tseeb
Well-known member
Thursday 2/16/23
We had a group of five at Red on our way North. Besides skiace and me, flyover and John from Seattle who backtracked to Rossland from Whitewater, we were joined by David from skitalk who lives in Stanwood, along the coast N of Seattle and used to instruct at Steven Pass and was at beginning of long roadtrip to UT. While others were inside lodge, I talked to guides for free mountain tours and it seemed like they would get us into some steeps that may be hard to find on our own so we took a guided tour. He started with Red chair and a groomed run then rocketed down Face of Red. He was 75 and a former Rossland council member. He had a lot of stories including one about a free helicopter ride to Old Glory (7795’ bald mountain behind Red) with Nancy Greene, and when asked he said his name was John, but it wasn’t until 2/22 we learned he was her younger brother. John gave us a lot of history of where Red’s chairs had been moved from, the area and showed us (maybe all of) the private cabins that had been built on Red.
There was no recent snow. North-facing surface was OK. We had a dangerously crowded run down Ruby Tuesday (or Southern Comfort) to Paradise chair before moving to Motherlode. He took us down near Doug’s run a double-diamond and led most of the group over a steep drop where you had to clear a 5’ rock. I saw it coming and turned down between trees before it. I think it was top of Grey where he had us hike to very top of mountain without skis to enjoy the view of Old Glory and other peaks in area. Not sure where else he took us besides down re-frozen small bumps that was probably Taz under Grey Mountain chair. We finished tour before noon and returned to Motherlode. John and flyover went to Paradise lodge to have something to eat while skiace and I finished with 2 laps on Red chair skiing not very good Sally’s Alley and better Back Trail/Face of Red we'd skied first run with guide.
Since we had a long drive to Revelstoke, we quit before 2 with 21K, stopped at coffeehouse/eatery in town that is open until 2:30 and says they served food until 2:15, but kitchen closes at 2 so I had a re-heated chicken and bacon calzone and I think they forget the bacon. We thought we had a good buffer going N to ferry when I let skiace take over halfway through 3 hr drive. But due to snow on the road and a couple of slow vehicles that took a while to pass, we made 5:30 ferry (runs hourly) with 5 min to spare. John and flyover in 4WD Mercedes van conversion made it with 0 to spare a stoplight to load had already gone red before going green again and letting then and two other vehicles load. Should I mention the Indian/German/Thai fusion restaurant we went to in Revy? Skiace had butter chicken schnitzel while I had more than I could eat butter chicken spätzle.
Wednesday 2/22/23
On day during previous week at Red, I was not that impressed. With 7” new, and even with big line before opening for Silverlode quad to get to Motherlode, we had a great day although navigation at Red can be tricky. We started with 5 laps on Paradise with a short break after first 3 at lodge for skiace to warm his feet while I put toe warmers in mine. The top of Gambler was wind affected, but it got better lower. We found best snow on edge of Ruby Tuesday where they’d left 10-20’ ungroomed and in the Mini Bowls above Paradise lodge.
We exited Paradise via either Doug’s or Roots skiing some steep trees with big bumps and some powder. Next we did at least 4 laps on Grey chair. We did one traversing into big semi-open S-facing looker’s right of chair finding some long mostly untracked lines. Next we took traverse higher and looked left along ridge and skied more good powder passing Senor Spence’s sign although long exit went through very steep and many tight trees. On our third lap, after skiing some lightly tracked in open area looker right of chair, we got through some tight trees and another open area we’d spotted that was between our two previous runs. Skiace tearing it up.
We exited Grey via Toba trees and rode Motherload and skied still good, not totally tracked snow in Mini Bowl for lunch break just before 2 PM. I wanted soup which they didn’t have. Cashier pushed US$9.50 burger which was a bargain including cheese and was at least 6 if not 7-8 ounces and delivered with no wait. Skiace ordered chorizo sausage which must have been left on warmer while cashier took a smoke break as it took about 15 min to get it. It included kraut and he said it was good. Sun almost appeared when we passed top of Paradise chair.
After lunch we took long and getting cold Southside road to Motherlode where we had time for two more laps. First we tried to find one of two gladed areas we’d seen from Grey, but ended up in mostly very steep and too tight trees again, probably coming down too early before Needles. Our last run started just skiers left at top of chair skiing Link’s Line which was not totally skied out at end of day. I even found a few untracked turns. We quit at 3:45 with 26K and I had a much better appreciation of Red.
Sorry but may not have time to add all my pictures, although with temps about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday and little new snow that is not day-old, we are not in a big hurry to get out.
We had a group of five at Red on our way North. Besides skiace and me, flyover and John from Seattle who backtracked to Rossland from Whitewater, we were joined by David from skitalk who lives in Stanwood, along the coast N of Seattle and used to instruct at Steven Pass and was at beginning of long roadtrip to UT. While others were inside lodge, I talked to guides for free mountain tours and it seemed like they would get us into some steeps that may be hard to find on our own so we took a guided tour. He started with Red chair and a groomed run then rocketed down Face of Red. He was 75 and a former Rossland council member. He had a lot of stories including one about a free helicopter ride to Old Glory (7795’ bald mountain behind Red) with Nancy Greene, and when asked he said his name was John, but it wasn’t until 2/22 we learned he was her younger brother. John gave us a lot of history of where Red’s chairs had been moved from, the area and showed us (maybe all of) the private cabins that had been built on Red.
There was no recent snow. North-facing surface was OK. We had a dangerously crowded run down Ruby Tuesday (or Southern Comfort) to Paradise chair before moving to Motherlode. He took us down near Doug’s run a double-diamond and led most of the group over a steep drop where you had to clear a 5’ rock. I saw it coming and turned down between trees before it. I think it was top of Grey where he had us hike to very top of mountain without skis to enjoy the view of Old Glory and other peaks in area. Not sure where else he took us besides down re-frozen small bumps that was probably Taz under Grey Mountain chair. We finished tour before noon and returned to Motherlode. John and flyover went to Paradise lodge to have something to eat while skiace and I finished with 2 laps on Red chair skiing not very good Sally’s Alley and better Back Trail/Face of Red we'd skied first run with guide.
Since we had a long drive to Revelstoke, we quit before 2 with 21K, stopped at coffeehouse/eatery in town that is open until 2:30 and says they served food until 2:15, but kitchen closes at 2 so I had a re-heated chicken and bacon calzone and I think they forget the bacon. We thought we had a good buffer going N to ferry when I let skiace take over halfway through 3 hr drive. But due to snow on the road and a couple of slow vehicles that took a while to pass, we made 5:30 ferry (runs hourly) with 5 min to spare. John and flyover in 4WD Mercedes van conversion made it with 0 to spare a stoplight to load had already gone red before going green again and letting then and two other vehicles load. Should I mention the Indian/German/Thai fusion restaurant we went to in Revy? Skiace had butter chicken schnitzel while I had more than I could eat butter chicken spätzle.
Wednesday 2/22/23
On day during previous week at Red, I was not that impressed. With 7” new, and even with big line before opening for Silverlode quad to get to Motherlode, we had a great day although navigation at Red can be tricky. We started with 5 laps on Paradise with a short break after first 3 at lodge for skiace to warm his feet while I put toe warmers in mine. The top of Gambler was wind affected, but it got better lower. We found best snow on edge of Ruby Tuesday where they’d left 10-20’ ungroomed and in the Mini Bowls above Paradise lodge.
We exited Paradise via either Doug’s or Roots skiing some steep trees with big bumps and some powder. Next we did at least 4 laps on Grey chair. We did one traversing into big semi-open S-facing looker’s right of chair finding some long mostly untracked lines. Next we took traverse higher and looked left along ridge and skied more good powder passing Senor Spence’s sign although long exit went through very steep and many tight trees. On our third lap, after skiing some lightly tracked in open area looker right of chair, we got through some tight trees and another open area we’d spotted that was between our two previous runs. Skiace tearing it up.
After lunch we took long and getting cold Southside road to Motherlode where we had time for two more laps. First we tried to find one of two gladed areas we’d seen from Grey, but ended up in mostly very steep and too tight trees again, probably coming down too early before Needles. Our last run started just skiers left at top of chair skiing Link’s Line which was not totally skied out at end of day. I even found a few untracked turns. We quit at 3:45 with 26K and I had a much better appreciation of Red.
Sorry but may not have time to add all my pictures, although with temps about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday and little new snow that is not day-old, we are not in a big hurry to get out.
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