I decided to head back to The United States from New Zealand on December 25th for three reasons.
1. It’s Christmas and I should spend time with my Mom.
2. It’s the International Date line so I would get to experience a Summer and Winter Christmas in two days.
3. We would be in the heart of a Cascadian Winter.
Within a few days of getting home I was off on the road with my good friends John Cocci and Scott Rinckenberger to Rogers Pass in British Columbia for the Annual Cannuck Splitfest put on by Wade Galloway.
There are two things that New Zealand lacks and that is large quantities of snow and trees and all of a sudden I was in an abundance of them.
Underneath our feet was half a meter of dry sheltered snow and above us hovered massive glaciated mountains.
Through out the early afternoon we put in skin tracks and enjoyed the scenery and stellar snow conditions.
That afternoon we decided to push up to the summit for the Sunset before riding 3500 feet of top to bottom quality pow.
It was good times!
Splitfest was a huge success and it was an honor putting on a slideshow and watching another amazing slideshow put on by Mark Hartley and see how Joey Vosburgh has been crushing it. Sadly this would be my last time seeing Wade as he tragically died in an avalanche a few weeks later. I will never forget our last conversation. Wade always had long hair but he was clean cut so I said “Nice haircut” and he said “Thanks when are you going to get one”. Wade was awesome and such a good character building the Cannuck Splitfest and in the end getting involved in the city council. His passing was far too early and I wish the best for his family.
After that it was time to head up the Asulkan Valley for a hut trip with our friend Holly Walker.
From our experience over the past few days the snow felt really stable which made us a bit less tense heading through an area labeled the mouse trap.
Within about 2 hours we were able to skin the 5 kms up valley into a serene alpine environment.
When we arrived at the hut we ran into Liz Daley and Blaine Horner who were just leaving, so we said our quick hellos and goodbyes before getting into the high country.
That afternoon we chased the light up trying to get a good view of the sunset alpenglow across the valley.
The next morning we woke up early and skinned to the summit of Seven Steps to Heaven making our way to the summit and searched for the route to the Forever Young Couloir.
But in the end we found it.
As for stability Liz and Blaine had rode it the day before so we felt comfortable ripping down the slopes.
Then after that we went back to the summit of Seven Steps to Heaven and in one day knocked out two classic lines in great stable powder conditions.
That night when we arrived back at the hut Liz and Blaine were back and they brought a Fifth of Fireball, Canada’s finest Whiskey and they were down to have a good time. That night we ate amazing food, had Calf Muscle competitions, sung our hearts out and had a tooth brush dance party. It was my first time being on a trip with Liz and it was rad.
The next day we were able to get a few laps with Liz and Blaine before we all had to head back to Washington.
On a random note this was the first time I took out my Fitwell boots that I had recieved from Richard Harcourt of SplitN2 and while they were a bit stiff they were comfortable and climbed really well.
Thanks Rich and Fitwell.
As an afterthought this was really the only time that I really got to hang out with Liz other than a few social gatherings in town. It is with a heavy heart that I found out about her passing this September. She was an amazing person who will be remembered by all that had the good fortune to meet her and or hear of her amazing story. She was a diamond in the rough and my heart goes out to Davide Demasi, Drew Tabke, Coulter and crew who were there and lastly her family of both blood and friends. Through her stories she will live in all of us.
I wrote this up after I heard the news.
Thank you for reading and If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours abroad check out this link