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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Purcell Sud
    Posts
    396

    TR - Mount Harrison - 08.04.07

    Tucked away in an obscure and seldom skied nook of the Kootenay Rockies, Mt. Harrison's lofty summit stands just over 3359m(11000 feet). Its the tallest mountain in the area and the Southernmost 11000 footer in the Canadian Rockies.

    I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know this mountain existed until about six months ago when I happened across it in a climbing guidebook (The 11000ers of the Canadian Rockies). When I turned to the page with a snapshot of the north face my eyes nearly popped out of my head as it showed a big couloir that started very close to the summit!

    Could this be real? A big north facing couloir from the top of an 11000 foot peak right in my backyard that I'd never even heard of? Yup.

    And so began my obsession with skiing this mountain. The guidebook picture was gleefully shown to a selection potential partners early in the season. Tentative plans were made to go have a look sometime in April or May whenever weather and work schedules lined up favorably.

    Things came together in early April for an attempt, so three of us set out from Kimberley at 5am on Sunday the 8th. Travel conditions were good and we found ourselves at the end of the road staring up at our objective by sometime around 9am:


    The skies were blue and excitement was starting to build. We dropped our overnight gear (anticipating a long day) and proceeded to skin-up and start bushwhacking. Before too long we were out in the open and our route for the day laid itself out in front of us:




    We decided to bypass some cliff bands via a tight little chute in order to stay in the shade. The snow in the chute was very nice and excitement continued to build:


    The chute topped out on a plateau and it was back to skinning for a while:


    We were able to skin up past the bergschrund (there is a small glacier at the base of the big couloir) and then it was time for bootstompin straight up:


    At some point we came to a spot where there was black ice not too far under the snow and dude#1 decided he didn't need to go any further. He skied to a safe place and dude#2 and I carried-on up eventually reaching the summit at around 5pm.

    The views from the top on this beautiful day were outstanding. Mt. Assiniboine standing prominently to the North:


    Mount Fisher to the Southwest:


    It was quite a sensation skiing the upper chute as it rolls over as if you're skiing off the edge of the planet:




    Before too long we were on a sustained steep pitch:




    The snow conditions were superb for steep couloirs:






    We charged out onto the apron and over the mini glacier and then traversed over to meet up with dude#1. The three of us sat in a sunny spot and refueled and rejoiced for a bit before dropping in to the lower chute where we found the best snow of the day:


    Looking back up at the lower chute:


    We got back to the sleds sometime around 7pm and proceeded to slam a few beers and chow down before passing out exhausted:

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Denver
    Posts
    2,054
    Sweet looking mountain. Well done

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    JHole
    Posts
    904
    nice
    "...but I come from no country, from no city, no tribe. I am the son of the road, my country is the caravan, my life the most unexpected of voyages".-Leo Africanus

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Flavor Country
    Posts
    2,974
    Nice work, looks like you guys could stay busy for a lifetime up there
    "They don't think it be like it is, but it do."

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Calgary
    Posts
    1,130
    Very nice!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    burllllington.
    Posts
    292
    Awesome TR!!!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    P-tex, CA
    Posts
    8,660
    On this report you get an A+. Nice work plus no homework for the weekend.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Kootenays
    Posts
    1,496
    sleds = skidoo for approach or just hauling o/n gear in toboggans?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    9,300ft
    Posts
    21,938
    sickity!
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Zurich, Switzerland
    Posts
    1,322
    Awesome line.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    cb, co
    Posts
    5,034
    Whoa!, a real live kick-ass TR in the ski/snowboard forum instead of a stupid poll about something stupid. What's going on here?

    Great looking line, great looking TR. Thanks!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    floating in that 5-10% magic
    Posts
    121
    nice. well done indeed.
    "You know what's rrrrreal good? Cheese, dipped in cheese." - Big Rodge.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Aspen, CO
    Posts
    2,133
    absolutely stupendous stoke contribution - glad you got what you hoped for. Thank you for sharing the adventure with us.


    Missouri looks nothing like your backyard!
    "When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible."
    Mohandas Gandhi

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    the backcountry
    Posts
    3,500
    SWEET stuff St. !
    so many mountains...so little time

    www.splitboard.com

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Making the Bowl Great Again
    Posts
    13,779
    Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Was UT, AK, now MT
    Posts
    13,494
    FKNA! Very nice.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    3,972
    Damn, that was FINE!

    Thanks for puttin it up.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    South Lake Taco
    Posts
    983
    Great TR in every way! A day like that is what it is all about.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Purcell Sud
    Posts
    396
    Quote Originally Posted by snoboy View Post
    sleds = skidoo for approach or just hauling o/n gear in toboggans?
    sleds=skidoos, 30+km of it in fact.

    Add that to the 45km of bush road to get to where you start sledding and you can see why this area doesn't get much skier traffic.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    123
    Wowowow.... that looks awesome!

    Can't wait for some good weather to get here....

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    North Vancouver/Whistler
    Posts
    13,983
    Quote Originally Posted by goldenboy View Post
    Whoa!, a real live kick-ass TR in the ski/snowboard forum instead of a stupid poll about something stupid. What's going on here?

    Great looking line, great looking TR. Thanks!
    What he said. Imagine that - fine ski content on a ski forum

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    20 steps from the hot tub
    Posts
    3,773

    Thumbs up

    Bump, because this is a very cool ski descent on a remote and seldom visited peak.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    The Island, UT
    Posts
    83
    nice line, you scored
    You're all lame.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Bozeman
    Posts
    258
    amazing what a little research and some hard work can do...great lines.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    208 State
    Posts
    2,577
    And so began my obsession with skiing this mountain
    yup, I know the feeling.

    Quite a beautiful peak and a great TR. Love the photo of Assiniboine.

    Now to the maps to see where it is..

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