Field Notes #6: Backcountry Skiing in British Columbia
Adventure: Backcountry Skiing
Location: Ymir Backcountry Skiing Lodge, British Columbia, Canada
Date: February 2017
Adventurers: Tim Stempel & Crew
Epic in nearly any sense, this recent trip to the Ymir Backcountry Skiing Lodge was incredible! I flew up to Spokane where I was collected by some friends who had driven out from Western Washington. We loaded up the truck with ski gear, groceries, not quite enough booze, and headed for the border. Arriving after dark into the old mining town of Ymir (pronounced Why-Mer), we made our way to the Ymir Palace Inn. Hardly a palace, the old hotel was warm and comfortable enough for the night, despite the hooligans drinking and making a ski jump next to the road outside our window. We found a book in the inn's lending library called West Kootenay: The Pioneer Years, and regaled each other with tales of the mining town's sordid past of boozing, whoring, arson, shootouts, and unlikely two letter first names like L.W. McCollough. It was a great way to begin finding a sense of place in this rugged country.
The next morning we woke and continued North up to Nelson, BC. Nelson is a great little town in the mountains beside a beautiful lake with a well developed identity as an outdoor sports hub for the region. We met the rest of our group (14 total) at the Nelson Airport for the KVH briefing on the helicopter flight to the lodge. The heli could hold up to 5 passengers per run plus all their gear, so our concerns about weight turned out to be unfounded, and left us wishing we'd packed more beer. Regardless, waivers were signed, gear was loaded up, and off we flew for a week of no cell service, amazing skiing and wonderful company!
Backcountry skiing is mostly hiking up mountains with skis strapped to your feet. The number of actual turns you make going down the hill maybe takes up 10% of your time (a generous estimate). But those turns, often made through untracked powder, make the uphill slogging worth the effort! And in this regard, the Kootenay mountains totally delivered. We were treated to several sunny days at the beginning of the week, and fresh snow later in the week. It made for mostly killer skiing all week long!
Another element of consideration in backcountry skiing is avalanche danger. This is a real threat and something never to be taken lightly. Two weeks before our arrival, a skier staying at the lodge had been caught in a large slide and did not survive. So we were on high alert for all signs of instability in the snowpack and performed multiple stability assessments throughout the week. We largely stuck to lower angle treed terrain out of avalanche slide paths due to several weak layers within the snowpack. Notwithstanding, we found some really fun lines and made some excellent pow turns!
Throughout the week, we found time for lots of good conversation, card games, playing music, and relaxing in the wood-fired sauna. Having the opportunity to completely disconnect from the digital world was refreshing and invigorating. The simplicity of the daily schedule - breakfast, ski, lunch, ski, sauna, dinner, games, bed - allowed me to settle in and relax in a way I don't often find in the rush of the digitized world. Trips like this also attract good people. I found some really great connections with new friends, and look forward to seeing folks again soon.
I really couldn't have asked for anything different out of this trip other than for my wife to have been able to join me too. Helicopter rides, amazing skiing, wonderful people, beautiful surroundings, simplicity, mental clarity, and a wood-fired sauna are definitely the ingredients for a pretty satisfying life experience.