Thread: TR: Burnie Glacier Chalet and bc skiing!

Wow!!! spectacular pics! Agreed, this place just got added to The List. thanks for sharing.

Awesome pictures!!!
Must have been a great time.

So after reading 10 TRs this evening alone (amazing what happens when you open only TR threads roun here) I have to say that today, April4 goes down in the annals of all-time best days for TRs on TGR.

Which spot in BC shall I go? Driven through Smithers, and saw big mts and ice/snow there. If pictures don't do a place justice...

Bumpin this cause I just spotted it. Ridiculous TR Brett.

Love this shot! Sluttin it up.

I need this shot high res. for my desktop...and so that I can live vicariously through you.

Good bump. Some amazing photos in there, Wow! I love the ones of the raw, verticle, snow speckled cliffs. Sickness!

Thanks guys.

In case anyone is interested in the details about this trip, here's some info.

Here's the link for the Burnie Glacier Chalet: www.bearmountaineering.ca

This hut is nearest to Smithers, BC. I think Air Canada Jazz runs flights in the mornings and evenings to and from Smithers from Vancouver. This is a convenient way to get there. The Stork's Nest Inn is a good place to crash - and is a block off "main" street.

Our guide's name was Christoph - he runs and owns the hut as well. He also set us up with another guide named Sean... something. Can't remember his last name. Great folks.

We organized through Christoph. He hired a cook he knows, organized the details with food and booze and the helicopter for us. All we had to do was show up in town and meet at the hotel at a certain time.

Email Christoph if you are interested in checking the place out (find the generic info@ email address on the site). I think he is really flexible in terms of the services he offers. I think you can rent the hut and figure out logistics yourself (not sure about this), or you can have him organize a detailed trip with your group - from setting you up with the whole nine yards.

I think they offer quite a few services - winter mountaineering, summer activities, whatever. I assume if you are looking for information here, you are interested in the backcountry skiing possibilities. The options are almost endless. There is good tree-skiing directly behind the hut with a few steep pitches. There is fantastic meadow skipping above on the Burnie Glacier with steep shots, some coolies, and other interesting options near and above the glacier; especially within the Solitaire Glaciers (inner and outer) and the "peaks" around them. To the south (I think!), Polemic Pass holds some good lines for later in the season as well as an incredible cirque with some of the highest peaks in the area and Sandpiper Glacier (again - I think). There is good skiing down to the valley floor from here as well as options for more interesting terrain. This only scratches the surface.

Talking with Christoph about the area really opened my eyes to the lines to be skied. There is a ton of terrain to ski around there. I felt like we left a lot of things unskied. Given the proper weather, a lot more could have happened, but we had a great time without pushing my limits of what I would comfortably ski in terms of stability and snow conditions.

The Chalet is located somewhere around 3,300' I think. It is good and snowy. This may seem low in elevation to you fellow-rockies skiers. Especially those from CO like myself, but this is a different world in BC with regard to elevation. Late March was a great time to be there. A few weeks later would have maybe been perfect, but the storms are getting warmer and warmer by this time. Daylight is an issue. It was light from 6:00ish to like 8:30PM. That's a long day for that timeframe... which is nice. But later in the season brings more and more sun. Be aware of this. Also, December and January are going to have very short days - so probably more yo-yo skiing gets done in BC/AK during this time than does long tour skiing... but I could be wrong - you Northerners might be able to shed some "light" on that... hah. So plan accordingly if you venture here or this far north.

The pricing is very reasonable if you have a big group. Our group totaled 11 I think... that kept prices down. Christoph has a few tricks as well to keep heli fuel costs down. You can split your group up and have people drive out to a trailhead to keep the heli from going from town to the hut to town to the hut over and over. He'll hook you up with this.

I realize I'm sort of gushing here, but I have no affiliation with the hut or any of the guides. I'm just a satisfied customer. I had a great time and would recommend this hut and guide to anyone considering a trip like this to a hut in BC.

Brett

Bumping this in response to Lucy's TR on TTips.





And the clusterfuck on the front page.

I missed this one before. This is outstanding.

I can't believe I missed this one before either. Wow. Absolutely outstanding!

The second guide you're thinking of is probably Sean Fraser.

holy thread resurrection.

sean fraser could be right? don't remember. seemed like a good guy though.

here's a different picture I recently touched up to get rid of the images of dust from the sensor or lens or whatever it was. also color corrected it a tad. not happy with the sky as it lost some color... so did the ice, but I don't care to spend more time on it:

Enjoy:

i kinda like the original one better
has almost an old timey silver lith print look to it

Originally Posted by brettf

holy thread resurrection.

sean fraser could be right? don't remember. seemed like a good guy though.

here's a different picture I recently touched up to get rid of the images of dust from the sensor or lens or whatever it was. also color corrected it a tad. not happy with the sky as it lost some color... so did the ice, but I don't care to spend more time on it:

Enjoy:

Smithers is a small town; I doubt there are two guides named Sean there. I know him too, and he's a pretty solid guy.

Law of averages, though, so who knows.

Those are amazing. Nice composition, especially the glacier shot.

Thanks SCUTSKI, Nice thread to bump!... Oh.. and thanks Brett!

I missed this the first time too, so that's why I decided to bump it. Thanks for posting it originally brett.

Lucy's (and Fred's) TTips thread is worth a look too. (mostly) Meadowskipping with sick scenery: http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=51194

Thank you so much for the post. It's really useful.

pret personnel en ligne - Pret personnel en ligne et de comparer les meilleurs taux afin de... La demande de prêt personnel en ligne

that's a solid bump~kudos!

You've got amazing collection of photos. I liked all of them. They are simply wow!

You have made skinning look fun again. Contrast is great. Way to aim a camera. Isn't it funny seeing how its more than buying a new dSLR or a HD go pro? Skills...

Fantastic. Nice morning stoke.

Wow, those photos are amazing especially the skintrack to loft peak one.

Originally Posted by brettf

Just a ridge I spotted on the flight out to the hut. Cool...

I want there right now. dammit.






thanks for the bump.