TR: Euros go Westcoast (specifically Revelstoke & Washington)

[klar]

We found cheap flights and more or less spontaneously decided to leave the very dry and warm Alps for two weeks of North American winter. Our skiing in December looked like this:



Christmas day:



Stuff like this happend (happily not my video):



So. We arrived at the seatac rental car facility late on a rainy afternoon just after christmas. We had booked a midsize something or other. Turns out everything is automated and you can pick your own car from the midsize something or other fleet. All options were sort of intimidating and not really what I envision a midsize car to look like. We picked a Jeep Patriot because we were feeling pretty American. Thanks to the Patriot's GPS we successfully circumnavigated Seattle and made our way to a Starbucks that our friend Silas had recommended for the comfy seats. We pondered whether you would actually get like half a liter of Espresso if you ordered a Grande Espresso and checked in with Silas on the free Wifi to make sure he was home. He was, we chatted a bit and promptly passed out.

Silas woke early because he was going skiing and we woke early because of the jetlag. He gave us two trucker caps so that we would „fit in“ and sent us on our way. We enjoyed the rainy weather (nice change from home!) and eventually figured out the Patriot's cruise control. This helped with the issue of the speed limit, which was not like on the Autobahn. Crossing the border was uneventful („Are you bringing raw meat or guns?“). We stopped a few times for food and gas and were excited to find some 100% real cheese for sandwiches.



We were frequently passed by this sort of arrangement.



The GPS took us to something called Coquihalla pass. It had some snow on it but it didn't seem like much of a problem. After passing 5 cars that had done some variation of the maneuvre below, we decided we were probably missing some hidden danger and slowed way down. By the end of the Coquihalla we had passed at least 15 cars that had slid or flipped (!) off the road. The 4WD Patriot took us safely to Revelstoke despite the automatic transmission (ARGH!!).



I shamelessly pulled the „let me stay with you because we are somewhat related“ card on my lovely second cousin Alice and her equally lovely family who happen to live in Revelstoke. Once again we had a cozy place to promptly pass out in.

The following day we started our skitouring season with Lidya and Jeff. They are both total badasses and gave us a tour because they are also really nice.



Here we are trying to keep up while they are running away /setting the boot pack.



It was awesome. It also kinda hurt, but in a good way.







Well, mostly.



In the evening we figured out that another seldom seen friend lives a few doors down from my cousin, so we crashed his dinner party. The next day we skied with the dinner guests.



Old growth trees are so fucking cool. We don't have those.



Up above the fog.



Trying to eat the sun.



Brocken spectre



Yay!



The following days were really, really, really cold.



Europeans tend to imagine BC as a magical wonderland filled with treed pillowlines and endless powder. We found some of the pillowlines and some of the powder. Skinning up pillows is kind of awkward. Skiing down pillows is also kind of awkward when you neglect to properly look at them while going up.









With all the back and forth to and from Roger's pass and because we are very smart sometimes we managed to run out of gas 10 km out of town at one point. That was a very exciting adventure and I met some more lovely Canadians and their pets hitchhiking to the gas station. We were assured that running out of gas is an authentically Canadian thing to do, so we didn't feel too bad about it, even if people may have just been polite about it.

I wanted to check out this place but it was closed.



Roger's pass was full of people while we were there. The locals said more than usual, I have no benchmark but it wasn't unlike some of the more popular touring hot spots at home in the oh so crowded Alps. Slightly higher percentage of people going after big, rad stuff but that might have been the (exceptionally?) good stability. We bumbled around some more.







Something.



Something else.



Oh look, the Matterhorn.



There are two little cafes in Revelstoke that we found and frequented for pre and post skitouring snacks. The Modern is on the main street and parking is limited. It was full of ski touring people. I forget the name of the other one but it is not on the main street and has plenty of parking. This is where the sledders hang out. Sleds are weird.



There is a sled hanging from the helicopter. Not sure if rescue operation or some kind of recreational activity.



We learned that 8pm is like midnight in Revelstoke. Our jetlag was just fine with that. We made it till 2am (10pm) on new year's eve.

We explored an apparently less popular valley off Roger's pass on our last day in Revy. It was really nice and we were pretty much alone.



There's the Matterhorn again.





Oh. Well okay then.

[klar]

It was hard to say good bye but eventually we did and retraced the little lines on the GPS back south. Considering that neither of us had been to the area before, we seem to be surprisingly well connected and found yet another friend to crash with. Jason has a fancy RV and took us on a road trip to Whitepass ski area, which is not one of the ski areas you hear about in Europe. It was very foggy and the resort is not as small as people think it is compared to resorts in the Alps. There were some oddly flat lifts though. And I do wish you people would put the bar down. Don't you like having a foot rest?

Jason is a telemarker. This picture is square because I put it on instagram.



Casually hanging out at the RV.



We did a road lap, skied Westside Trees(?) a bunch and even made it past the Solar System to Mongolia. More really fucking cool trees. There was also an awesome hot pool thanks to Jason's rad dad. You put on your bathing stuff, make a drink and run to the pool through the snow, trying not to spill the drink. Then you sit in the pool for a couple of hours until you nearly pass out. The pros bring a backup drink. There were some interesting people in the pool. We learned that "lobbyist" is a normal job. We had trouble following the lobbyist's conversation. It went from local politician's sex scandals (I think?) to Seinfeld. We'd never watched Seinfeld so it was hard to figure out where that began and the politics and sex stuff ended. Jason made us watch a couple of episodes later. ("You don't know Seinfeld?!?!?!?") Funny.

Jason at the end of the road lap. The other guy had parked his pickup there to take us back. It had a DIY tiny house construction built onto the bed of the truck, complete with a wood stove. Would be very verboten on the Autobahn.



Going for a walk.



Messing up the picture.



We needed a bit of a rest day and checked out downtown Seattle. Seemed nice. I like the huge cookies you get everywhere in the US and got one (might have been three) overpriced ones at that touristy market by the water.

For our final ski day of the trip we drove the Patriot (which seemed like a very reasonable and really quite small car by that point) up to Snoqualmie pass. Silas had suggested we should ski the Slot couloir and Jason had given es approximate directions (park here, go up). Once again it was really foggy and we took a stab in the dark/fog picking a skin track to follow. Even more really fucking cool trees.







OMG I LOVE THE TREES!



The light was super pretty and sparkly where the fog ended.



Is that the Matterhorn back there?



Guess not.



Turns out it was the right skin track and we found what I'm fairly sure is the Slot. It looked like a slot anyway. It was pretty tracked and we figured we'd ski down something else. Looked like it might go, didn't, we skinned back up. Fun day, beautiful scenery, cool area.

Probably the Slot couloir:















We had another fun evening with Silas, who showed us where the cool people hang out in Seattle. Apparently that is mainly a store called EVO. There was some kind of art show or something going on. We were introduced to a bunch of cool people who all seemed thrilled to see Silas.



Back home I'm missing people and places I barely know. I guess that's what travelling will do. We got some snow though so things are nice.

[adrenalated]

Out-fucking-standing. Thank you!

[snapt]

Strong work as always!

[Hugh Jaynus]

very nice

[plugboots]

Thanks.

[Onward]

You don't know Seinfeld?!?!?!? - I think I've seen every episode at least twice from all the reruns here in Norway.

Kick-ass TR as always!

[huckbucket]

Outstanding!

[FlimFlamvanHam]

That was (really) great.

I clearly take our "really fucking cool" PNW trees for granted.

[shafty85]

Absolutely fantastic TR.

[Buster Highmen]

It was awesome. It also kinda hurt, but in a good way.

^^^^

[danmelon]

Thanks for sharing. Fkn a!

[The AD]

Great stuff!

[dschane]

Excellent TR, sweet pics, nice Down advertisement, but jesus fucking christ, those blisters. I guess the price to be paid for a slow start to winter over there.

[Ripzalot]

* like *

[Vt-Freeheel]

Entertaining

[brutah]

well that was a great read, very well done. loved the euro perspective and progression on the size of the midsize patriot.

[plugboots]

nice Down advertisement

I was wondering what was up with that picture.

[::: :::]

missed this yesterday...well done!
and thanks for posting it up!

[GoldMember]

Nice to see yet another outstanding Klar TR. Solid work in Rogers Pass, you hit it at a very good time. That kind of stability isn't the norm.

[geo039]

I was wondering what was up with that picture.

I thought that was a Jason Alexander promo shot? Shit!!!

[dschane]

I thought that was a Jason Alexander promo shot? Shit!!!

haha.

[cramp]

Very enjoyable read (as always with your TRs). Thanks a lot for sharing and welcome back to this side of the pond.

[moose pit]

Rad TR, and great pics.

[rudy]

You sure do take some purdy picture and spin an entertaining tale. Thanks for that.