Road Tripping The Powder Highway with Chris Tatsuno – Ep 3 – Red Mtn and One Footed Skiing from Freeskier Magazine on Vimeo.

Pillow Line from Kari Medig on Vimeo.

Helly Hansen Big Mountain Battle Fernie from Ambrose Weingart on Vimeo.

If you’ve been out and about in the BC interior backcountry lately, you’ve seen them. You’ve also seen what a buried layer of them are doing to avalanche prone slopes. It’s super sketchy out there, and once it snows (it will snow) it’s going to be majorly superly sketchy. Enjoy the sun, be happy, but be smart. Check out these photos from Steve Ogle: “This is what all the tiptoeing around has been over the last few weeks… (and will be for the rest of the season). Biggest one was around 15cm, around the size of your hand.”

Entering its 4th year, the Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Fest is a grass-roots gathering where both experienced and debutant backcountry skiers and snowboarders can celebrate the culture of backcountry pursuits amongst breathtaking scenery and world renowned snow.

Nelson, British Columbia, the powder mecca of the Kootenays is a natural choice, and so the 3rd annual Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Fest is slated to be held from March 5-7, 2010.

In addition to seasoned veterans, this event will also draw “keen to be” backcountry skiers and snowboarders who want to give off-piste adventures a try. Whitewater resort’s terrain combined with the Selkirk’s legendary snow, provides fantastic opportunities for all levels to ski, learn, compete, and celebrate off-piste and backcountry riding. The festival revolves around 4 full days of clinics, films, beer drinking, and competitions for all ski/snowboard pursuits as well as a ski/snowboard photojournalism competition.

Go to the Coldsmoke site for more

Our guides Andy and Heidi were top drawer. Heidi can put most men to shame on skis, and Andy is as pro on the board, but never could stick that back flip! We got lucky enough to shred one run with the big man himself, Jeff Pensiero (seen here exaggerating to guest, and surf board builder Art from North Pacific surfboards, about how big he went on the previous run). Lodge owner, snowboarder, comedian, fix it guy, bartender, and occasional ping pong champ, Pensiero wears all the hats. Over the years he and his staff have created an incredible ski experience, a short flight from one of the coolest little towns in North America. Add it to the “to do” list, but I warn you in advance, two days is not enough!

First, does it snow a lot? While the rest of the province has been receiving dribs and drabs lately, Sol sits in one of the most prolific snow zones anywhere and consistently leads the pack of backcountry lodges with one of the deepest snowpacks. While Revelstoke Mountain Resort and Whitewater Winter Resort -neither of which are slouches in terms of dumps- hovered around a 200cm base, Sol’s weather station read 285cm at it’s highest measure during our one-week trip. Normally, according to Cooperman, the lodge passes the two metre barrier before the Christmas holidays most years, making it a primo destination for early season trips (when, he adds, rates are cheaper).

To continue my assessment, I had to test whether Sol had a good vibe. On the one hand, the youngest member of the 16-person trip was River, at 20 months old and ready to shred the cross-country trails that are track set around the lodge. On the other end of the scale was Larry from Calgary, topping the charts at 68 years of age, but not showing any sign of slowing down. Between the two extremes was a mix of laid-back powderhounds with more than just skiing on their minds. Collectively, the group helped with everything from dishes to selecting the best dance tracks on the big party night to commemorate Ian, the chef’s birthday. Yeah, it was a fully catered trip- like going out to your favourite restaurant seven nights in a row. Highlights included organic rack of lamb, pumpkin-banana-cumin soup (at least that’s what I called it) and a bottomless pile of snacks ready to take out into the surrounding wilderness. It’s pretty easy to maintain a laid-back atmosphere around a luxury lodge when you’re stuffed to the gills with meaty delights and Okanagan wine at $2/glass. The sauna and yoga room didn’t hurt either.

True to the Kootenays, avalanche awareness was a factor at Sol last week, with a lingering surface hoar layer keeping us on our toes. This is the reason why many skiers in these parts are equipped with relatively high avalanche awareness skills compared with, say, folks from Ontario. Instability is often a reality with our random and rare clear spells that happen during mid-winter and coincidentally, last week a hair-trigger layer was present. It didn’t make acquiring photos very easy (my job last week) and we spent a lot of time around the lodge keeping it safe. Fortunately, a sketchy layer usually coincides with a hefty snowfall, so we had plenty to play with on the mellower slopes and nearly 50cm of fresh over the week.

So, the final assessment is that Sol passes the test when it comes to conditions, comfort and attitude.

Words and photos by Steve Ogle, gravity tester

View of the Baldface Lodge complex. Photo: Mattias Fredriksson

Snow’s in the forecast, and there just happens to be this great lodge not too far from our offices in downtown Nelson. Across the lake, up along a beautiful creek and into the beautiful bowls and peaks of the mighty Selkirks. Baldface Lodge is a favorite destination of skiers and snowboarders the world over, and we’re extremely excited to sample classic steep lines like the infamous Cheeky Monkey. Check back over the next couple of days for deeply engaging powder reports.