Rogers Pass Part 3 - Pillow Paradise

Mike entering the White Room
Having a keg in your hotel room is normally a pretty good idea, but it can be tempting to hit it hard. Last night was one of those nights. Pounding beers before dinner it was all over around 8:30pm. Not before we watched another Top Gear special which has become somewhat of a tradition. Who would think of driving a bunch of rust bucket 4x4's across India would be fun? Well we all filled our beer quota for the night 'cause if we don't finish it by Sunday we have pledged to play Kill the Keg. If we are lucky we might even see the angry pirate.

Today was open season in the Pass, probably the only day of the week where we would have the choice of any permit areas. 60cms of snow has fallen in the past week which has made trail breaking pretty hard so we opted to head in the same area as yesterday to maximize our uptrack. One thing was clear is that we would be testing the water and heading into some more exposed areas.

The Angry Pirate goes deep
About midday there was talk of this potentially being one of the top ten ski days of all time. We had only done one run to this point and there was still more to be had. After pounding a short pillow lap we headed back up our original skin track to hit the line from the top. Legs were slowing as we were approaching 1500m of climbing for the day. 

With two people in our group being Rogers Pass rookies it was hard to beat the deep snow. Avalanche dangers were minimal and with a big system forecasted for Saturday we had to maximize the day. The last run confirmed this day as being in the top ten ski days in my life. The combination of friends, snow conditions and wicked terrain had us grinning with high fives all around.


Winds are howling and more snow is falling so the confidence for Saturday is low. Tree bound for another day and then a huge warm system coming in Saturday night could send us running for the valley. RMR here we come. One thing is clear Rogers Pass has given us a treat that we will look back at for years.

Praying for Pow...

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