Below, I mentioned Mo' and she now has gone pro with her own backcountry cooking
service: http://www.mosmountaincuisine.com/home
Sounds like a pretty cool business idea, her service can come in handy if you're
in her neghborhood (maybe she can mail stuff to you) and I highly recommend her
cooking.
Mark P. Renson
________________________________
From: Mark P. Renson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, January 10, 2011 10:22:15 PM
Subject: Re: [SKIVT-L] Icefall Lodge, British Columbia
It was good to have Mo' cook for us again and look out for us plus she has an
AST-2 certificate which is welcome for when she comes out for some
turns. However, Henry the ex- Castle Mountain pro patroller who was with us in
Dec 2008 and does work at the lodge would not be with us. Henry did an awesome
traverse last May going from the Lyell Icefield to the Columbia Icefields
paralleling though not copying a line to the west of the famous Great Divide
Route that goes from Lake Louise to Jasper. He also spent 3 Winter months
sleeping on Mo's chesterfield (that's Canuckspeak for couch) and then took the
Ski Mountaineering course last Spring getting lost and separated from the group
on the way out to Saskatchewan Crossing where he hitched a ride on the Icefields
Parkway to Lake Louise where he poached a couch in the hostel before being
caught ............ and then subsequently slept under a tree which he allegedly
enjoyed. This guy is the Brennan of Western Canada!!! Oh, and while at Castle
Mountain (actually, I think he might still patrol there), he would file the snow
report until one day he whimsically created one which referenced pole dancers
and peeler bars among other things and then could not remove it from the public
website and neither could anyone else which freaked everyone out. Yes, this guy
is Skip's worst nightmare!
We loaded into the chopper with Mike the pilot who was wearing his "My Life is
Better Than Your Vacation" sticker on the back of his helmet which reminded us
that we were part of a cool scene. Landed, unpacked and measured the HS at the
snow observation plot which came at a paltry 117cm at the lodge which is at
treeline - OUCH!
Then we did avie rescue where I was assigned the pressure cooker job of leading
the scenario ...... geez, they always gotta' pick on me for these things. Yeah,
it was stressful directing 2 separate teams, but nothing compared to going live
especially when we were told that in the 7 fatality Connaught Drainage disaster,
there were 14 burials with only 2 that did not get buried. Good learning
experience for me and I learned some new things as I always do in a major
exercise. Even with the "shallow" snowpack, it was brutal getting around in the
virgin snow.
It was getting late ................ but still enough time for a quick tour in
Home Run Bowl in back of the lodge above treeline where very nice turns were had
in the rapidly dwindling light. Mo' cooked up some hearty lasagne for eats that
night - good bye Interstate 89/Trans Canada Hughway Diet Plan, hullo' happy
digestive tract and I won't get any more graphic about that.
It's only just starting!
Mark P. Renson
________________________________
From: Mark P. Renson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sun, January 9, 2011 11:51:40 PM
Subject: [SKIVT-L] Icefall Lodge, British Columbia
With the Dec 29 Rogers Pass avie bulletin reporting record low snow, I tried
very hard to keep an open mind. Minus 21C temps greeted me upon landing in
Calgary - get used to it! For $36/night, I got a roof over my head and a
roomate that did not snore at the hostel in Lake Louise. Next morning, it was
minus 32C when I went out to dig a pit and my thermometer registered a minus 38
where I dug a pit (probably in some sort of cold sink and my thermometers
recorded a -1 at the bottom, hence probably accurate) to check out this Nov rain
crust that the Rogers Pass and Banff avie bulletins were reporting. Sure
enough, in a 48cm HS snowpack I twice got a CT-12 with a Sudden Collapse on
some crumbling rain crust surrounded by facets and depth hoar.
Geek-geek-geeky. But it told me something as we were gonna' be the first group
into Icefall Lodge for the season. Due to its isolation, a balancing act was
needed between the 2 aforementioned bulletins plus the Chatter Creek snow
conditions reports to figure out what we were getting into.
So I caught the 10:15 Greyhound running a half hour late with frosted windows
and off to Golden BC, I went .............
Icefall Lodge is one of the newest b/c lodges in BC and is on the edge of the
Lyell Icefields which straddle the Continental Divide. The first ski descents
which included the first Winter ascent (and 2nd known ascent ever) of 10k+ foot
Kemmell Mountain there were made in March 2005 by Larry the lodge owner, his
girlfriend (now wife) and a client of Larry's. Oh, and that was before a hut
was erected, hence it was a Winter camping/skiing expedition:
http://tinyurl.com/28sh8ez where the participants took two days via snowmobile
on logging roads plus skinning up 2800 vertical feet with full packs to reach
the campsite which is across the stream from the current hut. It is believed
that Chic Scott may have made some turns around nearby Mons and Division Peaks
due to the proximity to the Great Divide Route that he put up, but that's across
the deep 2000 foot deep gorge from the lodge - yes this is a very spectacular
place: www.icefall.ca . The hut was put up there the following Summer at
treeline in time for the 2005-6 Holy Season. I had an epic week of turns there
in December 2008 with several runs over several days that were consistent chest
deep. Yeah, this place rocks.
With the only peeler bar in town closed, I had a wild New Years Eve in my motel
room by the Husky truck stop on the Trans Canada Highway with myself and 2 Mt
Begbie brewery microbrews and a cheap 20" or so TV, LOL!
Next day, I stepped out into -22C temps - at least my head cold got knocked out
'cuz there's no way germs can survive in the cold weather I was
experiencing ......... hey, I chose to vacation in Canada in early January!
Larry's brother picked me up and off we went to the helicopter hangar in
town where we met up with the rest which included Larry and Mo' (Monique) who
was with us in December 2008 as our cook ..............
We'll have even Mo' when I get some sleep and login tomorrow ..........
Mark P. Renson - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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