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| Finding turns in the Joffre Lakes Basin |
I celebrated my birthday last weekend with a three-day trip to SW British Columbia, continuing the elusive 2013-14 search for powder snow. We caught a great day at Blackcomb with 6-10" of fresh snow on top of a very firm base, with clear skies and amazing views. The masses were stoked! The next day, we explored the backcountry around Joffre Lakes and found a thin layer of windbuffed powder on top of a very thin, crusty snowpack with lots of exposed rocks. In a NE facing basin at the height of winter, the light was tough, but I got a few shots of the peaks across the valley and some half decent images in the shade. The temps were really cold - around 15 deg F - and we had to hike out because of the low snowpack, but we managed to log some mileage on our old-man legs. On our drive back to Portland, we stopped in at Squamish and checked out the nesting bald eagles down by the Squamish River - so cool! Coastal BC is drop-dead gorgeous and only a few short hours from Oregon - go check it out!
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| Prepping to unload the Crystal Express on a powder day |
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| Winter light on the Blackcomb Glacier with the Husume Couloir dopping down from the prominent col |
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| The morning approach to Joffre Lakes in very thin conditions |
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| Nice winter light on the hills around Joffre Peak |
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| The skin across Upper Joffre Lake with Mt. Slalock |
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| Skinning up the bony moraine above Upper Joffre Lake with Cayoosh Mtn in the background |
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| The sun made a low arc over the horizon, lighting up the surrounding hillsides but leaving us in shade |
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| Nate Tack bootpacking up a short slope in search of turns with the Matier Glacier overhead |
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| Jaime Bohle dropping into some windbuffed pow above Upper Joffre Lake |
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| Nate Tack clearing a little chute above Upper Joffre Lake |
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| Looking into the chute from above - fun tight turns on good snow |
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| Cool shadows and winter light on Upper Joffre Lake with Cayoosh Mountain in the background |
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| Water ice and powder turns! |
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| A good days' work. It was pretty bony back there, but we had a good time and made the most of less than ideal conditions. |
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| The Squamish River |
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| If you look closely, you can see the white of the eagle's head and tail where it sits perched in the tree |
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| Two bald eagles on the banks of the Squamish River |
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| Rock, river and mountain |
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| There were lots of cool ducks! Here's a shot of really pretty Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) in flight |
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