TR: Valhallas / Rogers Pass roadtrip Dec. 2018

[raypruit]

https://vimeo.com/308503897

A buddy and I did a 9 day roadtrip through the BC powder highway - a couple resort days at Whitewater and Revy but mainly touring. The highlight was a 4 day stay with https://arctosguides.com/. We were lucky enough to be a their first guests. Owners Conor and Dom have a great thing going there. Tucked away in the Valhallas, they operate out of a cozy off-the-grid house in Slocan. A 30-min sled ride out of their driveway takes you to incredible tree-skiing with not another soul in sight.

This slide path was one of the first things we saw. Needless to say it was hit a couple times.


The Valhallas


Having seen many pics of riding in a burn, it was cool to finally be in one


We were treated to some of the best slide path and tree riding I've ever done


Descending the aforementioned slide path




Mid-Dec. snowpack was plenty deep for us








After a couple days of tree riding, weather cleared up enough to get our first peek of the alpine. Having never sledded before, I have a new appreciation for how much of a workout it is, and we were only doing logging roads. While tandeming up this road, we took a corner a bit too tight and got stuck. Snapped these pics in between bouts of digging out the sled.




On our way to Gimli Peak






Weather moved back in so we had another couple days of sled-accessed tree deepness. If you can, I highly recommend checking out https://arctosguides.com/. Sleds, proximity to great terrain, their small group approach, and the off-the-grid home makes it seem like a customized hut trip.

After reluctantly leaving Slocan and saying goodbye to Conor and Dom, we promised to return and moved on to Revy to meet another friend from the coast. After a pretty sick day at the resort, we did a couple touring days at Rogers Pass. First day we headed up to Little Sifton and descended Puff Daddy.

Bluebird views of the Illecillewaet across the highway


Sun and snow were doing that cool dust hanging in the air thing


Grizzly couloir


Puff daddy was pretty puffy








Next day we hit NRC figuring we'd just do a couple quick laps before the drive home to the coast but the shredding was so good it ended up being the biggest vert day of the trip.





The top of run pre-destruction


About to drop in to our last run. 1000m straight down to the Trans Canada.


See video for the down.

After 8 straight days of pow-shredding, we drove back to Vancouver that night and I got 4 hours sleep before hopping on a plane to Ontario for a week of eating with the fam where I now sit. The BC interior is a special place.

[::: :::]

NICE!
Thanks for sharing!

[LeeLau]

Meh - East Coast is so much better. Nice timing

[nortonwhis]

Glad you wrote a full TR on this. Was hoping for more than the Interior thread.
Slocan seems so fkn far from here though. No easy way to get there at all. I'm sure thats why most of those people are there...

[raypruit]

it's actually only 1.5 hrs from Nelson, so it's out of the way but not THAT out of the way. You go through Slocan on the way from Nelson to Revy, so if you're doing the whole interior powder highway roadtrip thing, it's not a detour at all! But yeah, not much to do in Slocan other than shred...

[Angle Parking]

I like the Gimli pics. Very cool spot.

[raypruit]

cool little story in backcountry mag about conor and dom: https://backcountrymagazine.com/stor...=UA-12516957-1