the view (photo by Chatter)

CHATTER CREEK and KICKING HORSE enjoy spring dumps!

Well, the season is winding down at Kicking Horse Resort in Golden. The ski area enjoyed perhaps some of the best snow of the season just in the last several weeks. While waiting for the powder to continue coming to Golden, our crew from Extreme Explorations received an invitation, which was hard to refuse. Ninety Kilometers north of Golden, lay an incredible mountain range, which combines the scenery of our Coast Mountains with the striking richness of the Canadian Rockies.

While showing a few films at the College of the Rockies here in Golden, I met Merle McKnight from Chatter Creek Snow Cat operation. See www.catskiingbc.com. I had heard a great deal about the impressive terrain and a reclusive luxury lodge somewhere well off the beaten track north of Golden. The approach to the lodge was over ninety kilometers by snowmobile or helicopter only, in the winter months. Powder Magazine had featured a blurb on it as well as news was circulating around town about just how "awesome" the terrain really was. After viewing our Valdez Goes Extreme and Journey to The Heart of the World films, Merle seemed impressed by our work and extended an invitation for a visit to our crew. And so, that very Saturday, March 17th, Scotty Fullmer and myself found ourselves at the Donald Station helicopter pad waiting for our delivery to Chatter Creek Lodge. Scotty decided to snowmobile in on his own sled, while I was to take the 15 minute helicopter flight into the lodge.

By At 4:30 a bright red rescue helicopter arrived. But just as we became airborne, the chopper pilot received an emergency radio call from Rogers Pass. Before we knew it we were turning around as the chopper had to scurry off to bring back the body of a French snowboarder caught in an avalanche at Rogers. In its place a larger 212 Bell helicopter was called in to take us on our own odyssey to Chatter. The flight in at first seemed anti climatic at first as we followed the flat Columbia River Valley northward. Then, a big flood plain came into view and the chopper kept on steering north. Suddenly ahead there appeared a cluster of a mountain range. We pointed towards a high pass, where it started snowing. As we flew over it, a few logging slashes appeared up ahead, then I spotted a few signs of mankind, a small lodge and some snow cats. It was an incredible sight as suddenly there was a little nest inhabited by people, virtually in the middle of nowhere. I do not think there was a permanent residence within a hundred kilometers.

The chopper landed and Dale Mcknight, Dan Josephson and Matt Cochand, the three co-owners of the Chatter Creek operation, greeted us. There is a fourth partner; Dave Narkel also involved as well who was not present. Also working with them was Roach, Laurie, Isabelle, Amy and Percy, the ACMG guide. I was already breathless looking at the potential terrain. As the area had been logged, there were original roads already partly in place. The operators, in turn, were pushing their own road extensions in various directions from the lodge. We were psyched to begin exploring this amazing looking area. That evening we were treated to a gourmet dinner and also met the clients who were family members of Mat, mostly from Portland, Oregon.

In the meantime, it just started dumping, more and more, and more. As we arrived to the lodge we were also met by an entire herd of snowmobilers. Later Dan explained to me how this was to be one of the first operations where snowmobilers were to use the facilities along with the skier. Other ski operators had problems with snowmobiles tracking up the ski runs. At chatter, however, the owners had developed a mutual respect with the sledders, and so far the relationship seemed to be working rather well. Sledders were tending to stay on the trails designated to them and were grateful for the access provided by the roads made by the cat. To further diminish the various user group politics, there was talk of starting up snowmobile tours along a snowmobile highway only through the area for a snow train like routine through Chatter Creek for sightseers rather than free roaming sledding groups in the open terrain which shred up the ski runs and only piss off the visiting skiing clients.

Next morning, we awoke to about 20cm new. It was still dumping heavily and we loaded into the luxury Bombardier Cat. We were especially impressed by the "business Class" like box built to house the skier passengers. It was really a first class act. We skied gentle trees all day. These were mainly southeast exposures. There had been a rain crust from the previous sunny days below the new snow pack, hence we were very careful skiing low angle slopes with Percy, the guide carefully stopping to ski cut any bulging worrisome areas. It was a great day as we got to know each other and shot our first powder footage on location. That night it kept snowing and the morning after brought at least 40cm more. Scotty Fullmer was up early shooting powder sledding sequences for " Snowmotion”, a snowmobile cult film that he works on each year with PPI or Peterson Productions, out of Vancouver. Then, we loaded into the cat again and headed for " The Burn ". Chatter Creek prides itself for having some of the biggest " burn " skiing in Canada. This means skiing through trees that have been torched in a forest fire twenty years back or so. The snow here was incredible and also absent was the hassle of tree wells since the lack of branches on the trees dismissed that problem totally. It was nice to ski and film with Scotty again, whom I have not worked for in years. We had a long history together which went the entire w ay back to 1990 when we worked on Reel Radical with the late Trevor Peterson and Eric Pehota. Then, of course, there was Valdez, Sudden Exposure and other memorable shoots in Alaska and BC. Since 94 we had not done much together and it was nice to ski, film and share the experience together. The snow was dry and deep. Chatter Creek is actually in the Rockies but seems to be divided into two distinctive geographical areas. The southern part of the range reminds me more of the Coast with deeper valleys and sculptured terrain very much like the Brandywine area south of Whistler. However, the northern end of the mountains has the pure " Rockies look" with visible layered Rockies geology which we would marvel at in the days ahead, as the cat took us higher later into the glaciers.

The following day we skied more of the burnt trees. In the afternoons we also used snowmobiles to ferry us to the southern exposures, which were now totally skiable with the colder conditions while it was storming. This routine continued for our first four days. Each evening we would collapse exhausted at the lodge. By March 21st, more of our crew arrived with photographers and talent, Martin and Kent coming in from Vancouver and Tove and Derek from Golden. Dan Foraie Then, to our joy it began to clear up. One early morning, Dale McKnight took the cat out early with Percy and Isabelle, the tail guide, and they broke the cat road all the way up to the top, or the keyhole. Before we knew it, we were now all in the cat going up towards the 9400ft elevation. Looking out of the window, it now seemed we were more in an airplane than a cat as we climbed up into the majestic Rockies, higher and higher, and higher. Up on top, the high alpine world really opened up to our eyes and skis. The summit glaciers at Chatter are fairly low angle north facing glaciers where the snow stays cold and dry all day. The runs up here were about 1200 to 1500 vertical feet, not too long but certainly sweet.

As the sun began warming the southern facing treed slopes we had set our eyes on some north facing trees, about 1500ft (500meters) of them directly across the creek and above the lodge. The next two mornings, we got up before 6AM and made a rather steep skinpath using switchbacks to reach the top of our proposed run. And so, before breakfast we managed to get in an unreal powder run in the morning. The light then, of course, was also magical and best for filming with the pink rays of the rising sun enveloping the surrounding peaks of the Rockies and streaks of it streaming in between the trees. It was truly awesome as we skied deep and dry powder through the enchanted old growth forest. Then, it was back on the cat and off into the higher alpine for the rest of the day.
Before we knew it Sunday had arrived and our helicopter was scheduled to pick us up and fly us back to Golden. Tove, Derek and Kent got to ride out by snowmobile, which was an epic 90km journey in itself.

The flight out was a real treat to my filming strategy. The air was calm making for incredibly smooth aerial footage which I took all the way back to Golden.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch or my Packers Hotel base in Golden, I learned that Kicking Horse too was enjoying the best conditions of the year. While we were away at Chatter, the hills around Golden received several thirty-centimeter dumps and spirits were exceptionally high as it had been a relative drought all winter. Hence, upon return, we began exploring our favorite filming locations at KH. As in Chatter when the sun baked the southern slopes, we just went north into North bowl. Here within a ten-minute hike we managed to do loop after loop of fresh turns, filming in pristine backlight conditions. While at the resort, I seem to keep meeting incredible people who somehow have heard about the place and keep showing up to check out the place. Lately, it was a couple Sean and Metta. Sean is a boarder from Chamonix, while Metta is Danish but speaks with a charming Aussie accent. We met in north bowl while I was skiing with Tally queen Paula. It turned out that they knew Troy Jungen well from their former years in Chamonix. For the last several days we skied and toured together into Kicking Horses many adjoining bowls. Recently we went into the Terminator Chutes which have been skied enough to warrant a descent. Due to the unstable snowpack many of the backcountry runs near the resort were just too worrisome to attempt. To play it safe, we usually ski runs that have been shredded and present a safer, skier compacted terrain. Since the hill is seldom crowded, each time it snows even a bit, the wind deposits the champagne powder back into our favorite areas, making virgin tracks an everyday occurrence. Now, especially with front after front of those unsettled spring snow showers the hill is enjoying the best skiing ever. The resort was going to close on April 1st but because of the improving conditions, further fueled by highly competitive inter-resort PR and politics, the management decided to keep the ski hill open through April 28th, four days a week or Friday through Monday. The locals are happy and looking forward to this. As one local said: " Hey, it’s back to Powder Fridays ", meaning that with the spring dumps, the snow will just get a chance to accumulate all week for all of us to shred by Friday, I like it!