Walking and Whiskey: The annual hut trip was a great success!

Hut trips are awesome. After my first few winter camping trips over the last few years I've become addicted. Spending a few nights in the solitude of the backcountry is always a huge learning experience and can be very humbling.  You are so immersed in the  sheer monstrosity of the mountains you are exploring and the immense power and dynamics of weather. Inevitably you see a lot and have a lot of fun. Especially when you have the whole cabin exclusively to share with super rad friends.

Day 1: The Approach

Showed up at Asulkan parking lot 9:30am. We knew the weather was supposed to be gross so no need to rush. Poured rain the entire 7km approch. Rylan and I ended up catching up with the rest of the crew on the way up and we moved as a spread out pack ascending to the hut.

Day 1 Map

As we rolled into the hut clouds sunk on us and wind picked up. Skiing was out of the question for the day. We sat around in the hut, played cards, practiced repelling from the rafters, did a good number on the whisky, and chatted about what the following day might bring. 

Hut Chilling (ph: Nikos Schwelm)

Day 2: 6th Step of Paradise and Asulkan Pass

In a hut everyone kind of wakes up at the same time. It's not really a matter of choice in spaces that tight. Once you have 14 people squirming in vinyl sleeping bags, as the alpine sun pokes through the large glass windows, it becomes kind of impossible to stay asleep. The day has begun.

Mark taking in the view

Cowboy coffee with maple syrup (a.k.a. Cafe Canadiana) and a pre-made breakfast burrito slightly burnt over a propane stove and we are good to go. People go out and split into groups. Zach leads charge and starts punching tracks up the 7 Steps of Paradise. I chase Andrew (Blondie) Leoppky and Bill (Nitro) Knight as they attempt to go on a casual cornice cutting rampage. Clouds blew in, and we decided going for a walk would be better than dropping ice. 

Zach's crew setting the track (ph: Nikos Schwelm)

We ascended the first 6 Steps of Paradise up towards Youngs Peak, but chose to turn around at the headwall due to having a large group and too many people on the slope to safely keep going up. Our crew (Myself, Rylan Kappler, Nitro, Blondie, and Mark) skied the traditional paradise chute, while the rest of the cabin skied the frontside.

Rylan getting ready to drop into the seemingly never ending Paradise chute.

After our first run we walked back up to the cabin, had a quick beer and sandwich, and sent our way up the Asulkan Pass for a second lap.

Setting a track up the knob, with Asulkan Pass on the right side

View over the back of Asulkan Pass into the Incomappleux (ph: Mark Dalgliesh)

That time I disappeared in a trap door on the ridge. Almost pooped myself on this one.

De-Skinning at the top of the knob before dropping in. (ph: Nikos Schwelm)

Myself dropping into a well deserved run (ph: Nikos Schwelm)

Rylan and I's beautiful powder 8s, and Nitro's classy pow 11. 

We shredded down to the hut after our second long run of the day. Legs were well worn and the stomach needed something more than cliff bars. The evening was passed by more card games, laughs, whiskey, and birthday cake made out of squished 2 bite brownies. Seriously if you aren't dying to hut trip now I don't know what it takes. It's awesome. 

The day's trek. The left green and red are the first climb and descent respectively,  right green and red are the second climb and descent.

Rylan and I were having to much fun to go home, and after realizing we had too much food and didn't want to go to work on Monday we decided it would be best to get one more day/night in and adventure even harder. For some reason Rylan and I have this relationship where if one of us sparks a mission idea in the others ear it seems as if we both can't stop thinking about it until it becomes a reality. This semi-competitive trust and passion drives us to do some rad shit. The idea to ascend to the infamous Sapphire Col shelter was born.

Day 3: 7 Steps of Paradise/Youngs Peak and Sapphire Col

Sunday was a big but drawn out day. We got up slowly with the sun rise, and took advantage of the visibility. Most people were packing up to go home after shredding and Rylan and I managed to secure some extra food and layers for our slog up to the Sapphire Col Shelter that afternoon. The first ones out of the cabin we started our ascent up the 7 Steps. With a well worn in uptrack and sunshine we made it to the top in a few quick hours.

The first few Steps of Paradise with a well worn in uptrack, some beautiful turns, and a healthy dose of sunshine.

Initial thoughts were to ski a couple of chutes off of Young's peak, but the weather had other things in mind. As we climbed the headwall we noticed a decent amount of wind-loading and visibility was as consistent as a child with too much sugar in the blood. Big lines were going to be a no go. We shredded some high speed open surfy turns down the long smooth faces of the seven steps back the the Asulkan Hut.

With one amazing 700m run already under our belt by 11am we decided to hang out at the hut for a bit and save our legs for the long slog ahead. Rylan and I ate lunch and dried out as many clothes as we could. We would wait until 1:30, as late as we thought safely possible, to start our ascent so we would spend the least amount of time in the Sappire shelter.

"Burr! What a place to be; Sapphire Col! The hut is about as exposed as a hut can get; neither insulated nor heated. It's literally a tin-can. If you can brave it, it can certainly be worth the effort." 

- Douglas Sproul, legendary local ski mountaineer and author

Things like wet clothes and freezing water bottles can be borderline terminal when you have to climb another 800m with all your gear, and retire in the most infamously cold place to sleep in all of Roger's Pass. Rylan and I pushed for 3-4 hours, setting tracks through a gully, contouring around  hundred foot ancient glacial moraines, climbing around the outskirts of the towering ice of the Asulkan glacier, under the monster rock Cleaver, and finally across towards the famed Jupiter traverse. I would/should have taken pictures here but as my phone had been in the backcountry for 3 days at this point (Always save your last bit of battery! You never know what might happen) and I was pretty low on energy myself. I just trudged on climbing the glaciers and staring at the beautiful Asulkan mountain group. 

We rolled up to the Sapphire Col shelter around 4:30pm, to find the door for the hut was snowed in. Rylan cracked a joke about finding dead bodies in the old and frozen shelter and we went to town digging our way in.

The Sapphire Col shelter and some damn nice skis.

We settled in and immediately changed out of wet climbing clothes and into dry clothes for the night in a freezing frenzy. Those clothes remained an ice block for the rest of the trip. Water bottle, gloves, beacon, phone, and anything else un freezable went into the sleeping bag to stay warm for the night.

Wet clothes freezing for good

Rylan getting comfy on his 1/4" foam mattress and enjoying the last light of the night.

We ate our dinner of sausage, fine cheese, crackers, and of course whiskey (a necessity in these temperatures to stay warm and fall asleep). We took our time to scour the mountaineering books donated by previous occupants, and wrote our names and a quick note in the log book. 

For some reason there is something so powerful about taking the time to write your name into the history books of these mountains. Almost every true peak or shelter has one in it. So many legends have roamed these areas before us, and to put your own name amongst theirs is both empowering and humbling. Reading the notes and anecdotes of previous adventures never gets old, and you really learn to respect how beast mode some of these guys are.

Simon Lavalle writing his name into the Avalanche Peak log book on a previous adventure this summer.

Our morning ascent and descent of Young's Peak on the left, and our afternoon ascent to Sapphire Col shelter on the right.

We eventually dozed off for a few hours sleep in the cold quite desolate shelter. The power of how far away you are from everything becomes ever more present with the silence and cold of the night.

Day 4: Final Descent, Lily Glacier to loop

We woke with the sun at a healthy 7am on Day 4, and got our gear on asap so to beat the effects of warming on the East facing slopes we were to traverse. The strong sun dances around throughout the day in the alpine, triggering avalanches as it heats the snowpack. We knew we had to outrun this. 

Saying goodbye to the shelter as the golden morning light hits the mountains.

Frozen ski boots and snowpants on, half a Clif bar in the gut, bags packed, and we were on our way. We crossed around the front side of the Dome, climbing the Cleaver, and contouring around to the Dome Col.

Rylan on my tails crossing under "Dome, The Mountain" under the early morning sun.

We descended down the Lily glacier, railing wide open turns through the fields and playing on big moraines as we dropped vert into the valley. A heinous ski out the melt-freeze valley and we were back at the truck.

The Cleaver ascent to the Dome Col in green and the Lily Glacier descent in red.

The whole way home, glaciers, moraines, ice, creeks, and everything else.

It was 10am, and with 1600m of skiing already under our belts that day, and 3 days/nights prior in hut beds and walking our butts off we were ready for our celebratory multi-thousand-calorie-make-up-meal. 

Huge thanks to the guys at Liberty Skis, Fresh Air Kelowna, Goonsquad, and all of the VOCO homies for making this stuff a possibility! Stoked to have friends and companies that are so into making this stuff happen!