Yesterday, I ran into some buddies from Jackson Hole, WY whilst skiing at Kicking Horse in B.C.

I was successfully able recruit one of them into trying out a short tour in the backcountry adjacent to Kicking Horse today.

We did a run off CPR ridge all together in the 7cms of new snow that fell last night before jumping on the Stairway to Heaven chairlift.

Kyle Peterson and I hiked up the staircase, walked along the ridge and found a chute I’d scouted from below the previous day.  The chute had been well skied but the little bit of new snow on top made it fun.

Below the chute, the apron was powdery and pretty darned dreamy.

video of hacking down the 2nd chute

From the boulders at the bottom, we skinned up the adjacent ridge and had a look into a couple of chutes I’d peeked into the day before. 

One of them called to us. 

We tiptoe-bootpacked down into the top of the chute, checked the snow, and decided it was a go.

This 2nd chute was sluffy, long, somewhat tight, and damn fun.  Once we got low enough to comfortably outrun our sluff, the ski out and apron below were absolutely splendiferous.

This 2nd chute was the neatest thing I’ve skied this season so far.  

At the bottom we laughed, smiled, high-fived, hooted a bit and headed back to the base of the resort.

Definitely one of the most satisfying ski days of the season for me.

Thanks, Kicking Horse. 

***note:  the word toque found in the title is Canukistanian for beanie and is pronounced “toʊk”

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