COMP - ~Pow Pow Patrol Found at Keiths hut!~

its the beginning of the week, theres a buzz

in the air because the forecast shows avalanche risk is low/moderate for the first time in my season... (got skunked last trip)
but the question as always is.. where do we go! where is gonna be the best? what do we wanna check off the list!??

it was basically friday night and it was decided we are headed to Keiths Hut again!
its an amazing place with so much terrain, and such a good atmosphere in the hut.
and this trip was one for the books!


Saturday morning rolls around.. 4:30am the alarm goes off (Andy thought it be good to get an early start /sigh....)
with a lazy step we walk out to the truck with our gear packed and leave home around 530am
is a dark drive, but nice to be rid of traffic.

we roll up through Pemberton, and into the Duffey lake area, pulling over at the usual side parking lot.
there is a dark cloud surrounding us.. the Sun has yet to break through and over the Mountains.
We get our gear, slap on our skins, give the truck a high five and head on into the wilderness!

about half an hour in, the sun finally poked through, and we could finally feel the warmth it brought with it!
skinning up the ridge, we could see Rohr Ridge being lit up my the morning light.

From our experience last time, we knew not to get lost, and had a pretty quick journey to the hut, arriving just before 10am.
the Sun was out, and the clouds were just beginning to burn off.. looks like we are getting blue bird !!! woohooooooo
Just as we arrived, a few folks already at the hut were setting off to for Anniversary Glacier, so we were super eager to get some turns in too!


we headed inside, grabbed some lunch, played outside for a bit with the birds, grabbed the skis and headed up Joffre Mountain!

as we made it up the ridge line, we could see a couple other skiers climbing up ahead of us, bootpacking a gnarly line, its so awesome to watch and see all the other amazing people in the mountains, its very encouraging, and definitely adds to the stoke factor!
as we got higher, we watched more and more people dropping in, so we rushed a bit further ahead! as we got up about half way we caught up with those same dudes we had just watched bootpacked up and ski down! they were having some lunch, so we stopped and chatted, they were super stoked to grab first turns in the morning! and they definitely did it with style!
we had some lunch with them and and shared some more stories, Graham a rippin tele-skier from Baker, and John (aka Buns) from San Fran, two awesome guys!



so we made a plan, I would stay low, and Andy would head back up with Graham and John to ski down as I photograph them..
ya it sucks being the cameraman sometimes.. I was kinda jealous I didnt go up, but its a love hate relationship, because I love the photo i got out of it!


Soon as Andy ripped past, i put my camera in my bag and dropped in behind! Finally! wooooooo!!!!!!!1
fresh tracks, sunshine, blue skys... finally it was all coming together and i felt the wind rush over my face, the skis shred through the snow, and feel the energy ripping my first big turn!
I com around the corner and ANdy is waitin for me with a big smile, I give a woot woot! and we continue down the mountain.
we come to a fork in the road... two shoots... one on the left, nice and steap ! one on the right.....not so steap..hmmm option 1 please

we drop in, I grab a few more pics and point it for the cabin!


Arriving back at the cabin the adrenalin still pumpin, what a sick place this is!


Once back at the cabin, more and more people are there and everyone is super stoked with perfect weather, and awesome snow! we start sharing more and more stories as the night continues to get darker, a few more people show up and the good times keep rollin'




Day two:

Andy, Matt and a few other buddies wake up at 5:30 to head for the peak of mount Matier.
I had to decline such an offer because of a broken binding.. it wasn't fully functioning so I didnt wanna push my boundaries.
So I was up with them, and watched them tour off into the darkness, and gazing at the calmness of the mountain in the moonlight.

it was for another couple hour did anyone else wake up, so I enjoyed my morning coffee and took the time to enjoy the peacefulness.
once a few more folks woke up, the usual stoke level started to get higher as the sun got higher and hotter!

I started chatting with Graham and John again, and some other friends we met the night before! Tim, and Paxton, my home boys from America who exclusive members to a secret group called the Pow Pow Patrol! haha http://www.facebook.com/powpowpatrol
they had all picked out an awesome, awesome route, to tour up in behind Vantage Peak, and gain the ridge just below the peak, skiing north, east.
Graham is a geologist, so he was amazingly talented in the mountains, and guided us into a pretty amazing valley, and broke trail the whole way! thanks buddy!



the skin up seemed to go by pretty fast, probably because all these guys were awesome company, and they say time flies when your having fun!
so Once at the top, it was picture time! high fives all around! and everyone was picking out their lines! it was go time!




The butterflies we building as I clicked in to my skis and looked down at the uber steap line, with no ski tracks... oh baby.. fresh fresh fresh

I dropped in and sent out a hoot! the snow was perfect!
My Line ** :D:D:D


I cut over and grabbed some pictures of Graham droppin his line!


and finished off down the mountain! what an amazing ride!
meeting everyone at the bottom, everyone cheering and yelling, we couldnt have imagined the snow would have been that good! perfect fresh signature tracks!


we stood at the bottom basking in the glory of what we had just accomplished.
Graham and john, feeling unsatisied, not getting the line they had initially wanted, planned to head back up, and continue on for the Peak of Vantage, so Tim, Paxton, and I gave them one last high five, and watched them tour off.
we headed up a different path, a little less gnarly, but still plenty of fresh awesome snow!


We made it out the bottom, Paxton and Tim picked up their bags they had stashed in the bottom... They were heading out to the highway, finishing up a 6 day week at the hut.
Im sure they could not wait to have a shower ! hahahaha
I bid my new friends a safe farewell as they headed out.

I toured back to the cabin where Andy was waitin for me, we packed our gear and headed back to the truck with nothing but awesome memories! and great pictures!
what a trip we had! thanks again to my new friends! and to the weather gods for giving us the perfect weekend!