Earlier this month, just after we started to get our snow back that was so elusive for the month of January, a friend and I went out to see what the Rossland Range had developed into. We went up to a new spot neither of us had skied before to get an idea of what else is out in our backyard. Mt. Elgood was the objective so with dogs in tow we started up.
We quickly broke trail through the cut block off the highway and into some beautifully gladed low angle terrain. I made a mental note of this as it seemed to be a good spot to head back to if the danger goes up through the roof (coincidentally it has and I will be heading there tomorrow to see what it looks like).
We continued on up to find that we had not trended SE enough and had to do a traverse under a exposed slope that showed signs of natural slides, not very big ones but just enough to keep you alert. We stayed low in the trees and found our way into the Lepsoe-Elgood bowl. We sat and scoped out a few lines which we would decide on once we dug a representative pit.
The pit we dug showed the weak layer that is now a big problem, it was not overly alarming at that time (CTm3/4) with very little propagation) but with the new snow I can see why this layer has been causing problems. After digging we decided to choose a relatively conservative line, especially having the dogs with us.
We slogged our way on up to the saddle and met a lonely tele dude on our way. He happily followed our new trail for a while before slipping off into his secret zone. After wandering about on the top of Elgood for a few minutes trying to find our entry line we finally decided on what seemed to be our entry point and found a great steep shot through nicely spaced trees. The dogs loved it and were surfing the sluff effortlessly. We leap frogged our way down keeping a close eye on the stability. Once it opened at the bottom it also mellowed out and we were able to lay down some nice big turns down to the skin track.
After lunch and a few high fives we were doing the kick and glide back to the mellow glades for a fun rip back down to the highway.
We didn’t get a ton of vertical, or ski a huge face, but we had a lot of fun and found a new zone we will most definitely explore again.
With the recently occurring events and touchy snow conditions, it is a reminder that yes you can have fun on simple terrain; it’s all what you make of it. I significantly modified my plans for this weekend due to the conditions, and I’m okay with that. I would rather ski again tomorrow than once today.
