TR: Bringing in the New Year at Baldface: Type 1 fun with cats in Canukistan!
This TR is about a trip to Baldface Lodge organized by the Tokyo based, Hakuba skiing Poachninja crew.
Most of the trips I’ve joined these guys on have been “interesting” in the sense of the Chinese curse. Generally the fun to be had varied between type 2 (scary/exhausting/miserable at the time, but fun to think back on) and type 3 (stuff you wish could be deleted from long term memory).
At some point, I asked Pinky and StuntCok whether they ever did a trip that was just type 1 fun (not just fun in retrospect, but fun at the time as well). They looked at each other as if baffled by this strange concept (‘They actually allow you to do that?’) but apparently a seed had been planted.
Along for the ride were Pinky (stillnoprogress), StuntCok, Jimmy and Sayaka (all from Tokyo), Soprano from San Francisco, myself and Barbara from New Mexico and Russell from Hong Kong. (Actually, Russell started out with a different name, but Barbara and Sayaka thought that it didn’t suite him, so he’s Russell now).
The trip started with two days in Nelson, including two days of skiing at Whitewater and an evening watching ‘The Hockey’ (Spokane vs. Nelson juniors, Nelson coming out on top). On the afternoon of the second day we collected at the Nelson airport to catch a short heli ride out to the Baldface lodge.
That first morning we met the other people who we would be sharing the cat with: Keith and Jen from Vancouver as well as the ‘Jeffs’ from South Carolina (AKA: ‘The Men in Black’; AKA: ‘Bulldog’ and ‘Gibby’, no doubt from an earlier career starring in a buddy cop show). Here ensued the usual multi-sided assessment process inevitable with any pick-up crew.
In the end, everyone got along great with no weak links.
Adult supervision was provided by guides Brad and Graham and cat driver Boney. In addition, for a while we were joined by an actual professional photographer, Nick Diamond, who was kind enough to give us permission to post some of his work in the TR.
In the following, whenever you spot an actually good shot, you will inevitably find his discrete watermark in the upper right hand corner.
Heading up the first time, we were all struck by how the trees had been absolutely plastered with snow by the long series of early winter storms that preceded our arrival.
Not having much experience with cat skiing, we all became quite enamored with the relaxed pace. Although one does end up getting quite a few runs, there was no particular rush needed to beat the cat to the bottom (at least with our group). As such, there was no great hurry gearing up or doing the runs. In addition, the cat rides themselves were fun as well, with music playing and a chance to chat with anyone in the group on the way up.
By now, having heard about ‘The Hockey’, the scenery, the lodge and cat amenities, etc., you’re probably asking yourself how the skiing was. Well, it didn’t suck…
As advertised, this trip happened over new years. As might be expected there were some festivities that evening. These commenced with a Roman candle exchange:
I didn’t get any shots from the indoor portion of the party, but it looked something like this:
TBC
01-09-2013, 01:53 PM
wcf3
TR cont.
Conditions and Weather
It turned out that we had a bit of luck in the timing of our trip. Not only had the area experienced a great early season, producing a snowpack as deep as that generally not found until later in the season, but also, it had remained quite cold and windless since the last major storm prior to our arrival. Because of this, the snow we found when we arrived was not only still deep and fluffy, but also remarkably stable as well.
One of the nice things about being on a more relaxed schedule with stable conditions was that we were able to poke around more and get familiar with the terrain. With this, the crew started to ramp it up.
Sunrise at the lodge during our stay tended to be pretty spectacular. We had sun at the level of the lodge most days, but there were generally clouds in the valleys below, leaving one with the feeling of being on an island surrounded by slowly surging gray sea.
Often the cloud level would hover about halfway down a run. Thus, one would start in bright sunshine and transition into fog and clouds. Since the terrain tended to mellow out in pitch and the forest would become denser as one lost elevation, this seldom proved to be a problem.
Given the nature of the terrain and/or avi-risk on most of the trips I’ve done with this crew, there hadn’t been many opportunities to set up for action shots (quite apart from the fact that we usually had more pressing matters to concern us). Here it was a different matter.
Whenever Nick (or, for that matter, anyone with a camera, even me) set up at the bottom of a drop, honor (if not good sense) demanded that someone ‘take advantage’ of the unique opportunity.
Of course, in spite of the great conditions and our increasing familiarity with the terrain, things occasionally didn’t go completely according to plan. (Names withheld to protect the innocent).
One of the cooler things that we got to check out up close was the Red Bull ‘Supernatural’ course. For anyone getting the big head, it is a pretty humbling experience just to ski down next to this impressive collection of features.
Travis Rice was there working on the course while we were there and we got a chance to meet this unpretentious member of plank-boy royalty.
Departure
The final day we skied until around 2:30PM then, after catching a couple of drinks at the lodge, caught a heli ride back to Nelson. In contrast to most trips I’ve done with these guys, everyone wasn’t nuked and ready to get out of Dodge. Everybody certainly would have been happy to stay for another session.
After another night in Nelson, some of the crew headed out, while I, Barbara, Pinky and Soprano went over to Red Mountain. After ditching Pinky in the afternoon (who had to get back to Nelson) the rest of us drove down to Spokane where we were to fly out the next day.
The evening presented us with a couple of final entertainment opportunities:
We now return the internet to normally scheduled programming.
01-09-2013, 02:03 PM
FreakofSnow
Well done, and I appreciate teh funz classification!
01-09-2013, 02:19 PM
gramboh
Nice one, looks like a solid trip and great early season conditions. The lodge doesn't look like you are exactly roughing it either. Seems like Baldface attracts more snowboarders than other cat ops, is there much traversing to get to/from terrain?
01-09-2013, 02:33 PM
GoEhuge
Awesome!
Great to finally see a legit stand-alone TR posted again. Feel like its been forever.
01-09-2013, 02:42 PM
SKIORFORGETIT
looks sweet
how were those onion rings?
01-09-2013, 02:55 PM
simple
Yes yes yes! ! ! Great trip report. You should have done a GNAR pro call out to Travis.
01-09-2013, 03:25 PM
wcf3
Quote:
Originally Posted by gramboh
Seems like Baldface attracts more snowboarders than other cat ops, is there much traversing to get to/from terrain?
Baldface does seem to have a strong snowboarding history, but it seems like the guides and clients are a pretty mixed bag. There was very little traversing needed to get in and out of runs. The terrain seems to be almost perfect for a cat-op with an extensive road system connecting the valleys to the ridge lines, which were (for the most part) even enough so that roads could be run all along the ridge lines. Most of the time we would drop in very close to where we got out of the cat and ski pretty much fall line to another road for pick up.
01-09-2013, 03:38 PM
jfost
was there a young guide named Andy there?
He was one of our caretakers at Carlyle up the valley, nice kid & I believe he also plays the hockey.
01-09-2013, 03:44 PM
Mike Pow
Noice...
01-09-2013, 03:45 PM
whyturn
Sweet Eh'
01-09-2013, 03:56 PM
oftpiste
heh.... type 1 fun....
01-09-2013, 04:01 PM
philth
Place rules. I got engaged there on the couch next to the pool table. Jeff and crew are awesome.
01-09-2013, 04:02 PM
philth
And still married!!!
01-09-2013, 04:46 PM
wcf3
Quote:
Originally Posted by jfost
was there a young guide named Andy there?
He was one of our caretakers at Carlyle up the valley, nice kid & I believe he also plays the hockey.
He might have been up there, but I didn't get to meet all the other guides. (Got to know the bartenders pretty well though).
01-09-2013, 05:00 PM
mantraskier
Such a sweet place! Looks like you timed it perfectly...happy New Year indeed.
01-09-2013, 08:08 PM
sparkletarte.
nice trip! yeah graham and leroy (your heli warning guy)! love type 1 fun.
01-10-2013, 02:26 AM
StuntCok
A great type I trip indeed! I think I could get used to catskiing...
BTW, there is also Type 0 fun. Usually this kind of fun is EXTREMELY fun while doing it, is very easy to access but it carries some regret the next day. H&B would fit this description.
01-10-2013, 07:55 AM
bones get broke
I love when the beatering is as well documented as the goods...Bravo.
01-10-2013, 09:37 AM
Shredhead
Quote:
Originally Posted by philth
Place rules. I got engaged there on the couch next to the pool table. Jeff and crew are awesome.
I agree. I'd like to have the house right behind the chalets. Guys living the dream.
01-10-2013, 10:52 AM
The Duke of Hurl
BF was Craig Kelly's dreamchild. Had the honor of riding the heli up with his wife and little daughter last year. Snowboarding history and culture doesn't get much deeper than that. Looks like you guys had the quintessential Baldface experience. Type 1 fun indeed. (Taking the Dutchess up for first time day after tomorrow so thx 4 timely stoke.)
01-10-2013, 11:13 AM
Cruiser
Take note kids. This is the way a TR should look. Fantastic work from the Poach Ninja crew!
Thanks for posting!
01-10-2013, 11:38 AM
moose pit
Rad!
Looks like the goods were good, and nice viz to boot.
01-10-2013, 04:05 PM
wcf3
Quote:
Originally Posted by simple
Yes yes yes! ! ! Great trip report. You should have done a GNAR pro call out to Travis.
I might have done this, except he might have then invited me to send one of the features on the Supernatural course. I'm sure the resulting carnage would have produced some good photos, but I wouldn't have wanted to bother the guides with all the resulting high angle rescue necessary to collect the pieces.
