BlueBird Day

During December and early January we generally get lots of snow. Accompanying lots of snow is many days of flat light and poor visibility. Fortunately the tree skiing at Wildhorse is awesome. Perfectly spaced trees with runs varying from cruising through gentle slopes, 30 degree black diamond runs, and double blacks with the odd cliff or drop off. When the weather does open up it is magical. The snow is perfect and blanketed untracked across everything you can see. The stability at this time of year is usually pretty good except for the odd sluff of loose snow on steeper sections. Today it was perfect and we skiied Wildhorse Peak. Perfect powder on 35 degrees through a little chute and then traversed over to the main bowl and dropped 1000 ft of alpine powder through another cliff band and out into the meadow. Yahoo!

First Turns

The skiing has been dry, deep and light. The weather cleared up on Tuesday for a bluebird day. The coast of British Columbia has been hammered by storm after storm all November. Record amounts of precipitation for the century have been recorded in Vancouver. For Wildhorse Catskiing the skiing is in perfect condition. See you soon. Huge Discounted rates available for bookings prior to December 20th. Call 1-888-488-4327 for details.

Ready to Ski

OK. So I didn't go skiing, too busy getting the roads in place so that you can ski. The warm weather created excellent snow for building roads. The snow from the cockpit of the snowcat looked awesome to ski too. At times I was plowing through snow up to the window of the cat. The improvements made to the road systems over the last few years has reduced the job from being exploratory and now it is only occasionally nerve racking. The temperature is supposed to plummet over the next week to -25C so I'll likely be in the office for the week.
The other week I sent out postcards inviting you to come skiing - if you did not get yours please email me with your updated address.

It's Dumping Out There!

The crazy weather that has been hitting Vancouver and Seattle with historic rain has been dumping the snow at Wildhorse. 80cm fell during the last storm cycle. The snowcat is out and building roads ready for skiing. Our prime road network is built in the summer by excavator so we are ready to ski as soon as we have over a meter of snow. The next storm cycle should put us into prime skiing. I'll show some skiing pictures next blog entry.

First Snowfall

We have had a few small snowstorms over the last two weeks. Snow down to 5,200 ft but gone pretty fast. There is still a nice dusting on the mountaintops that looks like it is going to stay. The weather forecast is calling for snow over the next two weeks. The tracks are on the snowcat. Bring it on! Winter is coming. The emails and phone calls are coming in. I am spending the good weather days up on the mountain getting ready and the stormy days in the office taking care of business. Thanks for the emails and the bookings. They make the world go round.

New Roads

It's time to start breaking new ground and building new trails for next winter. The snow is just about all gone.
The chainsaw is out. The trails are getting higher, the terrain is bigger, and the views are spectacular. It is raining every second day, which sucks.

Summer Maintenance

Over the summer the Wildhorse Bombardier MP Plus Snowcat will be completely stripped down and all systems checked. First we remove the tracks, replace broken grousers, belts and wheels. This summer I will replace all the drive belts which involves almost 1000 bolts being undone and replaced. The snowcat is then placed up on blocks and all engine and hydralic systems overhauled. At the conclusion of the service the tracks are then replaced and we are ready for winter.

If you can't have fun here

This is how the name Wildhorse Catskiing & Powder Mining Co. was derived. The small town of Ymir ( current population under 300 people ) used to be a bustling center of several thousand with a couple of serious mines and a crusher mill in the townsite. Those days are no longer. Powder Mining is a lot more fun anyhow. In the late 1990's the Ymir Hotel was owned by a couple of harley motorcycle guys who coined the phrase for Ymir: "If you can't have fun here - give up"

Huge Snowpack at Ymir Yurts

This winter we recorded the deepest snowpack in the mountains in our 6 year history. In April we made the final journey to the Yurts to shovel off the last snowfall. We could ski right up onto the roof and there was over 5 ft. of snow on the roof. This summer I will be rebuilding the Yurts with regular 2x6 solid walls and a boot room entranceway. This should make the Yurts warmer and roomier.

I had another great winter working at Wildhorse Catskiing & Powder Mining Co. and look forward to many more. The skiing this winter was epic. We had day after day when we would arrive to yet another foot of fresh dry light powder. Thanks to all the great people that came skiing this year. It was awesome skiing with you. I look forward to doing some more turns next winter.

Many thanks to Jeneka Plug our trusty and reliable tailgunner for this winter. Here is Jeneka taking the group to the summit of Wildhorse Peak for a run down the steep Wildhorse bowl.

This winter refuses to end. Over the last week over four feet of snow has fallen in the mountains. The last yurt group came out of Yurtopia on Easter Friday. Great skiing in the upper elevations and the temperature dropped with great powder skiing on Sunday.

The Season is drawing to a close. The powder is still there just needs a little more work to get there. Looking to do so photo shoots and working out what needs to be done for next winter for everything to be better. Yahoo! We had a great season. Many thanks to Danny LaRoque our driver this winter.