Earn
Your
Turns

Ski trips to the most
amazing places on earth

Featured Trips

Mountaineering and Adventuring, for over 25 years.

In the winter season we specialize in high end ski touring trips to BC’s finest Backcountry lodges as well as exotic international destinations like Svalbard, Greenland, Antarctica and Europe. In 2021 we added a new array of trips in our own magnificent backyard to appeal to the growing demand for local trips close to home. Trips we haven’t done for years, such as our Wapta, Bow Yoho, Northern Selkirks and Bugaboos Traverses, are world class and have a strong appeal to Canadians especially early in the pandemic when we couldn’t travel internationally. After a long wait our international border is open again, and we are excited to share with our visitors, once again, what we believe to be the Best Skiing on Earth.

Seiland House

Explore the Fjords of Northern Norway from a remote backcountry lodge

– Seiland is a ski touring paradise accessible only by a 3-hour boat trip from Alta. For six days we will enjoy the arctic hospitality of this family-operated lodge and ski the slopes above the nearby fjords, accessed each morning by motorboat.

Weekend G-Town Ski Camps

Town-based ski touring out of Golden, BC

Perfectly situated in the middle of the Canada’s best mountain ranges for ski touring. Take advantage of the many excellent accommodation opportunities and enjoy day trips into the Selkirks, Pucells and Canadian Rocky Mountains.

The Stoke & G-Town Ski Camp

Town-based ski touring out of Revelstoke and Golden, BC

These ski towns are perfectly situated in the middle of the Canada’s best mountain ranges for ski touring. Take advantage of the many excellent accommodation opportunities and enjoy day trips into the Selkirks, Pucells and Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Nirvana Pass

Mountains as awesome as their mythical namesakes

“Rows of glaciers on either side of the valley are lined up one beside the other at varying degrees of steepness, all perfect for skiing. The peaks are towering and rugged. I’ve been to most of the best backcountry ski lodges in the world … Nirvana tops them all for terrain.”

Northern Selkirks Traverse

Booking for 2022

North of Rogers Pass is a chain of high glaciated peaks that forms the Northern Selkirks Traverse. We begin the trip near Sorcerer Lodge at Ventego Lake at the base of the south face of Mt. Iconoclast. Over the course of 7 days we work our way northward, exiting either via Stitt Creek or over the Adamants and fly out from Fairy Meadow.

Bugaboos to Rogers Pass

Canada’s Great Haute Route

The Bugs to Rogers traverse is arguably the most coveted ski traverse in Western Canada. It starts with the spectacular Bugaboos and continues across the beautiful northern section of the Purcells, finishing with a high line through the Selkirk Mountains to Rogers Pass.

More About Us

Sawback was founded by Tom Wolfe in 1995, running mountain hiking trips for groups. Since then we have expanded programming to offer just about any mountaineering adventure you could imagine. Tom is a trained and internationally certified Mountain Guide and a member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) and the International Federation of Mountain Guides (IFMGA) as well as a Professional Member of the Canadian Avalanche Association.

We work with a variety of other certified guides. See our Guides and Partners Page for some photos and brief bios.

For existing trips, simply use our Book Now link to fire off a quick booking request. We will follow up quickly with you to confirm the booking with you.

If you are looking for a custom trip – e.g. a day of ski touring or ice climbing or a multi-day trip that we don’t offer – email or phone us or use our contact form. We will offer suggestions and personally help you organize the best possible trip for you .

Sawback began in 1995 as a one-man operation. It is still a small grassroots family-run operation, but we have expanded to offer high end ski touring trips from Western Canada to the high arctic of Norway. In the winter we have a staff of over 25 guides who operate our trips. Tom is still involved and is the lead guide on most of the trips we run (sometimes with his teenaged son or daughter tagging along!) Joining Tom is a team of outstanding, certified IFMGA and ACMG guides — mostly from Canada but also from South Tirol and Italy.

Sawback’s guides are members of the following associations:

Canadian Avalanche Association members are dedicated to upholding the highest standards of avalanche safety, and are committed to life-long learning and pursuit of excellence in their fields.

The International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA/UIAGM), founded in 1965, is the international umbrella for mountain guide associations from more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania, representing a total of almost 6,000 guides.

Avalanche Canada aims to minimize public risk in avalanche terrain by providing leadership, development, communication, coordination and delivery of public avalanche safety education, warnings, products, and services.

The Association of Canadian Mountain Guides has been the voice for all aspects of mountain guiding and instruction in Canada for over half a century and the first guides outside of Europe to be recognized by the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations.