Total Vert so far: 45,000m
Steep Creek always seems like such a cool spot for an overnighter- lots of trees, lots of alpine, easy access, multiple skiable aspects- so with a few days off lined up and a forecast reading 'a mix of sun and cloud' it seemed like the perfect opportunity.
The first day ended up having a lot more cloud in the mix as opposed to sun, and snow conditions on some runs were a little bit variable, partly due to the large avalanche cycle that occurred part way through the last storm, but we still found plenty of sweet lines. Our second run, down the west face of 'The Dome' was one of the coolest of the whole trip. Very deep and protected snow with perfectly spaced trees, as well as far few tracks than lots of the other runs that we looked at.
After a quick break for an afternoon snack we headed up Peak 2318 at sunset and skied down the North Bowl by headlamp... which was very cool.
Day one elevation profile
West Face Pk 2318
The first day ended up having a lot more cloud in the mix as opposed to sun, and snow conditions on some runs were a little bit variable, partly due to the large avalanche cycle that occurred part way through the last storm, but we still found plenty of sweet lines. Our second run, down the west face of 'The Dome' was one of the coolest of the whole trip. Very deep and protected snow with perfectly spaced trees, as well as far few tracks than lots of the other runs that we looked at.
After a quick break for an afternoon snack we headed up Peak 2318 at sunset and skied down the North Bowl by headlamp... which was very cool.
Day one, lap one.
Day one, Lap 2
Day one, Lap 4. Not our first headlamp skiing of the season, but the first time we did it deliberately!
Skiing back to the campsite as happy as Larry.
Day one elevation profile
Day one GPS track
Day Two we woke up at the civilised hour of 7am and headed out for a quick lap on the West Face of Pk 2318. It's just a 2 hour lap from the campsite, and because you won't believe me when I tell you how sick it was, you should check out the photo below.
West Face Pk 2318
After that we headed over to the main ridge system leading up to the summit and rappelled into a couloir on the lookers right handside
Vince skinning up to the summit ridge
Benoit raps into the chute
Phil in the chute
Success stoke
After that we headed back up to 'The Dome' and skied Stoop Chute 3 back into the creek. After collecting our gear it was all the way back to the top again for a final run down Chute 56 to finish. As anyone who has been there will know, Chute 56 at sunset in good snow can be quite a magical experience, and today was no exception.
Vince in Chute 56
Benoit
Day 2 elevation profile
Day 2 GPS (it looks a bit funky because I reduced the frequency of it's GPS recordings in order to preserve battery life.
Below are a few additional images by Vince Shuley. Be sure to check out more of his work at
http://www.vinceshuley.com/ (although he hasn't updated it in a while)
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