TR - Icefall Lodge in The Canadian Rockies near Golden.

[skiingnow]

Icefall Lodge – A man had a dream, to build a lodge in an epic location in the Canadian Rockies. After much searching he found the spot and built a hut in the Kemmel Valley. He was so stoked he built another hut and two other satellite huts to create a destination where one can spend a week skiing trees or exploring the alpine, or go on a hut to hut trek. Once you’ve been there you can understand why he chose this location. Situated at 1900m to offer tree runs on low vis days, and easy access to four alpine valleys to get your sunny day alpine fix, its hard to get bored at Icefall Lodge. In fact this was our second time there. The last time we were there in 2011 we had more sunny days.

Check out the hut overview here:
http://www.leelau.net/sharonandlee/i...-hut-overview/

Snow Donkey


The Lodge


Outside with the run - Home Run - in the back.



Tree skiing

[Turnipking]

I was there in February and it was pretty epic.

[Turnipking]

I was there in February and it was pretty epic. I was blown away at the terrain we accessed.

[skiingnow]

I was there in February and it was pretty epic. I was blown away at the terrain we accessed.

Our first trip where was in Feb and we had better weather to get into the alpine. This time we were limited to the trees more and it was still pretty good. we STILL haven't skied it all!

[skiingnow]

Day two - skies were promising

http://www.leelau.net/sharonandlee/i...-and-home-run/



snow was good!


so was the potential!

[skiingnow]

Short vid of first couple of days.

[moose pit]

So vast, so open, so difficult to find that perfect spot for a skin track... oh well try and try again

[skiingnow]

So vast, so open, so difficult to find that perfect spot for a skin track... oh well try and try again

you didn't happen to be there the week after us were you? If so you guys had THE week!

We did have one day pretty much dedicated to uptracks...

[neufox47]

Looks like a sweet place. I need to go on a cabin / yurt trip again next year.

[Turnipking]

I know it's a strange thing to mention about a ski trip but the food was amazing!

[skinnyskier]

I know it's a strange thing to mention about a ski trip but the food was amazing!

Is Monique still cooking for Larry?

[lynchdogger]

To the top for pow! Stoke meter on high! Woot!

[PowderAlltheTime]

I was there a couple of weeks ago. No new snow, but lots of sunshine to get up high on the glaciers. North shady slopes skied very well. The food was great. Allison cooked for us, but Mo is in charge of all the cooks. Here's a couple of shots of our week:

[LeeLau]

I was there a couple of weeks ago. No new snow, but lots of sunshine to get up high on the glaciers. North shady slopes skied very well. The food was great. Allison cooked for us, but Mo is in charge of all the cooks. Here's a couple of shots of our week:

Did Larry like our Home Run art?

[PowderAlltheTime]

He noticed them and made several Larry type comments. I thought they were some type of snow crop circles meant to communicate with extraterrestrials. Either that or a bad mushroom experience.

[skiingnow]

Day 7 at Icefall Lodge - Sun at last!
http://www.leelau.net/sharonandlee/i...amond-glacier/

[pde20]

Lee & Gang - i've been following along w/ your TRs on your website for the week and enjoying them all. I was at Icefall for the first time Feb 22 - March 2nd this year. It was awesome in every way conceivable. Well, i guess we struggled to take good photos w/ flat light and all that snow for the first 5 days, but were still generally able to stay in the alpine and see a lot of the terrain....though obviously not ski it all.

Vitamin P on day 1:


Groove Tube on day 2:


Wondering, Lee, if the fact that you've gone back 2 times (2 years in a row?) constitutes an endorsement of Icefall as compared to similar BC huts? I'm looking to head back next winter, just trying to decide whether it is as good as it gets, or if we should sample around. Willing to opine?

[skiingnow]

Wondering, Lee, if the fact that you've gone back 2 times (2 years in a row?) constitutes an endorsement of Icefall as compared to similar BC huts? I'm looking to head back next winter, just trying to decide whether it is as good as it gets, or if we should sample around. Willing to opine?

Sharon - Lee's wife - how tough was it getting into Vit P? We were at the top and looked towards it, but didn't want to do it on our first day out. You can't really see the entrance, I guess you go as far right as possible off Troll Pass and its good to go? Lee and Trevor looked up it from the other side and thought it was rocky.

The Icefall terrain is pretty tough to beat. We've heard Selkirk lodge is comparable but you need to be guided. We like the non guided option at Icefall. Battle Abbey has pretty great terrain too, but again you have to be guided.

Fairy Meadows is awesome too, but the hut can be a gong show depending on who else is there, and if its a white out the tree skiing is limited. Flying in/out is also probably the most difficult since its pretty far in and that drainage seems to have more weather.

They're all good, I'd explore. I'd go back to any of the ones we've been too. If you go guided make sure there are two full guides and an assistant so they split up the group.

[pde20]

We were guided...and it was worth every penny for a bunch of Colorado boys unfamiliar w/ terrain and snowpack. It also allowed us to ski stuff like Vitamin P on day 1 not really appreciating what we were doing. I'd been told this was an awesome run and we should do it if we had a chance, but even when we were in the midst of the run the weather really kept us from truly understanding where we were and how rad it was to ski it in legitmately knee to thigh deep pow. Not unti a few days later did we get this view and really get it:



Vitamin P being the shot departing from the lowest point in the saddle (Troll Pass) and, yes, we went pretty far skiers right to get into the shot. No, it was not particularly rocky getting in, at least when we were there. A few sharks that were easily avoided. We came back out through Portal Pass.

Interested in Icefall vs. Sorcerer comparison, if you were on those trips to Sorcerer w/ Lee and Sharon too, or if they care to chime in here.

[LeeLau]

Vitamin P has huge seracs and cornices protecting it. Yah i think most people who don't know glaciers and do self-guided get intimidated (for good reason) and end up gapering around in trees even when the weather is good so totally understand.

Icefall HUGE terrain. Like 9 out of 10 on the scale of huge.

Sorcerer is say a 7. Kokanee Glacier also a 7

Fairy Meadows is also a 9

Use Rogers Pass as a baseline of say 7. Whistler Blackcomb as say 6. Duffey most areas is a 7 to 6. Snowbird and Alta say a 4.

Battle Abbey say an 8. SME also an 8. Whited out in Selkirk Lodge so never really saw it.

All above are my fav places to go (w exception of Selkirk Lodge where I can't really form an opinion). But I can't stand being guided and I can NOT fucking ski in big groups so my gut instinct is that i won't go guided again unless a trip is dirt cheap.

Also I love alpine. We get pillows and deep stable pow tree skiing out here all the time and ski it till we're blue in the face so understand where I'm coming from.

What all the above means is that Icefall and Fairy Meadows has the biggest terrain and the biggest peaks and the hugest manliest things to ski but it takes a long time to get around to most of the things you want to ski.

[LeeLau]

bump for canuck ski trip hut stoke

[Ignatius]

Thanks Lee. I hadn't noticed this one earlier and appreciate the bump. We've got a crew headed to Icefall in March and are stoked.

A question: to what extent are ropes/harnesses/etc part of the daily program? I gather that you prefer non-guided whereas we will be on a guided trip (seems to many of us like the way to go for unfamiliar terrain and snow stability), so the answer may be somewhat different I guess. But is this a place where you pretty much don't leave the hut without a harness on, or a place where you might occasionally put it on for tours that cross glaciers? Some in the group aren't necessarily all that keen on the idea of skiing stuff that requires harnesses, so I'm wondering how much of a limitation that'll be.

Thanks!

[LeeLau]

Thanks Lee. I hadn't noticed this one earlier and appreciate the bump. We've got a crew headed to Icefall in March and are stoked.

A question: to what extent are ropes/harnesses/etc part of the daily program? I gather that you prefer non-guided whereas we will be on a guided trip (seems to many of us like the way to go for unfamiliar terrain and snow stability), so the answer may be somewhat different I guess. But is this a place where you pretty much don't leave the hut without a harness on, or a place where you might occasionally put it on for tours that cross glaciers? Some in the group aren't necessarily all that keen on the idea of skiing stuff that requires harnesses, so I'm wondering how much of a limitation that'll be.

Thanks!

It's more "a place where you might occasionally put it on for tours that cross glaciers". March snowpacks are fat. The guides do a good job probing the routes beforehand especially around the more crevassed stuff like Diamond Glacier that they're certain about coverage before you get into the bigger slots. I suspect they like you to have the harness on if you're going to glaciated terrain just to minimize farting around mid-tour. FYI - we had our harnesses and gear out but myself and another guy would switch leads on the glaciated terrain and probe to check snowbridges were OK so we never did break out the ropes but had them just in case.

[Ignatius]

Great, thanks Lee. That's good to know.

Perhaps this would also be an appropriate moment to mention that I have long enjoyed your trip reports and general good vibes and positive contributions around these parts. Good stuff.