Jan 7-14,2006, Monashees, B.C.

A group of five of us rented the Monashee Chalet near Blue River B.C. for the week. The hut sits between two small lakes at 6000' and sleeps 12, so for five it was spacious.  One of the group brought his snowmobile so we towed in the 10 miles and 4000 feet of elevation gain in 2 trips. This saved us a day of skinning or a $1000 snowcat ride. At the road the snow cover was minimal rain crust with the occasional rock which sparked off the edges of the skis as we were towed in just as it got dark.   At the hut, there was about 8 feet of snow when we arrived with another 2-1/2 feet over the week. There was reasonable coverage down to 4600' but most of our runs were fairly short 1000-1500 foot runs to stay out of the heavier snow.  We had cloud cover the entire trip so all the skiing was in the trees between 6600 and 4600 feet, with no forays into the alpine.  Above tree line the snow was too wind affected anyway even if it hadn't been a white out.   The avy danger stayed under control with consistent temps and minimal wind and only 6-8 inches of snow each day. That area is a fantastic playground with hundreds of lines between the trees and cliff bands. The trees never get too tight and the cliffs and deep soft snow are a tempting combination. With the deep snow we had to search out the steep terrain get up to speed and found plenty of it.  
The photo is from the last run of the trip through a small cliff band about 50yds from the hut.