Striding on snowshoes

ACCESS: Detailed snowshoe-trail maps as well as information on shuttle-bus service to Mount Seymour from both Lonsdale Quay and Parkgate Mall are posted at www.mountseymour.com/. For a schedule of snowshoe outings with Storm Fitness, visit stormfitness.ca/.

Be resolute.

Be very resolute.

Put one foot in front of the other and stride into the New Year on snowshoes.

According to personal trainer Michelle Ricketts, co-owner of Storm Fitness in North Vancouver, even after centuries of popularity in Canada, snowshoeing is a sport that has yet to reach its full potential.

“When it comes to fitness, snowshoeing has so many things going for it: you get a cardiovascular workout; you sweat a lot while breathing fresh air; and it strengthens muscles, especially in the legs.”

Not surprisingly, Ricketts typically sees a surge of interest in snowshoeing at this time of year, starting in December and lasting well into February.

“It’s the perfect mix between exercise, great scenery, and friendships. My client profile is mostly active women in the 25-to-35 age range who are already extremely fit. That being said, snowshoeing is not just for those who are already fit, but it’s a good way for anyone to get moving. My clients like it because it’s not something they would do on their own.”

The 30-year old Ricketts, who earned an outdoor-recreation diploma from Capilano University, knows whereof she speaks.

“I’ve been snowshoeing since Brownies, when we used to do snowshoe tours on the North Shore. My motto is ‘get living’. Why just exist when you can live? I encourage everyone to get outside and get living.”

When it comes her favourite places to be active, Ricketts gravitates to trails in either of the North Shore’s two provincial parks: Cypress in West Vancouver and Mount Seymour in North Vancouver.

“The fact that trails are open to the public is the big attraction of provincial parks. You’ll find there’s a good mix of challenges in both Cypress and Seymour without having to buy a pass.”

During a recent visit, the Christies took the opportunity to weigh the advantages of exploring both the Mount Seymour Provincial Park trails and Mount Seymour Resort’s adjacent Discovery Trails network.

Both options lie within steps of a common parking lot and are accessible by either car or shuttle bus.

From twin trail heads at 1,020 metres—the highest base elevation on the North Shore—the privately run, 10-kilometre snowshoe trails spread downhill through the forested lower bowl around Goldie Lake, and an equally lengthy and more challenging series of public trails begins at the B.C. Parks kiosk adjacent the Mystery Chairlift and ascend toward either First Lake or Mount Seymour’s summit.

More than a decade ago, when lightweight aluminum designs first sparked a renaissance in snowshoeing, Mount Seymour Resorts created the Discovery Trails system to complement the long-established public pistes originally tramped out by members of the Alpine Club of Canada in the 1920s.

When tracked down while clearing snow from the expert-rated Cougar’s Pass route, the resort’s trail-maintenance supervisor, Rowan Gloag, recommended that neophytes and families with young children should check out the Discovery Trails first before venturing farther afield.

“Given the atrocious weather the North Shore can experience, a lot of what my crew and I do is staking poles so that trails are well marked. We want to make our trails extremely comfortable for beginners and intermediates to come out no matter what the weather. The fluorescent-coloured poles are installed specifically for cloudy days.”

As Gloag spoke, shafts of sunshine pierced through groves of snow-caked evergreens.

With white drifts mounded on all sides, strategically placed poles helpfully outlined the intermediate single-track loop trail around Goldie Lake that led away from the much broader Ole’s Pass trail, one of six introductory routes.

Metal teeth, or crampons, mounted on the undersides of the rubber-decked snowshoes made easy work of both ascending and descending the otherwise slippery pathways.

These are the same routes visited by grade-school students on field trips conducted here throughout the winter.

“Over the past five years, our business has grown from running educational programs to a broader range of recreational trips,” Gloag observed. “The sport is steadily catching on. This year I’m seeing a lot more people showing up with their own equipment.”

After a snowfall, if you choose to head off on the B.C. Parks routes, be prepared to break trail through the old-growth forest that cloaks the steep-sided slopes of Mount Seymour.

Other than distance markers placed at significant intersections, signage on these trails primarily consists of red metal markers affixed high on the trunks of mountain hemlocks.

Spotting them is not difficult.

By the time most trekkers set out on the First Lake Loop Trail, which leads to several viewpoints of the city below, chances are good that a path will already have been packed down.

If you are exploring these trails for the first time, a clearly visible track is crucial.

The terrain proves particularly challenging on the roly-poly approach to First Lake, though less so on the more straightforward ascent on the seven-kilometre Mount Seymour Trail.

No matter which trails you choose to explore, the common experience of a snowshoe workout is similar: the crunch of snow underfoot abetted by the ambient sound of streams gurgling down into the ponds and lakes that dot the mountainside.

Why wait?

Now is the perfect time to get living.

Ski touring seeks backcountry panoramas

UPDATE: Congratulations to Greg Hill on achieving his goal of skiing 2 million vertical feet in 2010.  Check out his website for the final count.

ACCESS: Golden lies 713 kilometres east of Vancouver on Highway 1. For information on Kicking Horse Mountain Resort’s Dawn Patrol, call 1-866-754-5425. For information on Purcell Helicopter Skiing’s heli-ski touring program, visit or call 1-877-435-4754. To view Greg Hill’s exploits, visit greghill.ca/.

There’s no sound like skis sliding across snow, according to Katie Campbell, a customer-service representative with Purcell Heli-skiing in Golden.

“Ski touring in the stillness of the outdoors in winter is meditative,” she said . ” I cherish the sound of my own breath and the crunch of snow. I’m prepared to walk uphill all day to earn my turns.”

Such sentiments help explain a growing trend among younger skiers in search of new ways to explore the white world.

Campbell remarked that potential ski tourers—including snowboarders equipped with split boards—should be at least moderately fit with intermediate- to high-level snow-sliding skills.

“Ski touring is a small-group activity—usually four or five at most—where you take on the challenge of learning how to move safely in the mountain environment.”

It helps that her home in the Columbia Valley is surrounded by range after range of Rocky and Purcell mountain peaks.

“Touring turns the typical concept of downhill skiing on its head. You’re not chasing any vertical record for descents in a day. It’s the experience of being out there that counts.”

As with any new activity, the question is where to start.

This season, both Purcell Heliskiing and its neighbour, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, are rolling out innovative new ski-touring programs to meet the demand.

As Campbell pointed out, “Rogers Pass is getting crowded, if you can believe it.”

Although the historic pass in the heart of Glacier National Park, midway between Golden and Revelstoke, has a long-standing reputation for mountaineering, in recent years ski tourers such as Greg “Million-Foot Man” Hill have begun documenting their exploits on video and posting alluring accounts of the region on the Internet.

In turn, that publicity has fuelled a bonanza of interest in self-supported exploration of Glacier’s snow fields.

To do so is to share in a tradition established by Swiss guides who settled in Golden at the invitation of the Canadian Pacific Railway more than a century ago. Former Swiss national ski team racer Rudi Gertsch, who launched Purcell Helicopter Skiing in the 1970s, is one of the more recent arrivals.

A day of helicopter skiing is expensive. For example, Purcell Heli-skiing charges between $709 and $849 for three- or five-run packages.

Because heli-ski touring only requires one or two drop-offs and pickups, the cost is more affordable, varying from $375 to $550, though that doesn’t include equipment rental.

When cutting tracks through the dry, fluffy powder found in B.C.’s Interior, wider-than-average skis are a must. These help trekkers glide across rather than sink knee-deep in what locals, such as Kicking Horse’s mountain host, John Parry, refer to as “hero snow”.

On fat skis or a snowboard, the feeling is akin to floating in eiderdown.

When it comes to a resort with as much open terrain as Kicking Horse, and where conditions can easily change from blue skies to a whiteout, the most sensible approach is to team up with a knowledgeable local like Parry. Upon retirement five years ago, he and his wife moved west, from Quebec to Golden.

One look at the former phys ed teacher’s ruddy complexion confirms his claim of spending as much as a hundred days a year on snow.

Each morning, Parry gathers visitors around him in front of the resort’s Big Mountain Centre, gauges the group’s ability level, and then leads them onto the nearby gondola for a 20-minute ascent to the top of Dogtooth Ridge.

From that aerie, views stretch out across adjacent ranges stacked in rows like static waves. Ropes helpfully define the limits beyond which skiers and snowboarders venture at their peril.

One look at the vastness of the patrolled and avalanche-controlled terrain reveals enough in-bounds opportunities to satisfy all but the most vagabond spirits.

To see beyond the boundaries into an untracked wilderness rife with endless possibilities is to understand the allure of ski touring.

If would-be adventurers are undeterred by the potential dangers of exploring the backcountry on their own, guides at Kicking Horse have decided this season to offer courses in ski touring.

Over the span of a day’s outing, the Dawn Patrol program educates small groups in how to ski big mountains.

Specifically designed to teach first-time tourers how to cross steep terrain, training takes place in the expert-rated back bowls accessed from the top of the appropriately named Stairway to Heaven chair lift.

Thanks to a partnership with several ski and snowboard manufacturers, as part of the $449 group package, up to five participants are outfitted with the latest backcountry gear featuring reverse-camber technology, as well as the entire kit of avalanche bells and whistles, shovels and probes.

As informed and choosy as one might be in the backcountry, when it comes to assessing danger, there’s no way to eliminate the risk factor outright.

One can only manage the danger within acceptable limits, a fact worth keeping in mind constantly in the beckoning silence, whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned pro.

Original Article
Text CR Jack Christie
Photo CR Louise Christie