The Asulkan Valley and Hut Mission

Five of us set out on Monday to skin/snowshoe up through the Asulkan Valley to the Asulkan Hut for the night. My housemates Pam, Rob and Jere came along as well as a new buddy Austin.

The hut sits at 2100m and the hike started at 1200m. It was just shy of 8km in distance from the carpark to the hut, which is long enough on the snowshoes! The first 5km was a gentle gradiant only gaining about 200m vert, but this bought us to the 'Mouse Trap'. This was a tight little gully that gained its name from the several avalanche paths directly above it that can come roaring down upon you. Apparently the upper portion has filled several times in the last 20 years, with at least once being plugged up about 2/3 its length! Basically it wasn't a place to hang around and all attention was very high going through there! Even with the 'low' avalanche rating for the day we were heading up there had been several solar avalanches on southern facing slopes in the days prior, including a cat.3 avy the previous day so we kept our minds on the job..!

Smoked through the Mouse Trap and the started to really climb. The weather for most of our morning was clouded in or overcast, however for the last hour of our climb the skies opened up giving us glimpses of some of the biggest alpine terrain I have ever felt the presence of, it really was MASSIVE and for a lot of it fairly gnarly! No photo or explanation will ever do the surrounding mountains there justice. Unforunately once we got to the cabin the cloud came in and we were reduced to a flat light. Rob and Jere got just up above the cabin that avo for a line while the us other 3 took advantage of chillin out in the comfy cabin.

The cabin itself is amazingly well set up. All propane heating cooking and lighting. Kitchen, fire and communal tables downstairs and all the bunks upstairs. We chilled the night away, think I managed a solid 12hrs sleep up there. Glorious! Had another 6 stay there that night who were all great to talk to about the area and backcountry travel. Seemed they had all had their share of experience in the mountains!

The following day we woke to fairly cloudy weather but about a foot of snow had fallen and up as high we were it was gloriously light and fluffy. We hit a morning tree run down through what is known at the Tree Triangle. Was great to be getting back to some deep turns and face shots. Seemed unreal it was as late in March as it is after that run! We only dropped 300m vert and charged back up to the cabin. We rested for a bit here before hiking further up from the cabin around the backside of a prominant mark known at the 'Pterodactyl'. From here we geared up for our long run out, back to the cars! What we were dropping were know as the 'Seven Steps of Paradise', and this it was. The turns we got up there were some of the best turns I have had this season. Deep and good! The really good snow started to get heavy around the 1600 or 1700m mark but even with the snow heavier it was still good terrain and too much fun! After getting through the Mouse Trap it turned into tough work as the gradient was super mellow and the snow super sticky. But we battled down to the cars, and it was so worth it!

All in all a good trip, beautiful terrain which I imagine I will attack again a couple more times before its too late. Fortunately a lot of the slopes up there have notherly aspect meaning the snow will stay nice and for longer!! And the cabin was awesome!! Good backcountry mission! Good crew! Happy me!

Pics - Top to bottom - Asulkan Cabin - Pam on our hike up with some of the inspiring alpine behind her - myself, Austin and Jere about to drop the Seven Steps of Heaven with the Pterodactyl behind us - on our climb up to the hut with the Asulkan Valley behind me - the crew just starting to pass through the Mouse Trap on our way up to the cabin.

Spring Time Is Oh So Chirpy

Since last post things have started to warm up and really change. We got our fair share of winter pow pow and now we are being treated to some fun slush and warm sun. Loving it. Done some cool shit in the last half of the season that will make this Revy season very memorable:

BIG MOUNTAIN BATTLE!! - Teams of two having to find markers, ride all lifts, and do a couple of hikes.....over the entire mountain, in any order they want. 3hr time cap..........go mental!! Amanda and I became Team Fryknots and Rob and Sean became team Mass Production. Made some kick ass team shirts. Was rad, me and Amanda did all but one thing in 3hrs while Rob and Sean did just a bit better finishing 4 places ahead of us in 15th. Still owe you boys a box of beer for that too. Amanda and I did win on GNAR points however. Epic day!!

GRIZZLY SHOULDER UP ROGERS PASS - Have done two trips up this shoulder. It is epic. Feels great being out backcountry. The hikes have both been about 4hrs. The feeling to stand on top of the hike, have mountains as far as you can see and knowing you are about to get awesome untracked steep lines is so sweet. Very different riding though as you are constantly evaluating the terrain to avoid any avalanche danger or some big ass cliff you could easily come across. No ski patrol out there.....! But have loved it and pumped about many days to come, hopefully through May and June!!

CARIBOU CABIN - Five of us (Amanda, Rob, Robo, J Rod and I) ventured up Mt Revelstoke which we live at the foot of. Climbed up to a hut which is at about 1500m so nestled real good amongst a SHITLOAD of snow. So at the start of the hike it was easy going, a well packed down path in the snow. However, a few hours later a whole lot further up it had been snowing, heaps! We were breaking trail in knee deep pow and to find the place we just climbed until we were crossed the 7th road (closed for winter). Somehow we thought we were lower than we were and got a bit lost for a while. We made it though, after about 6 hours of pretty intense snow-shoeing!! Unfortunately I got a bit crook and didn't really didn't join in the nights crazy festivities that the others managed to have in a Cabin in the middle of the woods! I think there maybe been a few trees harassed, some roof jumping into bottomless pow, and maybe a little walk which included a creation of a huge spiral in the snow......but the others can tell you more about it. Was tough to listen too!! haha The hut is such a rad setup. The toilet gets a worthy mention. It has 3 doors on top of each other. At the moment you access it from the top door because there is that much snow (!!!), and inside its got a ladder down the side to climb down to the dunny itself. Crack up!! The mission out was easier going but we got more snow the night we were there so was still tough trailbreaking till we got lower down!! Good mission.

SEATTLE/MT BAKER 48HR MAYHEM - Sean had to take his girlie Delia to Seattle to catch a flight so Rob and I jammed in for the roadtrip. Left Revy at 7am, drove down to Seattle. Got there after a couple little stops at 715pm. Checked into a hostel that had free grub on that night. Mint. Got beer, played games with a few people we met at the hostel, before you know it we are closing the bar after an epic night. Drunk story 1 of blog - get to hostel at some late hour pretty boozed. Realise all of us have left our phones in the car so no alarm clock. My drunk solution was to head down to reception, steal a bunch of baggage tags and some scissors and cut all the little bits of string together, then tie one end to Robs wrist because he was next to the door in our dorm room and have the other end running out under the door into the hall. Then ask the reception guy to come and tug the string to wake Rob at 7am. Ridiculous. I was about to start cutting all the baggage tags bits of string off when the people we were partying with walked past, apparently in the same room with a phone for an alarm. I was so close to wasting an amazing amount on time on the worst drunk idea ever! Idiot!! haha Early start next morning, got lost in Seattle (wrong highway and shitloads of traffic....and extremely hung over....) then discovered Mt Baker is way further away than first thought, but we made it just after 12 for a good avo of riding. Sum up Mt Baker - sweet resort that seems to get dumped on, with what seems like slackcountry galore, and no lack of surrounding backcountry but in the middle of nowhere, which I think is cool in its own way! After Baker it was boost home. After some good laughs, a few snoozes and a bunch of shared driving we were home in Revy by 11pm. Fair to say it took a couple of days to catch up after this trip!

Drunk story number 2 for the blog. - I got lost in my own bathroom. Yep. Home one night after a boozy night at the rail jam. All lights out i decide i need to pee so get up and go to the bathroom which is directly across the hall from my room. Make the decision not to bother with the light (switch is outside the bathroom). Do my business in the dark i guess, I don't remember very clearly. But I couldn't find the way out of the bathroom (regular rectangle room....). While trying to get out i manage to take the top of the toilet tank off and drop a magazine on the floor, mess up the rest of the bathroom. Amanda heard the banging in the bathroom then it just stopped and she heard a 'can somebody help me outa here?'. haha she came and turned on the light where I had a stunned look on my face and said 'oh my god!' and charged by her straight to bed. She came in laughing a storm to which I got annoyed at and told her that I was really lost in there! All I really remember is being lost and really cold! What a clown. Another reason I should prob quit drinking! oh dear.

Heading up to a backcountry hut in the Rogers Pass tomorrow for the night. Will post about that trip on its own real soon, have a feeling its gona be epic... Check the middle picture on this page http://www.splitboarders.ca/index.php?special=Lodging, think that's it. Boom!!

Pics - top is Team Fryknots and Team Mass Production ready for battle at Big Mountain Battle and lower pic is all the competitors just before the start

Peace