BC Coast Mountains mega report (part 1)
1/16/25
Canada BC
750
3
Highway 20 is now open year round! Well, not quite, but you'd be forgiven for thinking that when you're out on BC's Duffey Lake Rd. Once again Canada proves its superiority at providing free and uninterrupted road access to good skiing. I'd been wanting to do an extended trip to this area for years, and things finally lined up for the 2024-25 winter. 10 days into the season, the Duffey is already one of my favorite touring zones.
A handful of trailheads along BC 99 lead to the goods. There's something for everyone here - huts, scenic glacier skiing, safe/mellow tours, and enough rowdiness to make the Tasmanian Devil feel right at home. Personally I like that a) it holds a lifetime's worth of ski lines in a compact area where every day in the mountains produces new ideas for future tours; b) the snowpack stabilizes quickly, so big game hunting can start as early as December; c) it's well suited for vanlife; and d) it's close enough to Seattle that I can go home once or twice during the winter and avoid having my wife report me as missing/likely deceased. Here are some highlights from the first portion of my winter in the Coast Mountains...
Joffre Peak/Aussie Couloir: one of the mega classic Duffey lines. I had the pleasure of laying a track down this beauty of a line on a perfect sunny January day with zero wind in the alpine and fully rippable snow conditions.
Rock & Roll chutes: kind of a pain to get to/from, but some of the longest sustained runs in the area. At this latitude SW-facing slopes can still hold good snow days after a midwinter storm.
Cayoosh Mountain/Million Dollar Couloir: this tour has a little bit of everything that makes the Duffey special, and a lot of good skiing. Can be linked with Rock & Roll chutes for a full-value day.
Burnt Ridge: quick access to a number of quality N-facing runs. Good intro to the area. You will not be alone here.
Steep Peak: freeride paradise with many possible N-facing descents from its long ridgeline down to Darkside Lake.
Mt Taylor: shorter descents with awesome views of the Joffre Lakes area. Also very popular.
Vantage Peak: poor effort-to-turns ratio, but as the name suggests, unbeatable scenery. Go on a clear day.
The one day I really got skunked was on Mt Chief Pascal. Cold, dry snow conditions had persisted in the Duffey for 2 1/2 weeks straight, but finally broke down on this day. I thought I could sneak one more pow day in before the warmup, but ended up bailing once it became apparent that the entire region was getting greenhoused.
I can now count Chileans, Australians, French, Czechs, and fellow Americans among the people I've been fortunate to spend time with in the mountains this season. Canada is very international, and the other foreigners here have shown me nothing but love. Unfortunately I can't say the same for BC locals. Several times I've attempted to befriend local skiers at the trailheads, and gotten cagey responses when I asked where they were going or suggested that we might help each other out with beta or even join forces to lighten the trailbreaking load. In one case a group who brushed me off at the trailhead ended up taking the wrong skintrack, got lost in the woods, and wasted at least an hour getting to their objective. I had the approach beta dialed and would've happily pointed them in the right direction, but never got the chance. Get your act together BC locals, I'm not here to snake your top-secret pillow line!
At the other end of the spectrum is Tom Beckering, aka PowBot. Tom and I teamed up for an incredible day on Mt Joffre, and afterwards he interviewed me for his podcast, "Mind the Track". We had a great chat about vanlife, risk, and skiing on both sides of the border, and the episode is now live. Download Mind the Track Episode 54 on your favorite podcasting app or listen at mindthetrack.com/podcast/
I'm currently back in Seattle hiding from the Arctic outflow - an enemy to both vanlife and good skiing. Stay tuned for more adventures north of the border as the season goes on!
Thank you for a great afternoon. Plus "Mind the Track".😄
I'm continually impressed by the volume of high quality skiing you pull off, season after season. Sheesh!
@jasongriffith being retired certainly helps!
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