Feel free to skip down if you don’t want to read my musing and are here just for the BC ski links round-up!
As I was crafting this second edition on a hot Smo-August (smokey August) day, I kept thinking back to one of my most memorable late summer turns.
After taco-ing my meniscus on an already ACL absent knee in January 2017, I was finally graduating from knee rehab. The first week of August that year was when I was getting the all clear.
With a new-ish knee, and an ACL knee brace dialed in, I was on a mission to find snow within a couple of hours drive. The nearest snow I could ascertain was on a hidden hillside two hours north of me on the Kokanee Glacier outside Nelson, BC.
Thankfully I have some solid buddies that agreed to join. The night before our adventure we lost one soldier to a downhill MTB wreck. The two of us still on board for the trip are not ones to be easily deterred, so we still decided to bring our MTBs to test our fate on the machined trails of Nelson before heading out for turns.
We made it to Nelson amidst a hot Smo-August day, camped on a boat ramp, biked some rad trails the next morning, found a killer LBS (local bike shop – Gerick’s) that would stow our bikes while we switched sports and headed into the hills in search of snow.
The trailhead to Kokanee Glacier is a funny place. First order of business is to wrap your car in chicken wire so the local porcupines don’t gnaw through your rubber tires and brake lines. Second order was to haul backpacking gear, plus ski gear (oof), up the trail five miles to camp. Not a lot of snow to be seen from the campsite, but crazy views and we did thankfully get above the smoke and into some clean alpine air.
We set up camp and decided to explore if there was indeed snow fields worth skiing around the corner where the map showed the Kokanee Glacier exists. After a good bit of exploring Kokanee Lake, coveting the Kokanee Lodge (a prime example of a stellar heli drop ski lodge), and checking out the original Slocan Chief Cabin (where the Canadian Olympic team apparently trained back in the day) we thought we had an idea where to head first thing in the morning.
Come morning we hiked our now “light” packs (without the camping gear) up the trail and after another 2.5ish miles up we found ourselves a top a beautifully soft and sun cupped snow field!
My knee thankfully performed as it should and it was a rad day exploring Kokanee Glacier and the surrounding lakes (e.g. Sapphire, Kaslo, etc) until we headed back home to the good ole USofA.
If you want more detailed beta check out my trip report on www.panhandlebackcountry.com here and below is video edit from the trip…
Whatever your Smo-August holds, be it keeping your TAY streak a live, beginning to crank up your training for the BC ski season, or just enjoying the last bit of summer (while you watch the ski trailers that are beginning to come out)… cheers to you amigo!
Check out my BC ski links below…
SUMMER SENDING!
By looks of it this guy really had to “earn his turns”. The dedication to “send it” is unreal in this clip. Hope this gives you some ideas for once the lifts stop spinning next year…..
FROM THE FUTURE
Apparently you can view backcountry ski gear from the future here… https://skimo.co/preview
SUMMER SHREDDING
Seems like all of the summer roller skiing takes place back east. Where are good places in the PNW? Golf courses???
BIG FAN OF THIS GUY AND COOL GOAL
These are legit splitboard goals. A fairly hardcore aim and goal for the season but it makes me think I need to go sort through my strava and tally what my season was last year, and then think through what my season up ahead might look like… https://getoutridehard.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-quest-for-250-k-part-1.html