Kootenay Pass delivered one of the best day ever

It's been almost 5 years since the last time I've visited Kootenay Pass.

After the great days we had in the backcountry of Whitewater ski resort, I thought that it would be impossible to have a better day than those past days.

I was so wrong!

I've forgot how good this place is!

As we got there, the sun just start shinning. 

                                         

With not much clouds in the sky, that was quite a promising day that was on its way. 

We hiked the north side of the highway towards Cornice Ridge.

                                         

Even if it didn't snow for almost 2 weeks, there was still a lot of untrack terrain to be skied. 

We found our stomping ground just east of the summit of Cornice Peak. The north facing slope has seen only a few skiers and by dropping a bit further down the ridge, we found untrack terrain.

The first run we did confirm what we were expected: bottomless untouched powder, perfect angle and nicely spaced trees. With a nice cornice to start the run, I had the chance to witness some great (and some not so great) take-off by the boys.

                           

                           

Here is JS spicing up a bit his run by skiing a tree halfway through his takeoff!

                           

The run was rather short (about 200-300m), but the hike back up was so easy that we all agreed to stay on this face and rip the whole face.

                           

                           

The days went by with some of the best run of the trip so far and with the sun gently dropping down behind the Selkirks, we made one last run to soak up in the great light.

                            
                               

 

Quite stoke about one of our best day so far and with the stars shining, we fell asleep dreaming of another similar day! 

I guess that for the sake of really enjoying those magical days, we woke up into some thick clouds and poor visibility.... 

Since we had to drive from Kootenay Pass to Golden to meet with my girlfriend who was joining for the next week of the trip, we cut the day short and start driving.

We were welcome in Golden by my friend Martin. With some small plans, we left from Kicking Horse resort towards Mollars. This backcountry spot is located on the north side of the highway. It hasn't snow around here neither for the past 10 days and the backcountry was pretty ripped.

 The skintrack up towards the bowl is pretty easy to follow since it was quite packed!

 

 The visibility crappens out just has we headed down through some really deep surface hoar. It certainly doesn't look great for the snow stability when some new snow is going to fall down on it!

 

 On the way down, we had some hard time to find some great lines and there was track pretty much everywhere.

It was on this really not epic day that the trip ended up for Ben, JS and Étienne. After a great nachos and beer, we split as they were driving back to Vancouver. Left only with Amelie, we head back south towards Kootenay Pass hoping we gain get another great day of skiing.

Let see if it can delivers anything better!
Cheers,
evans