March 28 - April 4, Valhalla Mountain Touring
4/15/10
Canada BC
1587
3
This last weekend I returned from a week of daily touring in white smoke powder of the Selkirk mountains. We stayed at a lodge that has been written about here on TAY before, Valhalla Mountain Touring which sits just North of Valhalla Provincial Park outside of the tiny town of Hills, BC. Martin Volken of Pro Guiding Service arranged the trip for us and lent us PGS super guide Ben Haskell. There were a total of 15 of us touring at the VMT lodge including VMT guide Jasime, Steve a guide from Crested Butte Mountain Guiding, and of course Ben Haskell, add to this Annie the VMT cook who would join us for a couple runs every day. This was not a trip that was all about solitude in the mountains, but with the the recent avalanche history in the Selkirks and a forecast hovering around high most of the trip I was glad to have 3 very experienced and talented guides to keep me in the safer areas while still showing me some of the best powder runs in the area.
The typical day began around 6:15 am with coffee then "cold breakfast" of yougurt, fruit, and granola, followed by hot breakfast of french toast, eggs benedict, egg scramble, or breakfast burritos. Fixing for making sandwiches would be provided, and we would usually head out by 8:30 am. We would tour up from the lodge at 5600' for 1-1/2 to 3 hours before starting our powder runs. With nightly and sometimes daily snow Jasmine was easily able to find us untracked powder, and provided as much or as little skiing as we wanted. The terrain around VMT looks strangely familiar to the Cascades, but with a tree line around 7000'. With 3 guides it was possible to head back into the lodge as early as 3 pm for a massage, sauna and appetizers, or stay out as late as 6:30 pm. Jasmine even provided a group of 4 of us with a little bit of ski mountaineering as we climbed the 8,100'+ peak of Big Sister. A couple of days we started our tour by skiing down a logging road a ways from the lodge, but rather than slog back up to the lodge at the end of the day we were towed back to the lodge via snowmobile.
VMT provides the option of guided or self guided, and catered or self catered. We went for the catered and guided option and I am very glad we did. Although I didn't get much solitude in the mountains, we had a very knowledgeable guide who knew were the best runs could be found and a top notch cook who kept us very well fed.
The typical day began around 6:15 am with coffee then "cold breakfast" of yougurt, fruit, and granola, followed by hot breakfast of french toast, eggs benedict, egg scramble, or breakfast burritos. Fixing for making sandwiches would be provided, and we would usually head out by 8:30 am. We would tour up from the lodge at 5600' for 1-1/2 to 3 hours before starting our powder runs. With nightly and sometimes daily snow Jasmine was easily able to find us untracked powder, and provided as much or as little skiing as we wanted. The terrain around VMT looks strangely familiar to the Cascades, but with a tree line around 7000'. With 3 guides it was possible to head back into the lodge as early as 3 pm for a massage, sauna and appetizers, or stay out as late as 6:30 pm. Jasmine even provided a group of 4 of us with a little bit of ski mountaineering as we climbed the 8,100'+ peak of Big Sister. A couple of days we started our tour by skiing down a logging road a ways from the lodge, but rather than slog back up to the lodge at the end of the day we were towed back to the lodge via snowmobile.
VMT provides the option of guided or self guided, and catered or self catered. We went for the catered and guided option and I am very glad we did. Although I didn't get much solitude in the mountains, we had a very knowledgeable guide who knew were the best runs could be found and a top notch cook who kept us very well fed.
Your timing is great -- we're heading to the Kokanee Lodge and Annie is our cook there, from the 10th to the 17th. Sounds like she fed you well!
author=Marcus link=topic=16278.msg67973#msg67973 date=1270574495">
Your timing is great -- we're heading to the Kokanee Lodge and Annie is our cook there, from the 10th to the 17th. Sounds like she fed you well!
With Annie as your cook you will be VERY well fed. Meals she prepared included sushi, pizza, lamb, salmon, stuffed chicken breast, curried shrimp and veggies, every day a different soup, she even did a full turkey dinner for us one night! We had no problem meeting VMT guide Evan Stevens's, "The Equation" 1 Vertical Foot of Elevation Gained = 1 Calorie consumed
Sure beats eating freeze dried food from a bag!
Mmmm... awesome. Can't wait. All our other hut trips have been self-catered and, though we ate really well, I'm quite excited about not having to do any of the cooking.
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