In November of 2017 I sent an email to Fred, my cousin and the group leader on a trip to a helicopter-access-only backcountry ski lodge in BC Canada. I said I was excited and making reservations for the night before in Naksup. Fred wrote back and said, “Hey Ney – remember it was a two year waiting list? You are a year early and the trip isn’t until February 2019.” Oh damn.

A year and a few months later Betsy and I drove up a snow covered four-wheel drive road outside of Naksup BC to a small clearing marked by a 55 gallon drum of jet fuel and seven other people. Soon a yellow helicopter appeared. The trip was on. 25,000 human-powered vertical feet and about 50 miles in a week – 95% of the time spent on 25 of the miles and 5% of the time on the other 25 miles.

Some photos from a great trip:


We were stunned to see this view – we had no idea until we skied up to Sunrise Pass. Wow. We were told at the lodge the big rock is apparently Mt. Gimli but one of them is Mt. Asgard. Mt. Asgard? Did we ski into some twilight zone? It turns out there is an Asgard in BC and also in the Baffin Islands.


On this long tour circumnavigating Mount McKean (pretty much like circumnavigating Denali) we ended up at the bottom of the 2,700 foot drop but then got cliffed out. We skinned back up and traversed until we found a way down but the avy danger was high and this was the sketchiest of the trip.
The “cook” Chris was actually a trained chef and we ate extremely well. Each morning started with his homemade granola, fruit and yogurt. Then it was hot breakfast at 8:00 am such as eggs benedict or a soufflé and bacon. Hearty Hors D’Ourves at 5:00 and hand-crafted dinner at 7:00. So basically two breakfasts and two dinners each day with snacks and lunch during the day. And we didn’t gain weight.
Short version: I got up early and got this nice photo. Longer version. Even though it was about negative gazillion degrees out (F) I knew the moon wasn’t out and that the milky way was above Woden Peak so I went out just before first light and snow-shoed away from the lodge for a photo session and when I stepped outside I had to pee really bad and didn’t fully set up the tripod on the snow before I let go and the tripod fell over and hit the outdoor grill and snapped off the tripod head but peeing still came first and then I had to balance the camera on the tripod instead of screwing it in and this is a photo that is actually five portrait-mode 20 second photos stitched together so I’m amazed it worked but don’t look at the trees on the right because they are blurry.
Betsy was anxious about keeping up with the guys on the downhills – she did great and did some steep stuff. As always she was a star at going up and within a few days I heard mumbling of “Who is that woman?” Her and Fred usually led the way and with the fresh snow they had to put in new skin tracks everywhere we went.
There are some steep couloirs that occasionally get skied, but we are way back in the backcountry, avy danger is “considerable” and frankly why am I making excuses? I wouldn’t have done them anyway. This specific area is over a pass so we are out of radio coverage of the lodge and friends (we all carried VHF radios).
Look closely and you can see Dan the snowboarder shredding this hill. He was taking laps alone, broadcasting a position report each time he dropped and also when he got to the bottom. Which was how I knew to look over the valley and see him. Typically with a group you make a radio call only when you drop into something (not at the bottom). Or if you have something snarky to say.