Splitboard.com Forums

Went up to Kootenay Pass last weekend for some BC time. The pass is up 1774m, the highest highway pass in Canada :) It was a slow and depressing drive there, with it raining pretty consistently and we started to get worried as we watched our elevation climb on the GPS; 1000... 1400... 1500... The weather reports all mentioned the freezing level would be around 1300, but we were much past that and it was still raining. Finally as we saw the lights to the snowplow shed at the very top the rain turned into snow, the slush into hardpack, and the grim faces into excited smiles!

You can park on the north side of Hwy 3 right near a 'Warming Cabin'. We suited up as the snow was falling heavily and skinned up to Ripple Ridge Cabin getting there around 11pm. It's a easy 45min skin up along a logging road. We arrived and luckily there wasn't anyone else there. As it's a free cabin it's also first come first serve, so we didn't have to dig a cave after all :)

After getting all settled in, we smoked a few bowls, sipped on hot tea and some nip which was a mix of a bunch of almost empty bottles. Everyone slept well that night with fresh snow falling on our dreams.

We woke up had some oatmeal and took off for the day. There is a sweet network of skin trails and a good map in the cabin to use as a reference. It was a saturday, and there were a few groups from Nelson that were up for the day. We dug two pits right off and got Moderate to Hard results and a RB6. Given this, the frequency that the area gets skied we were all pretty stoked. The pit also revealed to us over 100cm of powdery snow on top of that evil Dec 25th crust, with the recent storm sheer about 25-35cm down, and it was still snowing!

After our third run of the day we decided to head in for some delicous Pad Thai and wine and whiskey!!! Two other groups showed up at the cabin on saturday, one of the groups decided to tent outside overnight, while we shared the cabin with the other smaller group.

Sunday brought more of the same, fresh lines, relaxed atmosphere. All in all, it was a wicked awsome trip. This quote sums it up:

"The only thing that would have made this trip better, is if i had brought my slippers."

And I did bring mine :)


Ripple Ridge Cabin

Simon's Yupi Grab

Skinning up.

Full Profile by Henry

Getting Ready to Shred!

Our Lines

It snowed a bit while we were gone...[/b]