Valhalla mountain touring

**Beaver** · 01-12-2004, 03:54 PM

I woke up saturday to the alarm clock & a sore knee. As I lay in bed in the blackness I thought to myself "Cold snap is over & it's warm & wet" I crwled out of bed and looked at the thermometer, 0*C. I flipped on an outside light to see if it had snowed overnight, about 1" of new snow but raining. My knee does not lie.

I threw my shit in the truck and bolted. Figuring on an hour & 15 minutes drive I would get to the rendezvous 1 minute early. Nasty roads and fog slowed me to a crawl for too long anolg slocan lake. I arrived at the bottom of the road a little late but not bad. I unloaded my sled and took off up the road towards the cabin. The road was in fine shape as it gets driven by a snow cat weekly. About 15 minutes later at 80-90 kph I round the corner and see my buddy standing on the road. I pulled up beside him and proceeded to get stuck in the soft snow at the edge of the road.

A couple minutes later he was on the sled and we were away. A couple more kM & the the road became unpassable. At least it was for me with a bad passenger on the back of the sled. We parked, puffed & skinned away from the sled.

An hour & a half later we arrived at treeline. It's snowing like mad with flat light in the bowl above. Looking down at the steep trees it was a no brainer. We launched into our first run. Mmmmmmmmmm, some air, some face shots, no other tracks. Back to the top for another & another & another. The only tracks we saw were our own.

Down the road on the sled 2 km, hung a right and went 1 km up to the lodge Beers & nachos & it was time to leave.

Almost 3 hours later crawing at 30kph through slush and thick fog I arrived home. The fastest I drove on the way home was 100kph on my sled; the truck didn't get above about 85kph.

**gonzo** · 01-12-2004, 04:25 PM

yeah guy!

**Foggy_Goggles** · 01-12-2004, 06:02 PM

Nice Zone!

http://www.vmt.ca/winter/terrain_r1_c1.jpg

The Kootenay is one of my favorite places anywhere. Skiing, whitewater,people = good.

**Beaver** · 01-12-2004, 06:18 PM

It's a nice lodge. He has a hydro system on 2 creeks that produces about 3000W. Enough for lights, stereo, some heat for the drying shed, hot water..... He has a sauna, hot showers, .... all the comforts of home. It has 6 bedrooms and is big enough to hold 12 people comfortably. My buddy got an early season deal $5000/week uncatered, unguided. Split among 12 people it ran $480 for 7 days after tax. A screaming deal. I was bummed that I couldn't make it. Any minions into a week in the valhallas early next winter?

**Foggy_Goggles** · 01-12-2004, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by Beaver
It's a nice lodge. He has a hydro system on 2 creeks that produces about 3000W. Enough for lights, stereo, some heat for the drying shed, hot water..... He has a sauna, hot showers, .... all the comforts of home. It has 6 bedrooms and is big enough to hold 12 people comfortably. My buddy got an early season deal $5000/week uncatered, unguided. Split among 12 people it ran $480 for 7 days after tax. A screaming deal. I was bummed that I couldn't make it. Any minions into a week in the valhallas early next winter?

I'll let you know once I get back from touring up at Ymir Yurts 1st week in March.