave to help with the chores. The skiing however, put everything into perspective. Even though the avalanche danger was fair-poor we found safe and deep skiing all day every day. And boy did we ski. When you have clients that live in Utah without ski passes and ski 70 days a year you can count on them ready to bag vert.


Getting a rhythm skiing face shots through old-growth forests is an experience that is magically joyful; we did this to our hearts content. Our longest run was 420 meters in the trees and once the skin track was in place we could get our fill quick. Day after day we repeated the ritual of slaying pow line after pow line; it was phenomenal.


If you’re looking for a great spot to ski tour, grab some buddies and book a week at GAH. The people, place and program is really fun; I highly recommend it.

http://www.gah.ca/

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