Western Canada Backcountry Skiing
In the mountains of Alberta and British Columbia there are several lodges and huts that offer superb skiing. Some of these huts, such as those on the Wapta traverse, are accessible without mechanical aids; others require a helicopter. Here is a selection of photos and trip reports from the huts on the Wapta Traverse, Mistaya Lodge, Fairy Meadows, Battle Abbey, Sorcerer Lake Lodge, Olive Hut, Campbell Icefield Chalet, and Icefall Lodge.
The sport of “ski traversing” is also popular: one goes point-to-point with tents and heavy packs over glaciers and high passes. I have done eight such trips: the Rogers Pass to Bugaboos ski traverse (14 days, 1990), the Southern Cariboos ski traverse (10 days, 1992), an 8-day traverse in the Adamant Range to Fairy Meadows Hut (April 2001), an 8-day traverse in the Northern Selkirks to Sorcerer Lake Lodge (April–May 2002), a 9-day traverse on a part of the Great Divide Ski Traverse (April 2003), a 9-day traverse from Snow Ocean north to Battle Abbey on terrain that had not been traveled in this way before (April 2004), a 10-day traverse of the Jordan Range of the Monashees (April 2006), and a 9-day traverse of the Gold Range of the Monashees (March–April 2007). Of course, hut-to-hut traverses are simpler, and I have done several of those (the Wapta and twice from Mons Hut to Lyell Hut). And in 2013 we did something new, a one-week base camp at Oasis Lake, south of Battle Abbey. In 2015 we again set up a week-long base camp near Valenciennes Mountain (near Icefall Lodge). And one more, near Bush Pass, in 2018. That last marked my 29th year (with gaps) of exploring these ranges on skis.