Matt Ruta 
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Six or seven years ago, Trevor mentioned that someone should really go see if it was possible to ski the west face of Glacier Peak, high above lake Oesa, right from its 3283m summit. I’ve had it in the back of my mind ever since. So, when May long weekend delivered a cold, sunny weather window I decided it might be a good way to get off the beaten path a little…. Read More
After getting a decent warmup on the north face of Peyto Peak the week prior, it felt like spring might be on. Christian and I decided we’d better go find out. Since the highway between Golden and Lake Louise is closed during prime ski mountaineering season this year (and last year, and next year; ugh) we agreed on Hwy 93 south as a meeting spot. Christian is Canmore based for now so… Read More
Last week I bailed on an objective close to home because the approach was too heinously melted out. Then, the other day, Kieran and I pulled the plug just above the bergschrund on the north face of Mt. Andromeda because the snowpack was far too wintery and unstable. Can’t win, apparently. So yesterday, Chris and I thought that maybe west was the goldilocks aspect and set off from Lake Louise towards Mt…. Read More
I’ll go ahead and call it – the northwest couloir on Mt. Burgess should be a classic. (In fact, both couloirs on this peak should.) It overlooks and is visible from an iconic location, it’s steep, it’s technical and it feels wild. Joel had skied the line once before, but Chris and I were experiencing it for the first time when we set off from Emerald Lake Lodge on a claggy New… Read More
I’m a sucker for an interesting bit of mountain history. Both fortunately and unfortunately, here in the Rockies, much of the history of even the most famous ski descents has gone unrecorded. But, when it does turn up it’s often presented in a wonderfully elusive, fragmented way. A forum post here, an aside in a climbing guidebook there, maybe a blog post or two if you’re really lucky. It’s modern folklore of… Read More
We still have a long way to go when it comes to highly technical testpiece ski lines in the Rockies. Consider the kind of outright gnar that sees descents on a near daily basis in Europe’s steep skiing meccas and many of our big classics seem pretty straightforward by comparison. There are, however, exceptions.
After skiing the West Shoulder of Athabasca the day before, Kieran and I had received some beta about the conditions on Mt. Andromeda’s ultra classic Skyladder. While it looked pretty shiny from the parking lot, another party had chanced it as a ski descent and found it engaging, but skiable. Full props to them. We’re fairly sure they opened the line in a season when many an armchair mountaineer had written it… Read More
With the heat doing its best to destroy any semblance of enjoyable spring skiing, Kieran, Joel and I decided to head up to the Columbia Icefields area for more relatively pleasant access to north facing glaciated terrain, easy minivan living and free wifi. On arrival we put into action a familiar schedule. In bed early in the parking lot on Friday, up at 0230 Saturday morning, a leisurely breakfast and brief astrophotography… Read More
A few years back, I remember wondering why I’d never heard of anyone skiing Mt. Kitchener’s East Ridge. It’s always described as a straightforward snow climb except for the notch some 150m below the summit, and its upper face looks fantastic from the Icefields Centre. Then, while driving home from a failed Robson attempt I noticed what seemed to be a skiable exit off the ridge via a hanging glacier on its… Read More
With spring beginning to settle in around here, and conditions looking up this past week Kieran and I decided we had better get out and take advantage. After some back and forth the night before, we settled on a proper mission in the NW Face Direct on Mt. Sir Douglas. Steep and imposing, the line goes at an alpine IV grade in summer conditions, but we were hoping for something a little… Read More
Matt Ruta 