Again, a shoutout to ChrisC for posting the last-minute seat offer for this tour on Feb. 12. I was staying with friends in Reno, skiing Feb. 12-13 and planning to drive to Canada over the next 3 days anyway due to the dismal conditions at most areas in between. I did have to drive an extra 150 miles or so Feb. 16 to be in Golden. Chatter Creek flies by heli from the Donald airport, 20 minutes drive north of Golden, and the heli flight itself is another 20+ minutes. You do not want that flight to be grounded as it’s a 3.5 hour slog by bus and snowcat, which fortunately I’ve only done once in 5 round trips to Chatter Creek.
Seasons like the current one are when Chatter Creek stands out. The areas west of Rogers Pass have had warm storms with high rain/snow lines. Chatter being in the Canadian Rockies is colder and usually escapes this scenario. Chatter has far more alpine terrain that perhaps all the other cat operation combined and our drop points were generally between 7,900 and 8,300 feet.
The downside of the continental alpine climate can be wind effect or snow instability. While the guides said some sectors were unstable, there was still plenty for us to enjoy. And we skied zero wind affected snow. It had snowed 4 inches per day for a week and the temperature never exceeded 7F. So snow quality was outstanding.
The first day was overcast, so not photogenic but you can see some of that snow.
Here one of the snowboarder takes some air, a preview of some of the last third day’s skiing.
Some fairly deep tracks:
View to Kinbasket Lake:
This is where the Columbia River loops around the north end of the Selkirks. That gap allows more snow to reach the tenures of Chatter Creek and Mica Heli just north than the rest of the Canadian Rockies.
An afternoon drop off, with one at a time skiing:
The guide is a speck lower center and the cat is in the lower right corner.
These runs Feb. 18 averaged about 1,400 vertical, and the 13,200 for the day is fairly high for a first day that begins with transceiver training.
Thursday’s weather brightened a little but snow quality was still A+.
Some Canadian Rockies mountains would not look out of place in the Dolomites.
The fluff factor remained high.
The last run of the day, Super Spruce, reminded me of Showtime at Mustang, a definite highlight, not sure why I don’t have any pics.
We skied 10,300 vertical Thursday. Runs were somewhat shorter but there were also longer cat rides moving between sectors.
The final day Friday was bluebird and included Chatter’s photographer and was mostly in the South park sector. Our excellent guides Kat and Jamie had sized up the group, noting that several were looking for steep terrain and potential air time.
This run Rugae may not look steep from below, but you can tell because nearly all the skied snow sluffed instead or leaving the usual clean tracks.
We skied this wide open cruiser before moving into steeper lines out of this pic to looker’s right.
I skied the easy line in the pic below, which emerges from a comfortable width diagonal chute out of view.
Here’s a narrower line skied at high speed.
Now for the air time:
The latter skier did not stick his landing.
But he did not lose a ski and so skied away after he rolled over.
Tail guide Jamie:
That's a line I would have enjoyed a few years ago.
For our last South Park run the photographer launched a drone.
On the way back to the lodge we skied a tree run. The lower section was tight and skiing through tracks so I got exhausted fast. Had there been an encore I might have considered sitting out, but the final run, though in heavier snow in direct sun, was in an open gap between tree stands.
Friday’s vertical was 8,700. Runs were shorter and the guides had to be deliberate about scouting the more technical lines to keep us out of trouble.
At my age I’m not concerned about the vertical on these trips any more as long as I can enjoy the powder, easy when it’s this quality. It’s more a matter of will I get tired enough to hold up the group or sit out runs. If I return to Canada for cat skiing next year, it will probably be at Chatter Creek.
Seasons like the current one are when Chatter Creek stands out. The areas west of Rogers Pass have had warm storms with high rain/snow lines. Chatter being in the Canadian Rockies is colder and usually escapes this scenario. Chatter has far more alpine terrain that perhaps all the other cat operation combined and our drop points were generally between 7,900 and 8,300 feet.
The downside of the continental alpine climate can be wind effect or snow instability. While the guides said some sectors were unstable, there was still plenty for us to enjoy. And we skied zero wind affected snow. It had snowed 4 inches per day for a week and the temperature never exceeded 7F. So snow quality was outstanding.
The first day was overcast, so not photogenic but you can see some of that snow.
Here one of the snowboarder takes some air, a preview of some of the last third day’s skiing.
Some fairly deep tracks:
View to Kinbasket Lake:
This is where the Columbia River loops around the north end of the Selkirks. That gap allows more snow to reach the tenures of Chatter Creek and Mica Heli just north than the rest of the Canadian Rockies.
An afternoon drop off, with one at a time skiing:
The guide is a speck lower center and the cat is in the lower right corner.
These runs Feb. 18 averaged about 1,400 vertical, and the 13,200 for the day is fairly high for a first day that begins with transceiver training.
Thursday’s weather brightened a little but snow quality was still A+.
Some Canadian Rockies mountains would not look out of place in the Dolomites.
The fluff factor remained high.
The last run of the day, Super Spruce, reminded me of Showtime at Mustang, a definite highlight, not sure why I don’t have any pics.
We skied 10,300 vertical Thursday. Runs were somewhat shorter but there were also longer cat rides moving between sectors.
The final day Friday was bluebird and included Chatter’s photographer and was mostly in the South park sector. Our excellent guides Kat and Jamie had sized up the group, noting that several were looking for steep terrain and potential air time.
This run Rugae may not look steep from below, but you can tell because nearly all the skied snow sluffed instead or leaving the usual clean tracks.
We skied this wide open cruiser before moving into steeper lines out of this pic to looker’s right.
I skied the easy line in the pic below, which emerges from a comfortable width diagonal chute out of view.
Here’s a narrower line skied at high speed.
Now for the air time:
The latter skier did not stick his landing.
But he did not lose a ski and so skied away after he rolled over.
Tail guide Jamie:
That's a line I would have enjoyed a few years ago.
For our last South Park run the photographer launched a drone.
On the way back to the lodge we skied a tree run. The lower section was tight and skiing through tracks so I got exhausted fast. Had there been an encore I might have considered sitting out, but the final run, though in heavier snow in direct sun, was in an open gap between tree stands.
Friday’s vertical was 8,700. Runs were shorter and the guides had to be deliberate about scouting the more technical lines to keep us out of trouble.
At my age I’m not concerned about the vertical on these trips any more as long as I can enjoy the powder, easy when it’s this quality. It’s more a matter of will I get tired enough to hold up the group or sit out runs. If I return to Canada for cat skiing next year, it will probably be at Chatter Creek.
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