Ski Touring on Rogers Pass

I've had a man-crush on Greg Hill for a long time. Greg might take a bit of flak for being a self-promoter, but his publicized adventures have been a source of inspiration for me. Thanks. For that reason, I was excited to ski at Rogers Pass -- an area that Greg frequents -- and to get a glimpse of the mountains and skiing possibilities in that area.

Monday at the Pass greeted us with bluebird skies. Reiner Thoni of Revelstoke and the winner of the 2010 Selkirk Classic, joined a Salt Lake motley crew of me, the Dorais bros., and Bart (the token white guy), along with a Jackson trio of Cary Smith, Zahan, and Nate Brown.

Reiner, rocking the Team Canada skinsuit on a Rogers Pass Tour:

From 2010-12-07

Most of the crew skinning up a ridge to 8812 Bowl (the massive pyramid peak in the background is Sir Donald and hasn't been skied):

From 2010-12-07

Photo credit: Bart

Nate Brown bringing some "style" to the backcountry with jewel-studded shades and a bit of skin:

From 2010-12-07

We spent the first few hours and 6k of the day skiing Video Peak and the 8812 Bowl, both popular runs at Rogers Pass. From the tops of these runs, we saw lot of mountains, glaciers, and ski potential. Unless skiing and adventure got old, that area of the world could hold a person's attention for a long long time.

From 2010-12-07

8812

From 2010-12-07

Video Peak

From 2010-12-07

And a view of both from Mt. Cheops:

From 2010-12-07

At the bottom of 8812, we said goodbye to the Jackson Trio who had to go home, and headed up to Balu Pass and Mt. Cheops.  One of the striking features of the mountains at Rogers Pass is the relief.  As a point of reference, SLC sits at around 4500 feet.  So does Rogers Pass.  Here is Cheops:

From 2010-12-07

We tagged the Cheops summit, skied down to the shoulder, and entered into a couple of chutes.

From 2010-12-07

Photo credit: Bart

The one that I chose, with Bart's assurance that it "went," cliffed out. We booted back out and skied a nice run down to the valley to meet our other compadres. From there, we skinned up and went back up to Balu Pass, trying to squeeze out 1500 vertical to make it a 10k day. We got about 1350 feet, and that was more than good enough. Celebration - 9850 vertical feet, some classic Rogers Pass runs, and getting dark fast:

From 2010-12-07