I returned to Island Lake Lodge for the 3rd time. I was not worried about conditions despite Friday's rain halfway up Fernie, because Island Lake was OK last year under much more adverse circumstances. The Friday storm did turn cold at the end, as there were a couple inches new over the rain crust at the parking lot and more like 8 inches up near the lodge. Thus the lower tree runs were skiable unlike last year. And the deeper coverage allowed cat access to some terrain on the backside of Baldy and on Mt. Fernie which I had not skied before.
This year I was accompanied by my friend Richard Weinstein, a long-time intermediate skier who was new to powder but had been training in a gym since before his climb of Kilimanjaro last July. Marc Guido and my son Adam predicted a disaster scenario, but Craig Morris' analysis was closer to the mark: "I would guess that the ILL folks are well accustomed to handling skiers of his level, but you might be slowed down some."
We were with a group of 8 from Montreal which included 4 other first timers. Two of these were less conditioned than Richard and occasionally had to sit out runs. On the other hand I was very compatible with 3 of the Montrealers, including one lady who was a CMH regular and had a good facility for scoping the best tree lines.
Day 1 included morning transceiver drills, a hike above a newly plowed road in the alpine, and a slightly early 3:30PM quit time, so we only skied 10K. Quality of terrain was still excellent, with the only concession to the first timers being sticking to mostly open terrain.
On Monday we skied 13.6K in both alpine in Geisha and Face Shot Bowls and trees on Baldy and Mt. Fernie. The tree runs were often in areas which ILL's staff glades in the summer, so the first timers were comfortable with spacing. In fact Richard, who had refused to ski ANY trees at Mammoth 2 weeks before, pronounced Big Woody as his favorite run of the 3 days! The guides noted our ability split and occasionally pointed out tighter and steeper lines which the 4 of us might appreciate.
One of the other cats had two minor injuries on Monday so I was in a different group on Tuesday, now in a more typical middle-of-the-pack position ability-wise. The timing was fortuitous because the alpine snow became more wind-affected overnight and thus we did more tree runs, some of them steeper and gladed by nature rather than chain saw. The highlight was Left Hook, a 1,000 vertical sustained 40-degree glade on the sheltered backside of Baldy. Our last run came into the Lodge but I took a wrong turn and skied the sunny rather than shaded side of the ridgeline. I assumed I was going the right way as the Lodge was visible in front of me the whole time. The sunbaked but untracked snow in my line was similar to SoCal's Mt. Baldy so I felt right at home. 15K total Tuesday.
Island Lake once again lived up to its terrain and service standards which have made me a repeat customer. I must note that the rain events preceding my last 2 visits, plus the near wipeout 2001 season, lead me to conclude the that the higher altitude snowcat areas in the Selkirks probably have more reliable snow.
This year I was accompanied by my friend Richard Weinstein, a long-time intermediate skier who was new to powder but had been training in a gym since before his climb of Kilimanjaro last July. Marc Guido and my son Adam predicted a disaster scenario, but Craig Morris' analysis was closer to the mark: "I would guess that the ILL folks are well accustomed to handling skiers of his level, but you might be slowed down some."
We were with a group of 8 from Montreal which included 4 other first timers. Two of these were less conditioned than Richard and occasionally had to sit out runs. On the other hand I was very compatible with 3 of the Montrealers, including one lady who was a CMH regular and had a good facility for scoping the best tree lines.
Day 1 included morning transceiver drills, a hike above a newly plowed road in the alpine, and a slightly early 3:30PM quit time, so we only skied 10K. Quality of terrain was still excellent, with the only concession to the first timers being sticking to mostly open terrain.
On Monday we skied 13.6K in both alpine in Geisha and Face Shot Bowls and trees on Baldy and Mt. Fernie. The tree runs were often in areas which ILL's staff glades in the summer, so the first timers were comfortable with spacing. In fact Richard, who had refused to ski ANY trees at Mammoth 2 weeks before, pronounced Big Woody as his favorite run of the 3 days! The guides noted our ability split and occasionally pointed out tighter and steeper lines which the 4 of us might appreciate.
One of the other cats had two minor injuries on Monday so I was in a different group on Tuesday, now in a more typical middle-of-the-pack position ability-wise. The timing was fortuitous because the alpine snow became more wind-affected overnight and thus we did more tree runs, some of them steeper and gladed by nature rather than chain saw. The highlight was Left Hook, a 1,000 vertical sustained 40-degree glade on the sheltered backside of Baldy. Our last run came into the Lodge but I took a wrong turn and skied the sunny rather than shaded side of the ridgeline. I assumed I was going the right way as the Lodge was visible in front of me the whole time. The sunbaked but untracked snow in my line was similar to SoCal's Mt. Baldy so I felt right at home. 15K total Tuesday.
Island Lake once again lived up to its terrain and service standards which have made me a repeat customer. I must note that the rain events preceding my last 2 visits, plus the near wipeout 2001 season, lead me to conclude the that the higher altitude snowcat areas in the Selkirks probably have more reliable snow.
