This was Roger's first ever tour (outside of his AST1 course), and Angie's first tour of the year, so I chose a relatively short day up Vermilion Peak in Kootenay National Park.
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| From the parking lot |
We were the first car in the parking lot at 8:30am, and we were on our way about 15 minutes later.
The trail goes along an old road counter-clockwise around Vermilion Peak, then intersects a large avalanche chute, at which point we pointed our skis uphill and started the long trudge to the top.
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| We went up along the trees to the right of the chute |
We made it about 80% through the trees, but nowhere near the summit, which was fine since it wasn't meant to be a long day. I dug a pit, looked at some snow conditions, then geared up for the descent.
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| Digging a pit |
The trees were quite nicely spaced, although quite steep in parts. Roger mainly stayed in the trees while I ventured out onto a large avalanche slope.
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| Roger skiing the trees |
The snow was quite nice, but a little more is necessary before all hazards are buried.
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| Angie negotiating the trees |
The avalanche slope is divided into two parts, separated by a small cliff. I didn't even realize that there was a cliff due to so much snow, but looking back it's a bit more obvious (more like a slab than an actual vertical cliff).
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| The upper half of the avalanche chute, above a small cliff |
Having skied down back to the old road, we skied further down to Highway 93 and walked the rest of the way back to the parking lot.
Next time, I want to try and summit. Apparently, it's a short scramble to gain the summit ridge, then an easy slope the rest of the way up.
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