Video Peak

Skiing Video Peak — Skiing back down, with Cheops Mountain in the background.

Our ski tour of Little Sifton the day before was an excellent overview of the Connaught Creek Valley and local snow conditions. We returned the following day for another outing in the area, this time on nearby Video Peak.

Video Peak, 2565m, is further up Connaught Creek, on the same side of the valley as Little Sifton Peak, nearer to Balu Pass. It has a big, skiable east-southeast face that looked and sounded appealing in the guidebooks.

The route up and down Video Peak is in red. Click to enlarge.

We started up the Connaught Creek Valley trail, passing by the Grizzly Shoulder we ascended the day before. About 20-30 minutes later, we left the valley floor and began skinning into the trees towards Video.

Skinning up to Video Peak — Skinning up from the Connaught Creek Valley. It’s a big, open bowl for skinning and skiing.

A nice thing about Video Peak compared to Little Sifton is that it requires much less time skinning steep switchbacks in the trees before breaking into the open upper slopes. It was about 20 minutes of ascending through the forest, loosely following old skin tracks, before the views opened up and we could start to make out the upper route towards the summit.

Ted Mahon skinning up towards Video Peak — Heading up. Ursus Minor is out to the right, Video Peak is the summit left of center.

Once out of the forest, the upper slopes were easy to navigate. The skinning was pleasant, though the angles were often steeper than they appeared. The route looked flatter than it was.

The angle steepened further as we neared the summit, but it was reasonable to continue skinning. Eventually, we reached the ridge to the northeast of the summit, where it looked as though some other skiers had opted to hike. We continued on skins and were soon on top.

Christy Mahon near the summit of Video Peak. — On the summit ridge, with Ursus Minor Peak in the background.

It was another day with another summit, but we had clear skies and amazing views, unlike the day before.

Ted Mahon on the summit of Video Peak. — On the summit.

The ski descent was awesome. The east-southeast aspect and mostly sunny skies provided great corn skiing to treeline. Closer to the valley floor, it became more isothermic, especially in the trees. But soon enough, we were back down in the valley, retracing our skin track back to the car.

Video Peak is deserving of its popularity among locals. It is a fantastic day tour in this area. For additional info, read here.

Next, we would head into the nearby Asulkan Cabin for three nights.