Category Archives: Trip Reports

A Chamonix Vacation

Way back in January during the OR show BCA’s European sales manager, Craig Widdecombe, regaled us with tales of an epic Chamonix winter.  In my powder starved state I somewhat impulsively purchased tickets for my girlfriend, Steffie, and I to spend two weeks in Chamonix during the first weeks of April. The trip exceeded all expectations with great snow, stability, and just enough blue sky to head up high a few days. It was hard to whittle down two weeks of pictures, but below are some of my favorite. A big thank you to all our new Chamonix friends. Thanks for showing us the ropes.
 
We stayed with local legend Gary Bigham a few days.… Read more

An AK April

In an attempt to redeem the unmemorable 2012 ski season in Colorado, myself and fellow BCA employee Bruno Damico along with two of our good friends (Kelly Longe) and (Morgan Lipscomb) set off on an adventure to the deep snowpack up north. Arriving in Anchorage, we picked up our mobile command vehicle later known as the “GnaRV” and headed down south to Girdwood where we set up for the night. The next morning we woke up to blue skies and headed up to Turnagain Pass for a skin up Tincan Peak. The snow was quite heavy at lower elevations due to the high temperatures, but the snow up top was… Read more

Taylor Glacier: (way friggin’) steep and aesthetic

In Colorado, it’s special when you can ski something really steep. It’s really only feasible late season, when the snowpack has had lots of time to build–and has had repeated freeze thaw cycles to help stabilize it. So when spring comes here, it’s game on! Some of the steepest terrain in Colorado is right here in the Front Range, if you don’t mind a long approach. On Sunday, we slogged our way up to Taylor Glacier, in the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park. There’s a reason “the Park” is so popular: the alpine environment is mind-blowing–but so are the winds. After a nearly four-hour approach — in shoes, not… Read more

Back from AK

Guest blogger, Donny Roth reflects after a recent trip to Alaska. Donny runs Independent Descents and is based in Boulder, CO when he is not on the road.
“There is NO way this can be stable!” I just spent over two weeks skiing in Alaska, and if I had a dollar for every time I made this statement, I could have easily ordered another pitcher of Mosaritas at Mosy’s in Haines. (Mental note: Put this in my contract for next year.) The snow in Alaska is legendary in its ability to stick to steep slopes and also for the power with which it sloughs as skiers cut through it. Before ever… Read more

Utanahoming road trip

It happens every year, that itch for skiing new places that can only be scratched by a nice, long roadtrip. Last year it was satisfied by our trip to Washington, and for this year we opted for Montana, a frontier full of new lines. So Daan, Alex and I loaded into the Forrester and hit the road: first stop, Solitude Utah. There we met up with buddies Zach and Jonny, and proceeded to drink heavily and ski tour to relieve the consequent pain.

We hit up Silver Fork and US Basin over the weekend, then booked it up north to arrive in Bozeman by Monday morning, ready for more of… Read more

Sampling Some Powder

Here’s a helmet cam video of 18-year-old Shana Rosen ripping it up in WA. Shana is a Mt. Baker local and found herself far from home and having to put in a few extra 1,000 feet of climbing on this day. But she said it was well worth it:… Read more

BCA Monarch Cat Skiing Day

On St. Patty’s day a crew of BCA folks enjoyed some skiing in Monarch’s back bowls. After watching a safety video and getting a rundown on what to expect, we were heading up the mountain. We did a beacon check at the top and then loaded in the cat.

The accommodations were pretty posh on the cat, comfy seats, good tunes and a killer view…oh and not having to skin uphill. The snowfall has certainly been less than usual, but we found good turns in the Dog Heaven and Bold Dog areas, including the Krudski Chutes. It was hard crusty snow conditions in the morning, but by noon the snow… Read more

Microburst in RMNP

Rocky Mountain National Park had been getting some decent snowfall for a change, so I planned to check it out with a fellow Avy Level 1 classmate, Julie Harris. We pulled into the Glacier Gorge trailhead on an early Sunday morning of March 3rd to find a very desolate parking lot and wicked wind. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was keeping away the crowds.
The plan was for a 10 mile round trip tour that would hit Green Lake. The map showed good skiing in the area, but we were aware of the high avy danger reported from CAIC. The area had received 8-16” of new snow in… Read more

Kootenay Pass TR

Following the hectic tradeshow season, I decided it was time to get out and do some skiing. With the state of the Colorado snowpack being in shambles though, I opted to head north. My buddy Derek, who is in Spokane studying the law, had been sending me photos of the immense snowpack just north from there, so I opted to fly up there to check it out. We headed past the border and set up camp in a small cabin near Kootenay Pass and spent the next three days lapping excellent, stable powder; it was awesome.… Read more

Powder and smoked salmon at Mt. Baker

With a total of zero powder days to date—and no end in sight to the Colorado drought –we made a quick hit up to Mt. Baker last weekend for some stormchasing, smoked salmon, and the Mt. Baker Beacon Rally.  Talk about core, this is the coolest ski area north of Silverton. They’re calling it a low snow year, but Baker’s base is well over 100 inches already. With a 20-inch storm coming, $130 fares on Southwest, and on open invitation to the Beacon Rally, throwing down for a plane ticket was a no-brainer. Seattle-based BCA sales director Steve Christie met me at the airport with a cooler full of beer… Read more