Matt Ruta 
Last year, on the summer solstice, Trevor and I spent what still ranks as one of the most exhausting days of my life skiing all three 11000ers on the Jumbo Icefield in a single push. Over the course of the past year I slowly forgot about the suffering. Left behind was the memory of a ski mountaineer’s paradise – one that, now that I’ve been, reminds me of Chamonix’s Glacier du Géant,… Read More
It’s been a stellar week for skiing. On Monday, a great linkup of Haddo Peak and Mt. Aberdeen. Then a down day midweek on the Clamshell in Golden (this time without the whiteout) and finally, on Friday, a chance at redemption on Mt. Victoria’s wild north face after bailing earlier this year. With our recent failure still fairly fresh in our minds, Ian and I decided to pad our chances this time… Read More
They say that everything is good for you in moderation, and few ski lines I’ve been on embody that sentiment better than the linkup of Haddo Peak and Mt. Aberdeen that Ian, Andrew and I skied on Victoria Day. On the way up, a little bit of steep snow, some exposed spots, and a fun scramble. On the way down, everything from cold powder, to ice, to five star corn. Plus stellar… Read More
Summer mode is beginning to catch up with me. After some seriously rough skiing on Mt. Stanley, I spent some warm days trail running, riding my bike and sport climbing. Type one fun. So, lacking the motivation for anything too adventurous, I teamed up with Ryan to ski something up Holt Creek; only half an hour from home. Soon enough we were walking up the partially snowed in logging road, which gave… Read More
So far, the theme of this season seems to have been roadside classics. With good weather lasting hours rather than days lately, my motivation for mega missions and overnights has been low. It’s easier to time quick windows on the metaphorical low hanging fruit, and there’s a far higher chance of success when the lines are visible from the parking lot. With that in mind, Jason and I saw the first solid overnight… Read More
It’s been a special kind of winter, and now that spring is (finally) beginning to make an appearance we’re left with snow in places that were bone dry in March of years past. One thing we haven’t had much of though is clear weather, so when the forecast promised us a day of it, Ian, Rory, Mike and I mobilized for one of the premier ski descents in Rogers Pass.
Finally, another exploratory mission. On the 28th, a spring temperature cycle was a little more locked in, but the weather remaining unsettled. It looked like a good time to check out a line I’ve been staring at from the highway near Field for years: the north facing couloir on Mt. Dennis.
Grand Daddy couloir on Bow Peak – what a classic line. On April 19th a group of friends and I got chased off of it before we even had our boots on when the cannon sound of cornice fall scared the bejeezus out of us in the Mosquito Creek parking lot. That was a Wednesday, and we all had a very early lunch just above treeline while things fell down around the… Read More
The thing about posting a part one to something before you’ve written part two is that inevitably something else is going to happen in the interim and mess up the chronological order of your blog. With that in mind, please ignore the date on this post and if you haven’t already, check out part one over here.
It’s the time of year where the lines we stare at all winter finally start to come into skiing form. Since getting home from Europe I’ve had to work altogether too much, but still got out for descents of the classic Forever Young couloir in Rogers Pass and a quick half day in Canmore’s Miner’s Gully, plus some short tours around Kicking Horse. Feeling back into the swing of things, I set… Read More
Matt Ruta 