Storm Chasing on the Duffey Lake Road

A tenting trip, why not pick the snowiest time of the year and the most high avi rating possible?

After seeing the freezing level going up I decided moving to higher ground would be a good idea. Cycling through my rolodex of touring partners, I found two real keeners for the experience. Shane, a Blackcomb ski patroller who I have toured with before and Hayden, experienced with heli and tail guiding and a great sense of adventure. I felt solid about the crew, which was necessary, as we knew assessing these avi conditions was going to be interesting. Being the only people in our area we also knew breaking trail was gonna be a task.

 

Phil pillow poppin'

 

Shane dropping in

As the front of the storm was rolling in and the flurries began we reached the sub alpine and noticed natural avalanche activity.  We chose a slope to dig a pit on to test the snow conditions, and the results were not encouraging; we knew treeline was going to be our only option that day. However, all was not lost; we had seen some sick pillows on our way up so we shredded back down to session them. After we each bagged a sweet line, the snow was still coming hard and we descended to set up camp.

 

Happy Phil

 

Even happier Phil

 

On our way down, we bumped into another crew that had some news of an avalanche off a very small convex roll.  It picked up no momentum, and no one was caught in it, but it proved our pit right and lots of experience gained from a real life scenario. We dug out areas for our tents in the parking lot and proceeded by cutting down dead fall for a fire.  We enjoyed the fire with a badass tarp shelter, and as the snow kept hammering on us, anticipation was growing inside to ride the next day. As our nighttime stoke was setting in, some spinning tires caught our attention. We went to see what was up; a couple from Langley had come up with a truck with no 4×4 and a quad on the back, and got stuck. "We're looking for this hut…?" as if it was a question. With more questioning we get from them that they wanted to reach Keith's hut… on a quad… in the evening.we told them it wasn’t accessible other then by foot , They did not listen to our advice, and headed north into  the storm after we helped dig them out; who knows what kind of trouble they are getting into . The Duffey area is not a place to fuck around with.

We returned to our camp, and Shane brought out the beers as we started to make dinner. Shortly after we retired to the tent to rest for the coming pow day. I exited my tent in the morning to thigh deep snow, which led to a very quick breakfast as our stoke was so high we wanted to get moving.

 

 

Not a bad way to head home!

 

 

 

Breaking trail was intense through the heavy snow, and as we reached the top of our line the storm was still strong and we were soaked. Given the storm, and the conditions the day before, we knew to tread lightly, and shredded another pillow zone similar to the day prior. The first turn on my descent was steep and deep, absolutely covering me in snow. The pillows easily broke under me so I just went with it and kept charging; the stoke factor was high for all of us. As we got back to the car, the snow was still coming hard, and we were pooped, so we called it a day and headed straight to Mile One for some classic burgers.

 

 

 

Slashhhhhh

 

Shane

At Mile One we were greeted with 2 bits of interesting news. Whistler had been hit with high freezing levels, which gave us comfort knowing we hadn't seen any rain, and the Duffey Lake road had just been closed for avi bombing. We brought in a cheers over a good trip; lots of knowledge gained about travel in heavy avi conditions, and we were able to help out some strangers. Hayden later told me he had seen the couple at the gas station, so it was a relief to know they made it out alright.

 

Share This Article on Facebook!