Home > Trip Reports > November 22 - Video Peak, Rogers Pass

November 22 - Video Peak, Rogers Pass

11/22/13
Canada BC
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Posted by KW on 11/25/13 12:07am
After trying to pick up turns all week on my tour through southern BC and each day being thwarted by unfavorable freezing levels. The last opportunity was Rogers pass which from all accounts has seen more snow than most places in BC.

Skiing the pass early season is always a gamble as the you are likely to find snow up high but the bushwack in the valley bottom is enough to drive the most seasoned traveler crazy.

The permit system and vistor centre was not yet open for the season which makes the area feel like a ghost town now that the Lodge is all shuttered up.

Today it was off to Video Peak. A very popular early season spot. Not a secret at all that this place has good skiing. Classic descent easy approach




Pretty good start to the interior touring season.



Back to Revy this weekend for opening day at RMR. Looks like we may have some fresh as well!

powdergangster.ca
Any idea/quality of Kootenay Pass snow depths, overall...?

I rolled through kootenay pass on tuesday night. I know people were skiing the hill at whitewater wednesday morning which is similar elevation. Maybe 60 to 80cms would be my guess. I was gonna hunt around but it was nasty so I kept driving. I think it is good to go though.

Now it is probably messed up with the warming. Best to just check the web cam and see if people are out skiing that is normally a good indicator.


Hey, thanks for the Kootenay info..  Sounds really cool up  there on Video!  Cools pictures too--THANKS! 


RSLG here is some detailed kootenay pass info poached from the acmg mcr reports


"
Just back from trip to Kootenay Pass. Here are a few observations from the day.

The storm from earlier in the week changed things a bit. The coverage is better, though still nowhere at the mid-winter levels. Be careful on wind-swept rides and lower elevations, the rock are still there. As well, at lower elevations there is now a crust on or near the surface. Depending on the elevation and aspect, it could make for some pleasant or unpleasant skiing.

A weak inversion had formed and the air temperature was hovering around zero above 1700m elevation. It felt strangely spring-like on the ridges. It was about -3C lower down at the highway. There was little or no wind during our tour.

There was widespread surface hoar development at all elevations and on all aspects. It was up to 12mm in sheltered, moist areas and almost nonexistent on warm solar aspects. I hope this doesn't become our first persistent weak layer of the season.

We had a great run off of Wolf Ridge down the main avalanche path to the power line. This is a solar aspect and the snow was moist at about 1900m elevation, then dried out as we skied lower into the inversion. At about 1700m elevation the crust became apparent. It was supportive so the skiing was good as we swished through the surface hoar.

Our last run of the day was off the Camel's Hump down to the power line on a north aspect. The snow was of good quality until we hit the crust at about 1700m elevation. The crust here was not supportive and made the skiing challenging.

It was great day for a tour in the sunshine.

Craig Hollinger,
ACMG Assistant Ski Guide.

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november-22-video-peak-rogers-pass
KW
2013-11-25 08:07:40