March 20-27, Valkyr Lodge, B.C. Selkirks

Had a great trip to Valkyr Lodge in the Selkirks with my friend Karl from Texas, joining a family from Red Mountain.  Beautiful lodge with all the comforts (hot and cold, stereo, down comforters, great sauna). Martin Glasheen, the owner, knows every nook of the area and is very gracious.  There is a good mix of terrain in the area, with a lot of tree skiing around the lodge and over some adjacent ridges as well as lots of chutes, faces and gullies if conditions allow.  Although the BC website listed the snowpack danger as low or moderate for most of the week, some high winds and loading boosted the danger near ridge tops to considerable and we saw several small natural slides as well as a couple of skier triggered (without any burials).  Most sobering was a hard slab that fractured on a twenty degree slope just below a summit ridge.  With these conditions, we did most of our skiing in steep trees and the bowls and chutes that were below the ridges.  Great snow all week, even though it only snowed a few inches while we were there.  Here is a link to some photos:  http://rossmac.smugmug.com/Sports.