Trip Reports and Stories
Looking for inspiration?
Wondering what our trips are all about? Here’s a bunch of trip reports and stories, complete with photos, for you!
Our 2023 newsletter has some stories, an intro to our new office manager, a brief message from Tom, a rundown of our upcoming trips and 2024 lodge trip availability, and an invitation to visit us at the Banff Film Festival!
57 Hours has created a beautiful landing page featuring some of our great backcountry ski lodge trips.
57 Hours hosts some great webinars on the “Epic Adventures” series. This winter they featured two trips offered by none other than Sawback Alpine Adventures. Check it out!
A beautiful weekend for skiing up on the Icefield Parkway. Today we got up high for some excellent views and great deep powder skiing.
A beautiful weekend for skiing up on the Icefield Parkway. Today we got up high for some excellent views and great deep powder skiing.
Jan 11-18, 2020
Like last January we had incredible snow conditions: deep light Selkirk powder, and first tracks in the truest sense: being the first group on an regular ski program at Selkirk this season, most of the runs we did hadn’t been skied yet this winter!
April 20-29, 2014
Here’s an old report of a trip we’re offering again for 2021. Book your spot today!
Jan 11-18, 2020
Like last January we had incredible snow conditions: deep light Selkirk powder, and first tracks in the truest sense: being the first group on an regular ski program at Selkirk this season, most of the runs we did hadn’t been skied yet this winter!
March 8-15, 2020
It was a blissful week in paradise. With no internet connection for the majority of the week we were unaware that the world was rapidly falling apart …
Jan 23-30, 2019
Lee Lau and his friends booked a week with us at Burnie Glacier Chalet at the end of March. We had exceptional spring conditions and enjoyed some incredible tours up in the high glaciers.
May 2019
Michelin level food in the high, high Arctic. Who would have ever expected this in a tiny miner’s shack at the edge of town?
May 2019
This was our first of two Ski & Sails this past May, 2019. We had really calm weather this week, with cloud bands that made travel interesting but never impossible. It’s hard to beat the day we toured up into Tinayrebukta, my favourite little fjord. Or the traverse across the peninsula into Ny-Ålesund, a tiny research outpost at 79 degrees north, on the south side of Kongsfjord.
May 2019
This spring I ran another two Ski and Sail weeks in the arctic archipelago of Svalbard: the first on the s/v Rembrandt van Rijn, the second on the s/v Noorderlicht, both traditional gaff-rigged schooners and perfect for exploring the coastal fjords of Spitzbergen.
May 2019
Svalbard has spectacular scenery, massive tumbling glaciers, and abundant wildlife. It also has innumerable, perfect ski peaks rising from the sea that make for some of the best skiing anywhere.
May 2019
Svalbard has spectacular scenery, massive tumbling glaciers, and abundant wildlife. It also has innumerable, perfect ski peaks rising from the sea that make for some of the best skiing anywhere.
April 20-27, 2019
For spring skiing it does not get better than Sorcerer Lodge. While it’s at the top of my list of recommendations for people to head to extend their ski touring season, it’s also one of the best places for high alpine ski mountaineering anywhere, and the end of April is the perfect window. With a great snowpack and no interruptions from heliskiing (the heliski season ends the first week of April) I’ve had consistently excellent experiences with Sorcerer in the last week of April and this was no exception.
April 1-7, 2019
The Bow Yoho traverse has in recent years become our most popular trip, and for good reason. This hut to hut traverse takes you through some of the most spectacular scenery and is an excellent variation on the Wapta traverse with superb, varied skiing.
March 8-15, 2019
This was the second of my three weeks of ski touring at Burnie in 2019. Burnie is one of my favourite lodges — and one of my favourite places to be period.
Feb 24-Mar 3, 2019
Mt. Carlyle Lodge in the southern Selkirks is a beautiful lodge surrounded by great ski terrain. I spent a week there this past winter with a group of regulars from Vancouver.
Jan 25-Feb 1, 2019
Here’s a selection of photos from this year’s January trip. We were actually able to complete the seldom-done Polemic Pass circuit, which might have been the earliest it’s ever been done successfully. We also made it to the top of Middle Solitaire, Loft Peak and Solitaire Ski peak and skied off the back side of Tom George. So even in January there’s much to be done with the right group and the right conditions — but the same can be said about any other month of the year!
Our Ski and Sail trips to Svalbard this spring will enjoy around the clock sunlight in the Land of the…
Jan 5 to 12, 2019
The Selkirks have a great snowpack right now, with the recent problems of windslabs and the January 2 freezing rain layer well settled.
Dec 28-Jan 1, 2018
This winter I got to take out three of my favourite kids ice climbing: Ruth, Rohan and Slade. Here’s a collection of photos of our adventures together!
July 2018
The Alpine Club of Canada’s General Mountaineering Camps (GMCs) are a very old tradition, dating back to 1906 and the dawn of mountaineering in Canada. They have always been pretty big affairs, attracting mountaineers from all over.
Jun 17-21, 2018
I know what you’re thinking — Tom, it’s summer… the Wapta traverse? Well it was a lot more pleasant than my experience 6 months ago leaving Bow Hut in the dark at 8:00 am with -35°C temps and clouds and wind. And the snow was pretty good too — from Sunday to Tuesday it was great spring ski touring conditions.
May 19-29, 2018
Svalbard, or Spitzbergen as it is also known, is made for skiing. Countless ski peaks rise 500 to 800 m or more directly out of the ocean, blanketed in snow and rugged glaciers as far as the eye can see.
April 21-28, 2019
Just back from a sensational week up at Sorcerer Lodge. Epic spring powder ski mountaineering for the first four days, then three days of backing off in the face of the big meltdown — but still excellent steep skiing with extra early starts and back to the lodge for beers by 1 pm, then noon, then 11 am!
April 1-7, 2018
Today I completed a week-long guided Bow-Yoho traverse from Bow Lake to Field, my 3rd and final Bow Yoho of the season!
March 9-15, 2018
This winter I ran a ski camp out of Nirvana Pass. Located just a short distance from Mount Waddington, Nirvana is a hybrid between Coast and Chilcotin terrain. The glaciers are massive and tumbling, but the relief is not as severe as the neighboring peaks. And, while there’s a ton of snow, it’s not as intense and the weather is generally better than further west.
Feb 24-March 3, 2018
I just spent a week at the unbelievable Valhalla Mountain Lodge, where we had over 140 cm of storm snowfall with very little wind. Needless to say the skiing was perfect, day after day after day. The only day was the snow shoveling to keep the lodge and sugar shack from disappearing!
Today I did three Burnie runs I’d never done before — Mystery Rib Left and Right, and Thataway Far Right…
At Burnie Glacier Chalet, or anywhere for that matter, what’s better than tree skiing on a powder day? Well, nothing,…
That was my best powder day in years. We hit Tom George hard. Heavy trail breaking slowed things down but the ski quality… wow. Deep dry powder in -15° temps meant face shots every turn top to bottom. Nothing like 700 m tree runs with a beautiful lodge to warm up and refuel in between.
Yesterday a temperature inversion meant +1°C. This morning we woke to more snow and -4°C. Throughout the day the temperature has been dropping and by the time we returned from our day of skiing it was -14° with 10 cm new fluffy snow on the ground and still falling! Today we skied up the ultra classic Solitaire Ski Peak, which offers a 1200 m run directly back to the hut. Half the group, despite the challenging visibility, decided to do a hot lap on The Pinörkel, which one of the guests noticed strongly resembles the run down from Sapphire Col at Rogers Pass. Of course here there are no crowds, and no tracks in this vast wilderness apart from those left by our own group of 13.Another 20-30 cm in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Let it snow!
The weather cleared for an uneventful flight into the Chalet. Well not quite uneventful — after takeoff the passenger door on the A-Star popped open twice so we had to return for a quick repair. An inversion today meant -6° in a Smithers and +1° at the Chalet. Moist snow is forecast to freeze into a thin crust with tonight’s colder temperatures, -10° by breakfast!
Today I’m flying to to Smithers for two weeks of skiing. In the past two weeks they’ve got well over 200 cm of storm snow and it’s forecast to keep coming down hard this week. High Avalanche hazard, storm, crazy amounts of snow! But I’m stoked, I’ve worked Burnie in all conditions and the beauty of the area is that it has always delivered a good week of skiing, every time. That’s saying something — I’ve skied and guided there almost every winter since 2004.
Today we did a short ski tour up onto the East facing Molars, the backcountry accessed off Kicking Horse Mountain…
Wow what great ski touring conditions at Rogers Pass this weekend. The avalanche situation is still tricky but the ski…
I spent this past weekend in Rogers Pass finishing the second part of an AST-2 class. We had a great…
The best of both worlds: lift accessed powder backcountry skiing at Sunshine Village! January 4th I headed out with Rohan,…
Dec 29-Jan 1, 2018
I completed a 4-day Yoho Traverse yesterday with a very hardy group of Saskatchewaners. We experienced very cold temperatures, ranging from -35C to -17C. Face protection in the form of buffs and goggles were essential at times, especially on the glaciers, and toe warmers helped keep things as comfortable as possible.
On my birthday I like to go for a ski with the family. This year on December 23rd we headed…
Hero’s Knob is a super popular destination for classic loops and powder backcountry ski touring descents, both moderate and fairly…
Today was a multi-sports day for me. I spent the bulk of the day teaching an AST-1 field day at…