Old friend-Soap Box Comp

My second year living in the Kootenays was when my best friend, his wife and my brother moved in for three months of what was an epic year for snow. A persistent weak layer made most of the glory tours of the area dangerous (it still remains the most natural avalanches I have seen on those runs in all my years of touring the area), and as we were all basically learning how to assess snow and get the legs required for this activity, we started small with small glade skiing in slackcountry. Within one week we were itching to 'get off the grid', go 'carbon neutral', 'earn every turn' etc… My friend and his wife didn't even get to the number of days at the hill that would have made their season's pass worth it. They didn't care, they just wanted powder turns with no other lines. For my wife and I, it would be our last resort lift ever.

As a unit of five (two snowshoe/snowboarders, my friend and his wife), we started an uptrack from the nordic track on the Hummingbird side of the White Queen that passed within the five clearcuts looker's left from the summit when on Summit Chair. That route got cemented most of the winter as the days my wife and I went to work as it would be kept up by my guests. Most people I talked to told me the clearcuts in that area were heli-logged by Kaleshnikoff's as part of their training, so they were always known within our circle as the 'Kaleshies'. We would communicate routes and desired runs by the number associated with the clearcut starting from the main gully and moving towards Hummingbird. My guests would return from a day and would tell me the runs they did based on the number of the 'Kaleshy'. That year, we did do some other touring but they left without riding some of the bigger lines. No Whalesback. No Ymir bowl. That didn't bother them. There were no complaints. Great year.

This year, my wife took a week off to visit with family so my natural response was 'well I am not working either, right?'. Took a week off. Was going to be quiet with just me and the dog skiing conservatively and enjoying the solitude. Then, I got an e-mail from my friend, who had Family Day off and saw the persistent waves of snow in the area, asking if he could come the next day for two days (and maybe a half) of touring. No problem. His two kids are now his number one priority and he probably needs a break being one of the best fathers I have seen. He drove in during a break in the storms and got here after a refresh dump in the area. He got in at midnight looking forward to returning to the Kaleshies. 'They're looking good', I said. Most of this season, we were enjoying more of the other areas this year while we watched those clearcuts and noted their poor coverage. Then these storms hit. It was time for our first return of the year.

Wife got snowed in so my friend offered to drive her back to Edmonton after his visit. Well that worked out. The three of us made our way to the old uptrack starting location and shared a little look and a small smile. Ah, old friend. As we were working our way through the Kaleshy clearcuts, my wife said: 'This feels so natural'. Yes, that was perfect. My friend slogging out on his snowshoes loving the steep uptrack. My wife and I having discussions of which 'Kaleshy' to hit and why. Touring by our old common pit spots. Stopping at the large granite stone we called the 'Rock of Discussion' where we had to decide if we were going up to the ridgetop or conservatively staying in the clearcuts. This time our decision process has improved and the rock will no longer be needed.  

Photo: A new addition to the group this time (named Kaleshy, thought by many to be a corny name at first but now has never been more apt).

The snow quality that weekend was similar to that of our first year of touring. Also, just like our first year, we would know we would not have to leave a Kaleshy unskied for the next few days as we were assured more waves of storms to refresh our lines. 

My friend, for not having been in the area in years, remembered exactly the lines to enter each clearcut for max fun and the natural traverse lines to get from one to another. I have not toured recently with a boarder; I had forgot what a swath he can make when he rides and the tidal wave that comes out of some turns. I had also forgotten how much a snowshoer suffers like no ski tourer/splitboarder does. One of the days, we did a 1500m day. First run: a main face White Queen then to steepest clearcut and down to the cat track through the end of the main gully. Second run: a top of the ridge down through the small most square-looking clear cut down to the cat track. Final run, a return to the ridge for a combination of the two stacked up clearcuts you see from the diamond glades of Whitewater. When we got to the car, we described our day as Kaleshy 0 (White Queen face), 1, 2 and a 4/5. One Kaleshy 3 away from what we used to refer as 'the cycle', like in baseball. 'Next time', my wife said.

Photo: Kaleshy at the end of the White Queen gully  

The day my friend and my wife drove to Edmonton, they could not resist a mini-quick tour all together again up to the White Queen summit. A 3 hour delay on the sign of the Kootenay Pass on the ride up made their choice all the wiser. Left our dog at home. Rode the face of the Queen and traversed skier's left to the main chutes down to the second cat track.  A line we did not get to do often our first year of touring. My wife said it was one of her best lines of the year as she could ride it all the way down from the traverse point without having to worry about the dog. No other lines on the whole mountains yet. Big smile on my friend's face.

I said goodbye to the group after. Thouroughly enjoyed every minute. I was a little sad driving home that I was going to be skiing the rest of my week off alone now after such a great weekend when I came home to many phone messages from my brother during another break in the storm cycle wanting to head down from Edmonton for the next few days. They passed during their travels at Sparwood. My wife and friend got home at 1am. She emailed me still in high spirits, and included the code for the numbers of Kaleshies we did: 2, 4, 5, 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 0. She was correct.

When my brother and I went back today to our uptrack, we talked a lot of how impressed we were with our friend who snowshoed all those meters at incredible pace (my watch had us on some of his paces at 15 meters/minute). Had more great turns in that area but we talked about going somewhere else for some different aspects for his photography tomorrow.

To both my weekend guest and the 'Kaleshy' clearcuts: 'See you next time my old friend'.