Kicking and Stoking

Unfolding

The first glimpse of Rockies Mountains from the plane as we are landing to Calgary always makes my heart skip a beat. You know when you meet someone for the first time and you just know that you are in for some great stuff and feel at piece letting it unfold? That’s how I feel when I first see the mountain peaks covered in snow.



What always unfolds next, as I’m driving towards Lake Louise, is a parade of the magnificent ones - Three Sisters, Cascade, Temple and others against the clear blue skies. What also always unfolds is that I learn something new on every trip here. For example, now I know that Calgary has the most sunny days of all cities in Canada, specifically 332 on average.

Past Lake Louise I am more alert, as last time I ventured here was in year 2000, and my memories are dim. The elevation of Trans-Canada Highway through the stretch of Alberta I have just past is around 1500m, and it is now ascending to its highest point of 1627m at Kicking Horse Pass. This marks the natural border between Alberta and British Columbia, also on the Great Divide. On the BC side, the rivers drain into Pacific Ocean, while on the Alberta side they drain into Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. 

While the ascent from Lake Louise onto the divide is gentle, the descent into Field in British Columbia is steep. You pass many trucks that have slowed down to ensure the breaks hold up. Also pay attention to the spiral train tunnels, designed to get trains over the divide.








After reaching Field at 1247m, you drive by Yoho National Park and start following Kicking Horse River all the way to Golden. The weather becomes cloudy and dumpy, and you are surrounded by vast forest. Finally, passing over the beautiful Park Bridge over Kicking Horse River at 1137m, you sharply descend into Golden, at 827m. Driving across the town up the hill is my cozy Airbnb home for the week. As in the dusk I am bringing in the luggage, I look at Kicking Horse slopes across the valley and feel it starting to unfold.

Kicking

It’s raw and steep and tall and its 1.7k base-to-top elevation difference kicks your butt. At first all you see are ski trails carving the mountain top to bottom and some look wild. Then, once you are seated in the gondola, Golden valley expanding as you go higher and most likely getting lost in the clouds, you decide to throw away all assumptions and let it unfold. And finally, the chances are that, as you are getting ready to unload, your gondola cabin hits the sun and you step out into warmer weather (the locals would have already told you about the common weather pattern called inversion, where clouds push the cold air down into the valley, and the warmer air moves up), clear blue skies and hundreds of snow covered peaks all around you.

Standing here feels like being in a seashell with rocky waves creating a circle around you. This is where you notice that ‘down’ is not the only way... to your left is the way to Terminator Ridge and its backcountry bowls, and to your right is Crystal Bowl and the way to Stairway to Heaven chair, which takes you up to the Redemption Ridge and the highest point here. Behind it is another backcountry area and a giant Feuz bowl.

A friend and I warm up on the groomed runs around Stairway to Heaven, then we go across into Feuz bowl. It is steep but the powder is wonderful and I love exploring it until we get back to the mostly groomed runs and make it all the way down. 

The next run we ski to the entrance of Terminator I, where you have to carry the skies up for about 30m, to enter from the side. This is where it gets raw. With no new snowfall, there are lots of soft moguls that we start tackling. At times quite steep, the legs soon start burning but we keep going until we hit the groomed trails again at the bottom of the mountain, and get some rest on the gondola. Terminator is way more demanding than Feuz, which is easy to tell by the scarcity of skiers there.


The second day we hit Terminator Ridge from the top. This one takes a 15-minute walk to get to, but the views are fantastic and the path is sunny and shielded from the wind. Here, we have the bowl all to ourselves. No thinking about anything other than making turns through the powder and around the fir and pine trees as you get lower. I love that feeling of being where I'm supposed to be and quietly reflecting on things that matter while shoving away those that don't. At times, the legs scream and I have to take a breath. Then I look at the length of the trails we are passing, all powdery and bumpy, and in my mind I feel proud of yourself.

While high on adrenalin, when you actually push yourself to take a break, you realize you are starving and can’t stop eating. One way around this is to keep the adrenalin high and have lunch in Eagle's Eye restaurant on the sea shell. When we decide to go for it, it is clear and sunny, and the views around us are spectacular. There is a sign that says 'Canada's most elevated dining experience'. The waitress tells us that only a day earlier, our prime minister Justin Trudeau was taking his lunch break here along with about 30 security guards. Neat. As I'm sitting here on 2350m, beer in my hand, my legs burning from all the kicking today, I feel like l am on top of the world! I bet he felt the same. 

Stoking 

Next day we drive 150K on trans-Canada highway to Revelstoke. Along the way we stop by Rogers pass playing with the idea to go alpine touring there. We scout and know that some day in the future we will tackle it... but we need to learn more first.

Then we get to Stoke and gain an hour so it’s only about 10ish when we are in the gondola. There we meet a local guy with his daughter and he gives it to us straight with a big trustworthy smile. ‘don’t go down any more... just ski on the top half and as soon as you have warmed up, follow the people walking above the ridge and do the bowls... I’ve lived here for fifteen years and I still discover new stuff...’

At this point we are in the clouds, visibility is low and I’m questioning our decision to drive 150K. Then we emerge into the sun and the guy says, ‘see, I told you... don’t go down’. At first it feels ordinary and we hit a small trail to get to the Stoke chair and get up to the top... we ski groomed and the snow is flawless... happy skiing!! Then, once warmed up we turn left from the top to a backcountry trail called Vertigo. This is where we get the fascination with Stoke. The red line in the picture is the cliff boundary, behind it is a 100ft drop into the North Bowl. So we follow the 'Easier way down' through the trees. Very quickly it gets steep, narrow and the snow is deep. This is where I realize i need to hurry up and use every minute on this mountain. 

Next, it is time to hit the North Bowl. We unclip the skies and follow few others on a 15 min hike over the ridge, where we enter the North Bowl. Pretty cool! It's big and the snow carries you. At the bottom we hit the trees, and from there on we are picking our trail, there is no wrong turn. 

To be completely honest, we love the North Bowl so much that we decide to skip lunch and maximize our time here. I don't take many pictures as that too is a waste of time. Once North closes, we go and explore the South Bowl. It is chunky, telling me that it has seen some serious sun, but nevertheless, the view of the Stoke valley below as the sun is setting is fantastic.

In summary, life is full of first time experiences, some that mean something, and others that don't. I compare Revelstoke to my experience in Whistler few years ago, minus the crowds, plus way more backcountry skiing. This is what I call Skiing Heaven! This is why this first experience won't go away, even now, a month later, while I am writing this blog. 

Learning Something New   

Seeing people at Rogers Pass visitor’s centre getting ready to venture into backcountry, made me want to try it even more and I couldn’t wait to wake up the next morning and head into the new adventure. Because the weather in BC got warmer and dumpier, thus increasing the risk of avalanche, we headed to Bow Lake area off of Icefield Parkway in Alberta. In the parking lot we changed into our touring boots, placed the skins on the bottom of our skies and tested our avalanche beacons. Then we took off across Bow Lake and up to Bow Summit.

Mid way my friend gave me my first avalanche lesson (not counting the numerous YouTube videos I watched before heading here!). So, here I was, shovelling about 1 cube meter worth of snow in the middle of the Rockies and learning to test the it to assess the avalanche risk. I also learned how December 14th warm weather melted the surface of the snow, which then froze creating an ice slide for all the snow that fell on top of it. I also searched and dug up a beacon and got a bit of a feel for what a rescue would look like, minus the pressure. I think I passed my first course, and I certainly got the appreciation for how critical to backcountry longevity it is to check the forecast and avalanche predictions and select your route in a way that reduces the risk.

Emerging to Bow Summit, we were welcomed by a wonderful view of Dolomites and other peaks in Banff National Park, Crowfoot and Weeping Wall glaciers, and finally, Peyto Lake underneath. The world that I love around me, I wished for one more thing that I had imagined when I planned the trip, no cell signal!

And I got it on the second backcountry day, when we made a 9.5k trip across Bow Lake, to the ridge under the Crowfoot glacier.

Obviously a popular day trip, we met quite a few people along the way. Up through the forest we followed an experienced trio, making a zig-zag climb. Turning almost 180 degrees uphill, with only the front of the ski boot clipped into the bindings is tricky but the advice my friend gave me worked the magic - the trick is to keep most of the ski on the snow, as otherwise you start sliding backwards, and then basically reposition the skies a couple of times through the turn. After few times I got it right.

As we moved on, it got really hot and I was grateful for many vent zippers I could open. Going uphill on your skies is definitely more difficult than hiking, mostly because you are carrying few pounds of skies and boots on your legs, while pushing through the snow. But, it is beautiful in a different way. The perception of Rockies in winter that most people have is that of a harsh uninviting place. Being here, surrounded by ice, snow, rocks, glaciers and trees is extremely peaceful. And there is a sense of privilege that comes from getting close to the places that most people see from the distance. This is certainly a very different world than what we see from our cars driving along Icefield Parkway.

At the top of the ridge, we found a tree where snow wasn't deep and had lunch. This is important, as otherwise, as you unmount your skies, you easily drop a meter down into the snow. Lunch was fast, as once stationary, the breeze that felt great going uphill, starting cooling us off quickly. Here, we removed the skins off of the skies, switched the bindings and skies to the downhill position, which means that boots are stiff and they are now clipped into the bindings on both ends. Next, we headed down the deep snow, my first such skiing experience. Quickly I learned that I couldn't make sharp turns and that I had to sit back on my tails to keep the ski tips up. As we entered the forest, the skiing between the trees felt pretty crazy and I figured the only way to make it safe for me was to let go, relax and have fun. What took a good couple hours to climb, took only fifteen minutes to get down.



At the parking lot, after changing I took a trophy picture of the ridge I skied. I loved the first-timers on this trip... Kicking Horse, especially the Terminator Ridge... Revelstoke and the backcountry bowls... and of course the alpine touring adventure. I have let it unfold and every day brought something new. As a friend recently said, I keep coming back to this because every time I leave, I feel I have learned a lot and I am a better person than I was.

Back to writing

I’ve been going fast the last couple years and when you go fast you fail to slow down and write a few words.

It’s Christmas today. The lamb roast is in the oven and in an hour the house will be loud. Right now, it’s just my son and I chilling on the couch by a big window that is projecting lit ski slopes under a foot of fresh powder that welcomed us this morning. Blue and purple christmas tree framing the side of the view. The Killers filling the room. We just finished a board game and are quiet now. I’ve opened a beer. In my mind still stuck on earlier today and skiing down the hill midst piles of snow, not something we are used to experiencing in Blue Mountain... slight reminder of the fresh powder wonderland in Whistler few years ago.

Beer is slowing down the noise and I’m starting to reflect on the last couple years. I feel I have been free-falling since I had taken up my exec MBA while continuing to work and take care of my kids. What I learned has transformed my views and how I react to the world. This made me feel more capable and confident, which made me aim ‘higherer’, which then created more work, but also created new experiences for me and allowed me to keep learning and transforming... you get the point... free-falling. Today I feel I have arrived. I can stay here and let go of the rush. I can reflect and write.

Pausing to think what you would ask me after you read this blurb, I am guessing you would want to know how I have been transformed... rather than one big thing, the transformation has been a series of small steps. I am still myself and thanks to my short-term memory I only have fragments of what my old-self feared or struggled with. I am certain though that I have been transformed because of the pain I’ve felt while going through it. For a few months as I was shedding unhealthy relationships, toxic habits and the feeling of guilt over everything, I was depressed, I lost a lot of hair and my health deteriorated. I never thought of giving up as my gut told me I was on one of the most important travels in my life. But, unlike other journeys that destiny threw me into, this one was deliberate.
Now that I have arrived I can only talk about my present self. I feel, that the following three learnings (yes, one of my MBA lessons was that human brain loves structuring everything in threes) have been the most critical:

First, I prioritize quality over quantity and this means choosing deep meaningful relationships and spending my time doing what I love. As my choices may create the feeling of rejection in some people the old feeling of guilt does creep up once in a while but I now recognize it and fight it, acknowledging that truth and honesty sometimes hurt but are the right path to take. On the other hand, the relationships we value require work and a lot of listening..: which requires time... but since I am spending time doing what I love with people I love, it’s all good... closed loop.

Second, I take accountability... on a micro scale this means saying ‘I got it’, then making decisions and finding the way... on a macro scale everything I do depends on people I do it with. I try to create environments where authentic people can reach their full potential. I try to attract best people to work with. This is a challenging work that I have embraced because I love doing it. And, along the way, I hope I am helping others do what they love.

Third, I try not to worry about things that I have no control over and inversely, I take a chance on things I do care about (or, as my son puts it, ‘screw it, I’ll just go for it and whatever happens happens’)... truthfully, this one does not come naturally to me... we women are wired to worry about consequences and over-analyze... I keep telling myself to drop thoughts that paralyze me. And I tell myself how proud I am when I succeed in it.

Time to check on the lamb and set the table... it is great to cook again for the dearest people in my life. Recently, my first attempt to roast lamb was not the best, but this one smells much more promising. I mentioned that I prioritize things I love to do. Well, I am happy that I dedicated couple hours to writing today. Because, every time I write, I learn something... And maybe that is what it is all about... doing what we love, improving in it and learning through it...