Rogers Pass Extravaganza - Cheops, Avalanche, Grizzly, Green, Sifton

Report from a week of skiing at Rogers Pass, in the Selkirk Range of the Columbia Mountains in British Columbia!

Who -
Thomas (me) - loves going backcountry skiing and invited friends to come with me ski at the pass.
Sam - a prolific steep skier from Miami, avid mountain athlete and frequent TAY contributor.
Jake - aka Klonk, silky smooth turns, actual avalanche professional, and chill guy that lives in Nelson.
Guest appearances by Henry and Tom, two sneaky weasels recently back on the continent, road tripping across Canada and known for being the 5 year cover of Turns-All-Year.com and sending Glacier Peak in a push with backwards mounted frame bindings.

What -
A backcountry ski bender to continue exploring the unbelievable roadside terrain of Rogers Pass. A place that contains a lifetime of lines, incredibly well documented and avalanche forecasted, yet impossibly complex and massive in scale. 6 days and nights of living in a motel, eating Tim Hortons, raging in the hills, and escaping the perils of the real world. Mid-Winter day trips in one of the best ski arenas on the continent.

When -
Late January 2026, in the midst of a 3-week dry spell across the Western US and Canada during a fickle snow year at home in the Washington Cascades. November/December atmospheric rivers that decimated forest roads in our backyard were just cold enough to stack up a decent snowpack in the mountains around Rogers Pass, and then an enormous January ridge of high pressure helped create a surface hoar / facet / crust factory that will leave PWL in the Avalanche Canada forecasts for the foreseeable future. But towards the end of that Jan '26 high pressure blob, temps were low, visibility was perfect, stability was lock solid, and snow surface conditions variable but decent. A good window for objective skiing.

Where -
The Revelstoke Lodge, Pams Kitchen, La Baguette, the Revelstoke Aquatic Center, the Rogers Pass Discovery center, Connaught creek. ect. IYKYK

Why -
Big mountain backcountry recreation that gives me a sense of adventure, exploration, and purpose. Quality time shared with friends chasing ski objectives in an incredibly beautiful place.

Day 1 - Cheops Mountain Shelf
Seattle to Merrit, quick sleep, Merrit to Revelstoke, grab a coffee and bump into Greg Hill. Classic. Start up Connaught at 11:00 AM heading towards Cheops knowing that snow stability is bomber but snow quality is questionable. Incredible views as always up here when the sun is out. We cruised up Balu and the West ridge having a look down Niccis and STS Couloir. Snow seemed alright and we continued up the ridgeline, fully prepared to come back to STS if we don't like what we find. The Shelf has been on my mind for years, an incredible hanging ramp of outrageous position, right at the heart of the pass. Finding the entrance to the line proved trickier than expected, booting up and down through facets and giving large cornices a large buffer. Finally we found a bolted anchor and with the clock is ticking it was time to commit one way or another. I took the plunge and rappelled over the rock slab, finding funky but edgeable snow and just enough coverage through the crux. Jake and Sam follow, pull the rope, and we are committed to this thing. Careful turns in no fall exposure piece our way down the huge diagonal ramp, and soon we find ourselves back on solid ground surfing funky facet pow thousands of feet to the valley bottom. A ridiculous start.

Day 2 - Sir Avalanche Traverse
The Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse is another Rogers classic that I've wanted to explore for awhile, curious to get a better sense of the huge zone directly to the east of the Pass. Rather than run a car shuttle and ski junk snow down Mac, we opted to take one car and exit via the NW Couloir of Avalanche mountain, a steep pitch leading into a huge open path and the lower Avalanche Crest. Our day started with a long trot by the Illecillewaet and over the Uto/Sir Donald Col, an incredible place to visit with rock walls towering above you on both sides. The Uto couloir proved very engaging, again finding no fall terrain on funky snow leading us onto the broad Avalanche glacier. We walked through the incredible landscape with sharp peaks rising out of the icecap, and slowly made our way towards the summit of Mount Avalanche. As we traversed around the upper glacier an expansive view unfolded of the Canadian Rockies, the high peaks of the Selkirks, and mind blowing terrain in all directions. Very nice. We opted to skip the true summit and upper couloir observing less than favorable snow conditions up high, instead taking a sneak ramp into the chute and feasting on thousands of feet of fall line vertical. About halfway down, the snow gradually morphed into "facet-crust-hoar-corn-pow" an unfamiliar substance that rode remarkably well all the way to the hairpin. Don't know how often you'll find this type of snow but I would highly recommend this route!

Day 3 - Grizzly Mountain Southeast Face
On our third day we linked up with homies Tom and Henry and set out as a team of 5 for the Grizzly Couloir, one of the most iconic runs at the pass. The skin track up Teddy Bear Trees was in atrocious conditions, and we slogged up the trees and ridgeline adjacent to the impressive Frequent Flyer avalanche path. In classic Rogers Pass fashion, objectives from previous and future days stared in the face, the Comstock couloir fresh off its third ever descent was looking over at us like the Eye of Sauron. We switchbacked up the upper slope and booted up the final summit ridge, tagging the summit and stoking out with the big crew. The couloir looked incredible as advertised, a broad, plumb, halfpipe. It had a few more tracks down it than I preferred, so Sam and I opted to open up the Southeast Face of the mountain. In different conditions this thing is the start zone for 4000' tall D4 avalanches, but in our green brick window the shallow rocky face was stable and enjoyable enough, regrouping with the team on the apron and descending down the monster gulch below. I blinked and next thing I knew was in town eating a butter chicken schnitzel with spaetzle. Craziest part of the whole day was talking to Lusti and Gee in the morning while getting our daily winter permits. Legends. 

Day 4 - Mount Green Traverse
Loop Brook is an interesting zone at the pass I've long neglected during my visits, and one line in particular was calling me all week; The Ross Path on Mount Green. A mega ramp of gargantuan proportions. Starting at the unfamiliar access point, Sam, Jake and I cruised up the elephant trunk and alongside the Bonney glacier, skinning up in my puffy in the icebox. The Greens glacier skied excellently as a warm up lap, somehow holding preserved powder despite weeks of drought. Part of the tricky nature of Mount Green is accessing the crux col, fiercely guarded by a large cornice, rock/ice step, and spooky convexity. But again the conditions we encountered were remarkably stable and we ascended to the summit without issue. A tricky ridge descent brought us around the summit cliff and finally to the goods; below us lay playful video game skiing for thousands upon thousands of feet. I rode my way down the skiers right side of the path, hooting and hollering and navigating us through some layers of ramps and cliff bands. We made sure not to sluff off a friendly porcupine clawing its way up the avalanche path. The slog back to the car took awhile but I didn't care, mind surfing the avalanche paths down Ross and satisfied to finally ski the Green.

Day 5 - Sifton Traverse
The weather deteriorated a bit but by now we were in flow state. Sam and I flew up the Grizzly Shoulder all to ourselves, skinning to the top of Little Sifton. We had schemed up an infiniski of Mount Sifton, climbing the W and NW ridges and skiing the N and S faces, but a thick cloud at summit level ruled out the featureless North face for us. We opted to ski down a ramp off the North side of Little Sifton, climbing back to the Southeast face/couloir of Sifton. Here we were at a highly aesthetic line on a beautiful mountain in stable conditions, and despite the bad vis we climbed all the way to the summit. The descent was scary and enjoyable all rolled into one experience, the grand finale of our weeklong ski bender. The fun didn’t end with the face, continuing down the Grizzly slide path and through excellent freeride ski terrain down to the highway. What a line.

Day 6 - Avalanche Crest
We had a long drive back home ahead of us, but had no choice but to squeeze in one more morning of skiing. Henry, Tom and I, feeling a bit dusty after a night of Weasels in the Delica, romped up the Avalanche Crest summer trail to poach one more fall-line descent. Avalanche Crest is a hilarious contradiction, a “half sized” Rogers pass run that is still 3500 feet tall, and a more “moderate” terrain selection that is still a giant avalanche path. The ascent went smoothly and the descent was still ripping, a giant slalom of sorts around a forest of tiny trees. Straight down to the highway, reshuffle some gear, and time to return to the real world. Rogers Pass is a gem and I will surely be back for additional unfinished dreams and schemes, though perhaps it's also time for me to venture slightly deeper into the Columbia Mountains. Thanks for reading!

Bonus Thoughts
TurnsAllYear.com is an incredible archive of backcountry adventures over the last two decades, and we should strive to keep it alive. Enormous thanks to Pavel for keeping it chugging along for the community. I feel the time has come for a refresh, and a good place to start is a new batch of cover photos. Mr. Zing’s reign as the TAY cover skier beneath seracs may finally come to an end, and we plan to put on a new contest and bring some life back into this forum. If you’re still psyched on TAY leave a comment, write a report, submit a photo, and be a contributor to the community! -TK