March 28-April 4, 2009, Fairy Meadow Hut

March 28-April 4, 2009

The Bill Putnam (Fairy Meadow) hut is a beautiful backcountry cabin in the Northern Selkirks.  Winter access is via helicopter from a staging area between Rogers Pass and Golden.  The weather was generally unstable for the first four days of our week with strong winds, snow and whiteout glacier navigation mixed with sun breaks and afternoon clearing but the last two days were generally clear.  We took advantage of the nice bits of weather and navigated through the bad bits to ski Sentinel, Pioneer and Sir William as well as take tours to Unicol and ski below Pioneer Pass.

On our last evening, the sky was clear and the moon was bright enough to permit a few moonlit runs.  Moonlight is very different from sunlight because color is almost eliminated and the shadows are very harsh, almost black, without the reflected light of day.  I was struck by how the mountains I had stared at and skied for the last week took on eerie forms.  I watched the persistent fog bank flow over Unicol and the Adamants and it was difficult to tell where cloud ended and glacier began.  Doubletop, the prominent mountain across from the hut, was side lit and cast wicked shadows into all of the steep gullies and couloirs.  It was hard to judge distance and the mountains seemed simultaneously touchable and unreachable.

The first few turns were apprehensive, but I soon submitted to gravity.  Without being able to clearly see, I was forced to rely on my other senses and ski by feel, anticipation and intuition.  With the usual dominant sense of sight muted, my other senses filtered through, especially hearing.  I focused on the sound of the wind in my ears, the whoosh of snow under foot, the creak of flexing tele boots and bindings.

The following morning after finishing our cleaning chores, we all split up and climbed to the top of the practice slopes for one more run.  I stopped to soak in the view one more time and watched everyone start down.  One, two, three at a time, everyone chose their line and left their mark.  At the bottom, a round of high fives and smiles all around as we said goodbye to this wonderful place.

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