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I’m curious if anyone has experienced this operation in the last couple years?
Would enjoy getting up there and ski touring, but also tempted to pay for a cat seat someday.
Just chatted with one of the owners on the phone, and he was quite polite, but also indicated that that any backcountry touring off the resort was strictly forbidden.
I know that a few years ago you could pay for a cat bump up beyond the boundaries and ski around.
Looks like that is not happening anymore.
I know a few folks that have worked for Soldier cat ski program, some good, some bad stories. Mostly good.
The only experience I ever had actually cat skiing at Soldier was a trip 15 or so years ago that never happened. We got everyone together, left Boise, got to Soldier and found out our trip was cancelled due to a wind event. The terrain in the Soldiers is very prone to windloading. We asked Soldier why they didn't call us to tell us the trip was cancelled that morning and they had forgotten to call. We all did have cell phones at the time and Soldier kind of blamed us for driving over knowing it was windy. We asked about a free lift ticket for our travels and cancellation, but all they gave us was one free lift ride up the lower lift. Lame.
Soldier used to have a single ride lift ticket, but I don't think that exists anymore.
No ski area can prevent you from accessing touring terrain, if the access gates are closed, fine, but if their permit for the cat skiing terrain uses that terrain I guess they kind of can restrict who uses it. However, the cat ski terrain is only a small fraction of ski touring terrain there. We were over there about 5 or 6 years ago and toured the cat ski terrain just fine after purchasing a single ride ticket, no one bugged us, hell, we didn't even see the snowcat.
The previous owners were super bc friendly. Maybe the new owners are cocks.
Talked w the gm last year, his nephew bought it. Said the kid has more money than God.
Couple good old fashioned snowless desert wasteland winters will straighten em out.
Cool place though.
I've cat skied 5 or 6 times there with various previous owners - not the last two,though. The terrain is mostly mellow meadow skipping. The upper chutes are a different story. Wind is an issue with them fairly often. Many times they are not safe to ski.I think they have more snow than we have in Sun Valley. The big wind events usually happen with the storms. Lot's of times times, though, they just get wind - sometimes over 100 mph. Remember though, it blows the snow somewhere.
CK
There are some seats available this weekend, normally they only run on Thursdays. Wish I could go. I have a seat on 3/9 so I'll post after that, although it will be my first cat or heli trip so nothing to compare it to.
There were gusts over 100mph this week there.
https://www.sawtoothavalanche.com/fo...er-valley-mtns
You'll have fun. All you have to do is be better than the the slowest skier.
CK
I did their cat trip on 1/19, so less than 2 weeks ago. It was a good time. I was hoping for longer descents but it was still fun and the snow was good. Mostly shots that last 2 minutes or less followed by a traverse to get to another shot. All in all just over 10K of vert was had, or so I'm told. Pretty mellow terrain, couldn't access the chutes due to avy potential.
I did a cat ski trip with them last year. It was right at the end of the long dry spell but they still found us some decent powder. Overall we had a great time.
I’ve been bc skiing up there for a few years now. Their permitted terrain is limited to Peak 1 & 2. Peak 3, Smoky Dome and North Smoky Dome offer great bc options but those all are definitely in avalanche terrain.
As far as accessing the goods, if you buy a pass, you can simply head out the gate. We always just checked in with patrol before heading out. That sucks if they have gotten obstinate about bc skiers taking off from the upper lift. The one thing that I know was annoying to them were the groups that would go “poach” the goods in their cat skiing terrain.
There are two other options for access that they have no control over. Simply go to the north end of the park lot and it the sled track that takes you up the north fork and gives you direct access to the peaks and terrain that are outside of the permitted area. Your 2 options are human powered skinning in or use a sled to get access.
Here’s another tip. Wait until late March or early April. The best snow is usually around that time and the avy conditions are usually much better and allow you to hit the more aggressive terrain.
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Here’s some GoPro videos that show the terrain.
Bc videos:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=RV2QZJILmuk&feature=shares
https://youtube.com/watch?v=LS7cZqqk_Nc&feature=shares
Cat skiing video:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mG5sV2ViI8s&feature=shares
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Doesn’t a maggot work there ?
Little Big Lost maybe ?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry
LBL was hired, but I think he's working closer to home until fire season begins.
He's usually at Kelly Canyon, Blizzard Mountain and sometimes over at Soldier. I don't think JB works at Soldier though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry
Been there each of the last few years. Some really cool guides (Dale, Ryan, Huggy Bear, etc) and one asshat who is no longer there. CW the cat driver is a badass too. Terrain is okay. Short shots out of the cat, longer shots with a little boot pack. The chutes are fun but not scary. Don't always get to ski those due to avy conditions. Couple little cliff hucks here and there but nothing crazy. Snow has been from a top three day to something I wouldn't ski with chair access. Not sure on the new BC policy but you can access like others have said with a long climb or sleds. Used to be able to buy a $10 one chair ticket but not sure that exists anymore. I've heard they get pretty cranky over protecting the cat goods.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Conundrum
Pretty much what I found on 3/9/23. Avalanche danger was considerable so short, low angle meadow skipping in bottomless powder was the order of the day. Definitely the deepest I've ever skied and was hard to build up any speed. The skies cleared in the afternoon so we got to Peak 2 but chutes were off limits because of avalanche danger. This trip is a great intro into cat skiing and bottomless snow for us BC novices. Call Ryan and he'll set you up w efficient BC access that won't interfere w their operation.
No more Ashurst?
Not for a while.
CK