Vista Lodge.. Golden Alpine Holidays April pow

[LeeLau]

Exchange day started pretty mellow which is typical. No new snow for 14 days so only N faces were good

5 English lucky split boarders!

[LeeLau]

The next day 5cms was forecasted. 10 to 15 fell at cold temps which refreshed nicely.

We got all sorts of weather so headed down valley to find all manner of treed North facing chutes

[LeeLau]

2cms new with a weather window that was supposed to be good till noon so we headed W of Vista to get to the Alpine and look towards Cherub

Well the weather held up for the better part of the day so we skied and rode alpine most of the day getting back in ahead of the 10cms + storm

[XXX-er]

anyone who thinks heli load in/out is confusing with one hut

needs to experiance 4 huts at once

[LeeLau]

That GAH staging is well organized.

3cms new. 2 fell during day. But turned out with 15cms on windloaded slopes. We headed over Col of the Wild and dropped to Colpitts Bowl.

Few runs back there on NE and N slopes then back very satisfied

[XXX-er]

excuse the derogatory euphenism but it looked like a

chinese fire drill

[Core Shot]

Way to get after it Lee

Not sure what xxx is talking about. Maybe he’s just lazier than you.

[XXX-er]

friday load-in load-out guests/ cooks/ food/ guides/ assistant guides/ hut keepers is about 60 people avec gear the food for a week flown in/ out of 4 huts. Then if the weather sucks enough to suspend flights some of your shit is either on the ground in staging while you at the hut or you are back at staging while your gear is still at the hut

I am just gona go ahead and assume you can't spel the word

wait for it

Logistics

[LeeLau]

Day 5 at Vista called for clearing and cold then for convective flurries ie typical spring high mountain weather.

We got another 3 + 2 cms of light dry powder to refresh the canvas. Again toured west of Vista Lodge up towards Tombstone ridge.

This time though we continued W and down the Lower Headwaters for a 500m shot. We then turned back N towards Cappuccino Bowl climbing that and dropping a NE shot off its backside towards Sunbeam Lake.

Then we concluded by walking ridges off Sunbeam Peak then skiing Off the Cuff back down to the Colpitti drainage; then climbing back out to the lodge

[LeeLau]

Cold and clear. Another - 15 deg overnight and no wind. We skied runs in the home drainage then worked back over to Tombstone followed by Sunbeam where we got to hit SE facing pow. In April!

Simply outstanding conditions

[LeeLau]

We were on a ski trip at Golden Alpine Holidays (GAH) in April 2023 guided by Neil W and Dylan C. One member of our group had a family issue.

A machine from Alpine Helicopters was in the area.

Golden Alpine, Alpine Heli and our guides reacted promptly, efficiently and with great calmness. Alpine Heli was at our location within 8 minutes of our call. Our group member was on the helicopter, and back at the lodge within 38 minutes.

Shortly thereafter he was back at GAH staging and able to attend to the family emergency

[teamdirt]

Nice- Dylan C is an old co-worker. Solid mtn man. Looks like a solid late season week! Odds are 8 of last 10 years it was cooked by now in that area…good to see if staying colder longer!

[LeeLau]

Nice- Dylan C is an old co-worker. Solid mtn man. Looks like a solid late season week! Odds are 8 of last 10 years it was cooked by now in that area…good to see if staying colder longer!

Dylan is very understated. Good to finally put a face and a person to the name.

It's one thing to have all these safety and evac protocols in place. It's quite another to see them all put into action.

Our last day involved a fortuitous helibump over to Little Cherub. GAH had an Alpine Heli machine in the area to do end of season chores. We piggybacked on to it to get a 5 min (400m approx vert, 12km distance) bump onto the toe of the Little Cherub glacier.

As one can imagine this was quite an experience for Team UK. It once again dawned cold but this time with high cloud. We took off from the comfort of the lodge with its warmth, coffee and breakfast and within 5 minutes were on a landing pad at 2400m at - 12 degrees.

Clouds broke down as we skinned laps on the beautifully planar non-wind affected glacier. Surreal to be whipping down a glacier with knee deep pow next to a bergschrund in April knowing one has another 800m to go.

After our laps we then made our way back down valley and then up towards Sunbeam where we found the cold weather finally breaking down and solar + greenhouse effect in full force. Then back to Vista Lodge picking off the remaining pow along the way. Quite the trip