4 Hut Esplanade Range Traverse Video 40mgs

Everyone I know who was in the Selkirks that week had an amazing time and our trip was no exception. A cold 20 cms blew in the second night of our trip and that meant great skiing for the rest of the week. The key to the great skiing we got was that we started in the south and traversed to the north. This meant that we climbed south facing corn snow and got to ski north facing powder. I wasn’t sure how much skiing we were going to get in because the nature of the trip was a traverse but my endurance proved to be the only limiting factor to how many turns I got.

It may sound romantic to say I did the first ever 4 hut traverse of the Esplanade range, but don’t be too quick to give me points for bravery and courage! We had a helicopter drop all our supplies off at every hut before we flew in and we had no less than 3 guides and a cook on the trip to cater to our ways. It was pretty sweet to only ever have a day pack and even though I was lugging camera gear around it wasn’t bad at all.

The total traverse length was about 40 kms long. We started at Sunrise lodge and the first day was mostly about getting into the zone, managing all our baggage, getting settled in hut, and doing a lengthy avalanche scenario. In the afternoon we did do a short tour in perfect weather to the alpine.

Sunrise hut has some killer terrain, (as does the whole Esplanade) and I stared at the ‘Ridge of Melting Faces’ for a long time imagining what skiers with more talent than I have could do there. It’s a killer location for a photo shoot.





2 days later I was at Meadow hut after traversing for what only takes a couple hours. Meadow is host to another killer zone with amazing pillows below the hut and exquisite big lines above. The hut sits below the north flank of Cupola peak, which is the highest peak in the range. I was bummed that we had to leave the next day because it felt like I could have spent the whole week at Meadow. I hope to be back there.






Leaving Meadow on day 4, we traversed to Vista hut. Vista is known as the place to be in the spring because of the 5 drainages you can ski. We weren’t disappointed with the terrain. For two and a half days we skied all over the place and my favorite spot was a zone called Colpiti basin. This feature had more than enough skiing for our entire group, for the whole time we were there and the great part was that the skin up, although it was steep, was super quick. It always amazes me how much terrain you can cover on skins, in a 20 minute period we could race up a run called Col of the Wild and be back on top of a 1000 foot run.







The last leg of the traverse brought us to the exclusive Sentry Mountain Lodge. This lodge was purchased by GAH this season and it is a significant upgrade in amenities to the GAH huts. Running water and electricity make life comfortable at the lodge and the skiing around Sentry is awesome too. Since we had such good weather and stability we explored and area called ‘Secret Valley,’ which hosts a lot of great alpine skiing. The views keep your steps inspired here as the Adamant range and Sir Sanford (highest in the Selkirks) loom to the North West.





I would recommend this traverse trip to anyone who loves to see a lot of terrain on a trip. Everything is laid out well so that you get a ton of skiing in. Prices on the week run about $2,350 CAD with everything included. I’ll sum it up with a quote from one my trip mates: Kathy Lichtendahl, ‘a trip with Golden Alpine Holidays means good times, good friends, good exercise, and great food.’

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