Backcountry conditions - is it worth it?
The local snow report said 8cm on Friday morning and another 11cm on Saturday am (April 5th) but in the back of my head all I could think of was the +12°C temps forecast in town that day. Would it be worth it, I wondered. Would the new snow be heavy by the time I arrived and caught the lift to the ridge? Would we be skiing 19cm on breakable crust? Would there be frozen tracks all over the place to negotiate or worse frozen tree bombs? And how about that spring sun, would it already be cooking north aspects given its current trajectory in the morning sky?
There's only one way to know for sure, so a few of us agreed to meet up at Whitewater with a plan to ski some North aspects that would hopefully be more sheltered from the sun's cooking spring rays. After a quick ride up the Silver King Chair at Whitewater Ski Resort we skinned to the ridge and dropped into Acidophilus, our go-to route for the best snow quality and most rewarding lines in almost any conditions. After 1500' of rewarding pow turns we were confident that we made the right choice as it was definitely 'worth it'. Ski penetration was 30+cm and the snow was super soft (not heavy) and plentiful. We laid the first tracks down Acidophilus but the hoots and hollers coming down the mountain side told us that we were not to be the only skiers out here this day. We quickly punched in an efficient up-track and did it all over again minus one of the group members who was not equipped for multiple laps that day. That left two of us for a repeat performance. After the second and third lap our gas tanks were getting empty so we called it a day and headed south back into the Whitewater boundary. By this time the snow was getting heavier and the reward for effort was becoming less with each run.
Given the time of year and how mild this spring has been here in the Kootenays I would say the day was definitely worth it. I just hope that others have not given up on Mother Nature and are out enjoying the backcountry as there is plenty of good backcountry skiing still to be had.
