Even with the 'rona, we were able to get away with le Ski Posse for an amazing trip to Sentry Lodge
in early March 2021. This group of hard-charging monsters crushed over 25,000 vertical feet,
travelled over 100 km by ski, did a fair amount of self-harm through skiing and drinking,
and managed to only break one ski and no bones. With red-seal chef Nicole keeping us fed
and hut custodian Lane keeping us in line, we had a pretty solid crew for an unforgettable
week of powder skiing.
Day 0 - Getting into Sentry Lodge, then some turns
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Rowley, Louis, and Diver getting ready at the heli staging area near Golden with Diver adjusting his
sexy Dbag hat. It was FAR easier to stage here being the only group flying out on this day. I expect
that with 3 other groups, it would be pretty hectic doing the heli transfers.
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Here's our amazing chef Nicole inventorying the food boxes she had prepared for our trip. Pretty nice
light looking up into Glacier National Park from here.
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Our Bell 407 chopper getting ready to ferry us up and out.
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Coming in on the heli - views up into the Esplanade Range.
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Once we arrived into the amazing Sentry Lodge, our custodian had to coordinate some long-lining with the
helicopter company. Long-lining always makes me a bit nervous owing to having to travel that way off a
mountain.
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The terrain map around Sentry Lodge. All of the green runs are accessible from Sentry.
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This is the sweet overlay map of the area we're skiing, found in the basement of the lodge, right
by the ping pong table.
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This lodge is definitely more than a hut. It has a full micro-hydro power system, along with running hot and
cold water in the lodge, and private bedrooms (with bunk beds) and satellite Wifi (albeit with limited BW).
Sooo, definitely not the lodge to go to if you're unable to disconnect from society, but a super comfortable place
to spend a week in the backcountry skiing or hiking in the summer.
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Here's Rowley on the heli pad after our avalanche scenario practices. While we'd consider that a pretty
normal part (and good refresher) for any backcountry trip, it seems like we're atypical as an unguided
group to do beacon and scenario practice, at least according to the custodian.
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Since we got into the lodge so early on the Saturday, we were able to zip out and get some turns in for
the afternoon. Here's Rowley at the top of the Lower Shield area.
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Here's Louis at our high point for the afternoon.
After a look around in the lower alpine, we elected to drop down into the Lower Shield, where we found
some pillows that the boys jumped off. See Diver here going upside down. Any time you wind up seeing
the bottom of a buddy's skis, you know something didn't quite work out.
Garmin Connect data from day 0 HERE with elevation gain 585m and distance 6.5 km. Full size
The route we followed for our first afternoon of touring around. Lodge is in the bottom left corner.
Day 1 - Heading up to Archer's, then S2
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We decided to climb up to Archer's Lookout to take advantage of some good snow. Here's Rowley up on the
ridge split to Archer's from Kinbasket Peak behind him.
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We were so pleased with the light dry powder here that we're throwing it up in the air to celebrate Ullr.
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After deciding on a second lap up to the top of Archer's, we elected to try out S^2, a run that Simon's
neighbour told us we'd be 'stupid to miss'. Well, he was dead on, and the snow was so good that I'd rank this
route (and the snow conditions) as easily in my top 5 ski runs of all time. Sadly, no videos since no one
wanted to stop long enough to record it. This is the view from the bottom at ~1500m elevation.
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Louis, Diver, and Simon as we make our way back to the lodge at the end of a longer day.
Garmin Connect data from Day 1 HERE with elevation gain at 1550m and distance 15.8km. Full size
Our day's tracks from Google Earth.
Day 2 - Don't Tell Russ and some pillows at the Boneyard.
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Here's Diver looking down to where we're heading, which is the lower Shield, then the Boneyards, and then Don't Tell Russ.
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Checking out the lines in the Lower Shield.
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Just below the lodge is a sweet basin called Siege that skied really well.
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After climbing up from Siege, we wound up at the Boneyard, a little pillow area below the lodge that
the boys wanted to session and check out.
Rowley skiing the lower Boneyard
Diver trying his first look at the Boneyards
Diver goes really big at the Boneyard
Lane skiing the Boneyard
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After a bit of pillow jumping at the Boneyard, we climbed up to a lesser-known run called Don't Tell Russ
which was glorious and full of great snow. Here's Rowley getting first tracks in the deep stuff.
Diver on Don't Tell Russ
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Nice shot of me skiing near the top of Don't Tell Russ
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Having lunch at the bottom of Don't Tell Russ .
Video of Louis losing his ski on Lodge Spines
Diver skiing Lodge Spines
Garmin data from Day 2 HERE with 16.4 km distance and 1551m elevation gain. Full size
Our day's tracks from Google Earth.
Day 3 - Heading over to Rampart Trees and Beyond
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We decided to explore a bit further from the lodge and headed up and over Rampart Peak to check out some of that zone.
Here's Rowley as we're leaving the lodge.
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After doing a lap in deep snow in the trees, we had some choices and decided to wrap around this area to the left
in order to try to gain a bit longer run. See the team comparing notes in Fatmap, Boonmaps, and Google to try to
get our bearings dialed.
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Here's our fearless organizer Tristan, who we all owe a debt of gratitude for making this trip happen.
The impressive bit for me with Tristan is that even in spite of having a concussion
he still made the trip happen and was, in fact, the most jovial member of the team. Thanks Tristan!
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After a run in the Gallows area, we decided to try another one a bit further towards the Riders of Rohan area.
Here's Diver punching us an uptrack towards the Secret Valley and we'd then wrap over to the right.
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Rowley was pretty pleased with the snow and the runs in this area, as was I!
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Simon launching off a pillow on the lower part of this run.
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Cool shot of Diver jumping in between some trees.
Garmin data from Day 3 HERE with 14.3km of travel and 979m of elevation gain Full size
Our day's tracks from Google Earth.
Day 4 - Rasta Pass
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A classy start from our friend Diver opened our first somewhat clear day for a tour. I promoted the idea of getting up high to have
a nice look around and suggested trying for Rasta Pass to Rasta Peak.
First, we stopped and hit a few pillows enroute to the Pass. Here's Simon
hucking his meat
Diver pulling out an impressive landing
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We came up via Shield Lake to Tetras Lake which I thought looked beautiful, even in spite of the worsening visibility.
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Climbing up to Rasta Pass as Simon sets us an uptrack.
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Rowley and Louis at Rasta Pass. We initially started to climb Rasta Peak but with the worsening weather and poor visibility,
we decided to drop back into the Upper Shield area instead and stay out of trouble.
We decided instead to spend the afternoon sessioning some sweet lines in the Lower Shield area.
Here's Rowley on attempt 1 of the send, which I thought was cooler than send 2 since he managed
to do a forward roll and keep on skiing.
Rowley's Big Pillow Drop Try 2
Rowley's big line in Slo-mo
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Diver asked for a photo of the uptrack he put in directly up this gully. We made fun of him and
called it out as a classic terrain trap, but with stable conditions, we still used it. On the upper left
side of this shot, you can see a sweet line I really enjoyed skiing here. I next went up for the right side
rib line.
Garmin Connect data from the day HERE with distance of 12.35km and 1011m elevation gain. Full size
Our day's tracks from Google Earth.
Day 5 - Midship Peak, Lodge Spines, then beers on Rasta Pass with the Browns
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We woke up on day 5 to warming temps and very clear skies so decided to take an earlier start to get some
laps on Midship Peak before the snow started to turn. Here's the early morning light on the peaks above our sauna.
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Looking to the northwest from the lodge as the sun rises.
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After a lap on a really steep alpine face, we decided to do another lap on Midship. Here are the Brown
brothers on the skin track with interesting light.
My crash on Midship
My crash from Louis' viewpoint
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A look at my line after wrecking myself.
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After crashing, this was the result on my ski - early rise tip is now rising a lot more as can be seen
where it's folding over itself.
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A look at the well-tracked runs on Midship Peak.
Garmin Connect data from half a day out HERE showing 5.6 km distance and 465m elevation gain Full size
Our morning's tracks from Google Earth.
After changing out skis for Louis' backup pair, we went for a lap on Lodge Spines , through Siege
and then decided to celebrate Rowley's birthday with a tour back up Rasta Pass to have a beer in the alpine.
First, Diver hits Lodge Spines
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Louis and I on top of Rasta Pass in the sunshine.
Rowley skiing Rasta Pass
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Skiing some low angle snow from Rasta Pass. It may not be steep, but it was still really fun.
Last run of the day
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Rowley's birthday cake courtesy of Nicole on the cake and Diver on the carving.
Garmin Connect data from the afternoon HERE with 8.7km distance and 685m elevation gain Full size
Our afternoon's tracks from Google Earth.
Day 6 Finally climbing up Rasta Peak and calling it a trip
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Even though the weather wasn't amazing, we elected to take another try at Rasta Peak and found this beautiful
substance called 'sastrugi' which is hard-packed wind-hammered snow. here are Rowley and Diver making their
way to the top of Rasta Peak.
Garmin Connect data from Day 6 HERE showing 7.9km and 678m elevation gain Full size
Our afternoon's tracks from Google Earth.
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All of our tracks overlaid in Google Earth.
Simon's trip video part 1
Simon's trip video part 2
A great trip and fun times had by all! Thanks especially to Tristan for organizing this group, to GAH for
having us and for managing through the challenging times we are in, along with upgrading us to their Sentry
Lodge from Meadow. Thanks also to our amazing chef Nicole and to our hut custodian Lane. And as always,
a big thanks to le Ski Posse for being rad. More snow and skiing to come soon!
