Report from December 26, 2025

I walked out into the Kicking Horse, BC, Backcountry yesterday, solo and without a plan…

I was tempted to ski west into the sunshine, but the sun was in and out, and it felt like a gamble into terrain I didn’t know well.

I decided to get back into the chutes that I’ve been working on.

I chose a tight chute that would minimize the amount of terrain and snow I’d have to deal with.

I found the chute entrance pretty quickly, but the cornices up here make it tricky.

I dropped in and the snow felt good.

A ghost track in the chute from before yesterday’s snowstorm comforted me.

As I entered the chute proper, I smashed a right turn on the far left of the chute and ripped out a small sluff.

Honestly, it spooked me and I needed to be conservative as I was solito.

I’m still mad at myself for not simply continuing down the fall line and letting the mini sluff nip at my heels.

I made the conservative decision, avoiding the sluff by riding up the right wall of the chute, hoping to slow down a bit to size up the sluff and make my next decision.

Riding up the right wall triggered more sluff, so I stayed on the wall for another turn, which triggered more sluff, ha!

After pausing to let my sluff pass, I hopped back in the chute and finished the wild ride down onto the apron and safety.

The snow, as per usual this week, was perfect.

While I didn’t nail this chute the first time, I will be back with a better plan and hopefully a buddy.

As I turned back to inspect my line, I saw that size 1 to 1.5 avalanches had naturally come down the 2 chutes skier’s right of the chute I skied.

No wonder my chute felt so reactive…

I was a bit spooked after that and knew I needed to take it down a notch or two.

From there, I climbed another ridge, hoping to ski a north-facing chute. 

At the top of the chutes, a ripping south wind was blowing, dumping snow into the northern chutes.

It was wind loading in real time and as dark as black steer’s tukus on a moonless prairie night.

I passed on all the northern chutes and walked to an open zone I felt confident would be safe and cruisy.

The zone I came to felt very freeride, and I enjoyed a fun zone with a couple little airs and nosy spiny things with some happy sluffing.

The snow was so freakin’ good that I considered one more run, but it was already 1:30 pm, and I knew I had 2 sunny days headed my way.

To tell the truth, I’m completely thrashed right now after 7 days of early mornings, long days, and non-stop powder skiing.

It’s a privilege to be tired.

I spent another solo motel night this time watching the original Star Wars Trilogy TV marathon.

How is the original Star Wars so good, so ahead of its time, and so timeless?

George Lucas is a genius…

The newer 3 Star Wars movies and all the other spin-off movies are kinda trash, right?

Thanks, BC!

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