Line of the Week: Grand Daddy Couloir

With a prominent rock pinnacle at the base, this line is instantly recognized in any Instagram post. Its popularity (high probability of a group being above you. Don't climb under other groups. Go find another line) and a large cornice at the top are the two main hazards.

Parking: Mosquito Creek Hostel Trailhead on Icefields Parkway XXkm North of Lake Louise
Elevation Gain: 800m
Line length: 200m
Approximate round trip distance: 8.5km
Top elevation: 2650m
Aspect: NE! Watch out for the cornice!

Cross the river, work your way up through the trees. Ski up the fan to the base of the line. Bootpack up the line. Depending on the snow depth, it might be wise not to push all of the way to the cornice but to the base of a big rock. Enjoy!

Hillmap map


Not feeling it? West Nile zone offering tight tree skiing is below this line.

Other lines of the Week
Icefields Parkway

Line of the week: Introduction

Going to get the ball rolling on a little online guidebook of some steeper ski lines in the Canadian Rockies. Stuff that isn't in Selected Alpine, 11,000ers, Ski Trails, or Summits and Icefields.

So you've got a season or two or touring under your belt. Maybe you've skied Surprise Pass or Hero Knob and are wondering where do you go from here? The Rockies are a young, steep and imposing mountain range, but the crumbly rock has revealed many weaknesses that are able to hold snow. The cold, fickle Rockies snowpack takes time to stabilize. Great, aesthetic ski lines await, they just require patience to tame them properly.

Regions:
Highway 40 (Highwood)
Smith-Dorrien (Highway 742)
Trans-Canada Highway
Highway 93S
Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N)

Safety and Etiquette:
It goes without saying that serious lines should be saved for times of good stability. In general a clear, calm day is best, but be weary of the effect that the sun and temperature can have on the line. Start early to avoid a strong midday sun shining on unstable snow or cornices that funnels into your line. Cornices drop like bombs onto the start zones at the top of lines. Deep persistent slabs might not be able to form on steeper features, but can exist on fans, aprons, and at the top of the line if the slope angle slackens.

Sluffing: New snow, wind, sun exposure, and temperature (whether high temperatures or cold weather faceting) all increase the risk of a sluff washing you off the line.

Never climb underneath another group. Go find another line. You are at risk of the group above you sending sluffs, dropped gear, or falling on you. You are also forcing the group above to wait at the top for you to top out. They don't want to be stuck up there. They might want to ski another line after, they might want to get off the line before the weather changes, they might need to get home by a certain time. Just don't. Careful when you are climbing a line that can be accessed from the top via another route. A group topping out this way might send sluff or a cornice down.

Aside from having the experience to judge if the snow is safe to ski, it is important to have the fitness, technique, and knowledge of your gear to move as fast as possible on these lines to minimize your exposure to objective hazards such as sluffing, cornice, or rock falls. Dial in those skin to bootpack and bootpack to ski transitions so that you aren't waiting around in the bowling alley for too long. As these lines are in the alpine, the fitness to climb 1000m+ with some bootpack is a pre-requisite. Work your way up.

Have confidence in your skills to ski the line. It's not hard to climb up something that you might not have the guts to ski down. You should feel comfortable skiing ANYTHING at the ski hill before stepping onto one of these lines.

Carry the right gear. Ice axe and crampons if there's a chance of hard snow. Helmet provides some protection against stuff above you.

GPS: I carry a simple GPS to track my day, but these lines are typically "if you can see it, you can ski it" sort of deal.

Disclaimer: I am not a guide and I am not liable for the accuracy of the information I have provided. Ski and climb these lines at your own risk. If in doubt, hire a guide!

Gifts for the ski mountaineering racer in your family

What to get that ski mountaineering racer in your family? The one who has to explain his sport to anyone who cares to listen. Salespeople at your typical ski shop might not be aware of the unique demands of the sport, so I have provided a list of some items I think will be welcome for most racers. Or you could ring the credit card through skimo.co . 

Black Diamond Gold Label Glue $10-$12 : Great for everything from touching up the glue on tailless race skins all the way up to a full reglue. It's such good glue that it's banned for sale in Europe due to the solvents it contains! Don't let the salesperson talk you into the "glue renew sheets" or any other glue, there is no alternative!

Skintrack.com Literature $25-$50: Rumour has it that Kilian Jornet once bought the Manual for Ski Mountaineering Racing so even the most seasoned racer can pick up a couple of pointers. Newly released is the 12 week training plan.

Socks! $20 and up: Always a welcome gift to replace crusty and worn out old ones. Thinner side is preferred, and make sure to get the right size. Merino wool is nice. Dissent Labs is the only option if your giftee is trying to fit in with the Whistler crew. 

Race Nutrition $20 and up: Endurance athletes will do anything for cheap race fuel, even going so far as to represent obscure start-up nutrition companies for a discount. Save them the hassle and buy them a box of Gu/Hammer/Powerbar gels and/or drink mix.

GPS/Heart rate watch: Not so much for keeping from getting lost but for tracking training and realizing how vastly inferior they are to Kilian Jornet and Anton Palzer who are racking up 4000m vertical days. There's a good deal on the Garmin Forerunner 920XT from Amazon right now.

Missing Items from the pack $50-$200: Okay, so they've got the skis/boots/bindings, the pack, what about:

• Helmet: Dual climb and ski certified helmet required for ISMF international races starting this season.
• Gloves: Any glove may do, but the CAMP Comp G Wind gloves seems to keep my hands at the right temperature and comes with a pullover wind cover. Designed for skimo, so they will keep your hands kinda dry, and not leave fabric on the skins.
• CAMP crest shovel: Not an avalanche shovel, but meets the minimum requirements for being left in the pack during races.
• Windbreaker top and bottom. Top of the line, extremely lightweight jackets and pants weigh about 125grams each, though something more reasonable within 50grams is acceptable for an item that lives in the race pack. Nice for warming up in as well.

Avalanche Centre donation $?: The guys going out everyday to gather information to keep your loved one safe. More applicable for those not in the Rocky Mountain Parks (those bulletins are provided by Parks Canada/Alberta).

Canadian Avalanche Foundation

Good skiing in the Lake Louise area

Only posting this for the comment from @utahskimo #gopro #somewherealberta #kcountry #banff #agd #skimo #skitour #hitsfromthebong #exploreab #myjasper #yolo #swag #mahalo #pitted #blessed #neverstopexploring #champagneshowers #vape #basic #gingerspice #thighgap

A video posted by @peteyknight5 on Nov 26, 2016 at 5:37pm PST

We were able to find good skiing in the Lake Louise area over the weekend. From the sounds of it, Kananaskis was mostly wind blasted, while starting elevations in Kootenay and Yoho are too low for the current state of the snowpack. The parkway is quite the haul, so we settled on Surprise Pass after hearing good things from the day before. Although we punched our skintrack up the north side, we were still the second group to ski, and then were able to put in another couple of laps while watching people ski one, then head home. Great day out.

Calgarian: "Edmonton eh? That's quite the drive" Craig: "well quite the drive for you guys for just one run" #shade #squad #mahalo #gopro #kananskis #bnp #banff #myjasper #skimo #hitsfromthebong #yeg #yegfitness

A photo posted by @peteyknight5 on Nov 27, 2016 at 4:05pm PST

We liked Lake Louise so much, we returned again, but with little overnight snow, we avoided yesterday's tracked out area and checked out the Lake Louise ski area backcountry. While the ski-out trail was definitely thin, it provided good access to the turns, and the exit wasn't bad. We managed a couple of short laps.

Skimo Camp

The team had an awesome early season training camp at the Asulkan cabin. As the popularity of backcountry skiing has exploded, especially at Rogers Pass, availability of the cabin was limited so we gambled on an early November date.

It's been an interesting season. Snow is piling in up high, but as it has been unseasonably warm, the snowlines are still quite high. So lower elevation trailheads require access on foot and bushwacking before getting to some good skiing.

Travis, Michelle, Matt, and Lori arrived a day early and set forth on the task of breaking trail up to the cabin through isothermal snow. With cell service at the cabin, they were able to update us on conditions and it wasn't sounding too great. Hmm, maybe I should be road biking in Edmonton?

I arrived the next day with Kylee and Mark and although the approach on foot and ski up a barely covered and sometimes steep summer trail was not ideal, I appreciated the deep trailbreaking done the previous day. I also noticed that there was at least a supportive crust forming on the snow that would make the exit a little more pleasant.

Alright, time for the main day. Game on. Travis et al had done some good exploring while we were skiing to the cabin and found an interesting way to access Sapphire Col hut via a couloir south of Leda peak. We went back the next day. Spindrift poured down the couloir and when we did top out, it was windy, cold, and visibility was not great. So we headed back down the couloir.

In the afternoon, we skied towards the base of Youngs peak, then lapped the Asulkan glacier some more in the whiteout. The smooth, windblasted surface provided consistent skiing even if the visibility was not there. It was nice to be able to crank out some easy vertical.

We were greeted on our exit day with some fresh snow, but no visibility, so we just skied out. Skiing was interesting while occassionally punching through the fresh powder and the crust under the weight of the big packs. Ultimately the exit on the summer trail down through the mousetrap proved to not be much of an issue and I was able to schuss most of the way down the trail until finally giving in and taking my skis off on an uphill before the bridge. A Teton style boot exit was all that remained to cap off the training camp.

I'm happy to get some good turns and training in so early in the season, especially when conditions were not sounding so great. Thanks to the Alpine Club for use of the hut.

Hiking nugs

Might as well use this SLR that's been collecting dust (on the sensor too :( ) for the last 8 years

High Rockies trail

Canmore has some more cruisy cross country. The high rockies trail has two distinct flavours: Big ring doubletrack and perhaps Matt Hadley's magnum opus:

 Undulating flow. The climbs are never long, yet the descents stretch on with very little braking required. The trail is also wide enough to make passing easier on this 2-way trail.

 Welcome to the nug zone. The trail works it's way through a boulder field on its southern end. But no worries, the trail tread is still buttery smooth.

A pretty solid ride from Canmore and back. That's for sure!