Author: Reece Legault
General area: Red Mountain Cabin
Trip start date: 2020-03-06
Number of nights: 2
Twas’ the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic and a trip up to Red Cabin. The team: Jordan, and Kane who flew up from Vancouver, Matthias, and Myself. We had a minor panic after hearing about a CN derailment across the road at Giscome Elementary. Thanks to the folks on the PG Backcountry Ski Page I confirmed that the Bowron FSR was plowed and we took that route in.
March 6, 2020
Lucky for us, Carrier’s road was plowed and we saved ourselves from the not so fun last 3.5 km of the trail to/from Penny. Started the skin over a barely noticeable skin track with packs full of beer and boxed wine. The hip flexors were killing me by the time we got to the top!
It was a good thing we knew where the cabin was because it was barely a hump in the snow. The snow level was just below the roof and the stove pipe was covered. The outhouse was almost completely buried. After a long time shovelling we squeezed in a quick run before dark on the open face north of the cabin leading into the creek.
March 7, 2020
Bomber spring stability meant we were free to explore! We hopped over the backside of the ridge north of the cabin and skied down into the bowl. Gained the ridge to the east and traversed it all the up to the (3rd?) peak and skied the bowl below. It was wind affected up top but turned into nice velvet powder pretty quick. The next run was even better. It was sooooooo long! Hooting n’ hollering the whole way down!
That night after a few glasses of wine we decided the conditions were right to attempt ‘The One’. It was three years ago on my first trip to the cabin that we gave this run its name (or at least our name for it). We jokingly talked about skiing it but we all knew it was beyond us. From the angles we saw it on that trip it looked damn near vertical. On the next trip up we got some new angles and it started to look skiable… Later on at home, a google elevation profile proved it wasn’t straight up and down.
We didn’t bring crampons, or axes because we thought conditions were going to be way less stable than they were and we would be stuck skiing tree laps. I was worried about getting stuck in an exposed spot with no tools but we decided we would give it a go and if it got bad we had a few options to bail.
March 8, 2020
Go time. We skied into the drainage below the cabin out into the valley with all of our cabin gear and cached it. It was a steep uptrack that eventually linked up with our track from yesterday at the bottom of the upper bowl. Once at the peak south of ‘The One’ we took off our skis and boot packed under the NW side of the peak above the bowl and onto the ridge. The NE side of the peak had a massive cornice over the bowl. The NW bowl below our traverse was a wind affected, steep, and exposed face. We were able to stomp decent steps. We used our shovel handles as makeshift ice axes. They didn’t plunge worth a damn through the hard snow. Once on the ridge we descended backwards while doing our best to kick steps into the icy snow. This all would have been routine with the proper equipment. The route to the peak from the shoulder was mixed rock and snow. The snow softened up and we easily ascended to the peak. From the top of ‘The One’ we could see all the way down to the valley. I couldn’t believe where I was standing and that it was skiable. Matthias took the glory run, then Kane, myself, and finally Jordan. There was a thin layer of powder over a hard base. It wasn’t great but it was enough to make turns. What a run!
We were able to traverse down and across a good chunk of the valley before putting our skins on to regain the ridge. Headed back up for a victory lap down the lower bowl. We picked up our gear and sidehill traversed the east face of the ridge that the main trail is on until we gained it. Skins on, heals out back to the truck.
PS.
I don’t know if anyone has skied this run before. I would love to hear if anyone has, or if there are any other names for it. Cheers