Sunday afternoon we made it to Rogers Pass, ten days after being dropped off in the middle of nowhere, by the Bugaboo Spires. Eight of us made the 85+ mile traverse, climbing some 32,000 vertical feet along the way.

Local ski pioneer and #1 fan of “Canadia” skiing as he puts it, Art Burrows had long been wanting to make the storied traverse, so when his friend/ACMG Ski Guide, Greg Franson, offered to set it up and lead the group, Art gave us a call and after hearing just a few of the details, Christy, Dirk and I were sold. Joining us were three Golden-based apprentice guides, Jesse Berg, Jeff Phillips, and Olivier Lardin, who, like all true Canadian skiers, were psyched for the opportunity to complete the classic test-piece route.

Five caches of essentials– food, gas, beer and whiskey– were placed along the route in advance via helicopter, which allowed us to do the ten day trip with somewhat reasonable sized packs. It was after all, a ski trip, and we didn’t want to be bogged down with packs so large that skiing was impossible, or worse yet, sleds in tow. Opting for the south to north direction also contributed to better skiing, we climbed south faces and skied colder, north facing snow most of the time. Here’s a map of the route from the GPS with all nine camps indicated. The scale of the trip was so large though, it doesn’t do it justice.

Home now, and happy to be out of the boots and without a pack to carry, I’m just getting to sort the 1300 photos I have and will follow up with some words and pics soon.