Rogers Pass Appetizer

By:  Sam
April 1, 2011


Roger’s Blitz from Allen Taylor on Vimeo.

Faced with the unusual problem of too much snow around Baker, Allen, James, and I decided to head out of town to an area that wasn’t having our problem. The destination; Rogers Pass, BC.

Waking up at 3AM never feels normal, no matter how often you do it, and it certainly didn’t the morning we left America. Our plan called for an early morning start, followed by a caffeine and optimism fueled cannonball run to Rogers Pass. If everything went according to plan, we’d arrive mid-morning and have most of a day of sleep deprived skiing ahead of us. The following morning, we’d wake up early, ski until it was dark, and then drive back to the land of the free.

Seeing as this was a trip to Canada, and that I have a pretty bad success rate with trips to canada (remember THIS?), it wasn’t surprising that we got stopped at the border. What followed was rather more unusual though. After the normal search of the car, and raised eyebrows, we faced further questioning.

“What are you really doing in Canada?…. are you here for work?…. do you know that it’s avalanche season?…. can you prove that you have health insurance? We don’t want you to be a burden on the tax payer…. in my 10 years as a border guard I’ve never seen anything like this, what are you REALLY doing in Canada?”

After a thorough hour-and-a-half long interrogation, during which we were required to prove that we had health insurance to cover our inevitable accident, we were finally allowed into our third world neighbor to the north.

Thus began our odyssey. The drive was supposed to take only 6 hours, but the border hold up, a raging snowstorm in the coast mountains, and finally lots of avalanche control work at Rogers pass, prolonged it to a full 12. When we finally got to the height of Rogers Pass, we were jittery from the coffee


Waiting for the road to open… for the second time that day.


The park ranger at the lodge did his best to temper our expectations, but after driving for 12 hours we would have settled for just about anything.


“There is a bunch of warmed up tree-bombed snow up there, it’s pretty slushy”, said the park ranger. Yeah, sure, whatever, that’s why I could hardly see Allen…


Due to our late arrival, the clouds, and the high avalanche danger, we pretty much stuck to the bunny hills behind the lodge. Luckily the bunny hill consisted of 2000 feet of steep pillows and christmas trees.

Near the bottom, our run got steeper and turned into a chute.

James checked-up and considered his options.

We prepared our post-ski feast in the parking lot before retreating to the bar.

This picture is a perfect metaphor for the trip, it lacks both focus and development yet somehow is packed full of fun and exhaustion.


It’s a little awkward hanging out with this guy (and all the other dead animals in the room) while you’re trying to enjoy your….


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Read about the author:   Sam
Enjoy this TR? Read another: TR: A PNW Summer – Part 2

Related Stuff:

  1. TR: Rogers Pass Appetizer (w/ video)
  2. TR: Rogers Pass Base Camp Skiing
  3. Rogers Pass Part 1: Hippy Powder and Great Views
  4. Rogers Pass Base Camp Skiing
  5. TR: Roger’s Pass Part 1: Hippy Powder and Great Views

11 Comments

  1. P
    wrote on April 1st, 2011 at 10:45 pm  
    • powhounddd
      wrote on April 2nd, 2011 at 9:27 am  
      2

      that’s right. Say it like it is. BACON CHEDDAR… but wait? are there curds? No curds, its not actually poutine. Its then just fries with gravy and cheese.

      Oh and, great TR, looks like a great time!!

  2. Peter
    wrote on April 2nd, 2011 at 9:14 am  
    3

    “are you here for work?” HA!
    good stuff guys

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  3. Adrian
    wrote on April 3rd, 2011 at 12:11 am  
    4

    Too bad you guys didn’t have more time, but looks like you were able to get the goods with the little time you had. Very nice, as always :)

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  4. Savant Skis
    wrote on April 4th, 2011 at 9:46 pm  
    5

    great vid and diversion from the coming rain in the east – thanks

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  5. Anonymous
    wrote on April 9th, 2011 at 9:48 pm  
    6

    watch out for the cougar!!!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  6. Poobah
    wrote on April 14th, 2011 at 10:48 am  
    7

    Nice. I was at Revelstoke that Mon-Wed, and Kicking Horse Thr-Fri (was deep snow all week). Driving through Rogers Pass was wondering what it would have been like up there… now I know!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  7. Anonymous
    wrote on April 14th, 2011 at 4:28 pm  
    8

    Canada your third world neighbor? I know you’re just another ignorant American but I hope know that the world is counting down the days until the collapse of the ‘mighty’ USA.

    Stay home, poser.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Greg
      wrote on April 14th, 2011 at 6:13 pm  
      9

      I’m willing to put a lot of money that Sam’s “third world” comment was meant as a joke. Sorry if it offended you. All Americans have no sense of humor (also a joke).

    • Sam
      wrote on April 15th, 2011 at 2:19 pm  
      10

      canadians are always so touchy about the fact that americans don’t know anything about them…

    • colin_extreme
      wrote on April 18th, 2011 at 10:04 am  
      11

      ligthen up dude. FIS obvi love us

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