# BC Trip, what to expect with these snow conditions



## Guest (Feb 9, 2009)

Well I made the trip out there this past weekend and while there wasn't a lot of new snow the snow near our destination was nearly waist deep in spots. 

Despite the warm weather we have been having the past week there was not much change to the snow pack. It was still a hard layer sitting on top of a thick faceted layer. We showshoed up and had mixed results. We mostly stayed on top of the hard pack but would sometimes break through to the facets underneath which was not much fun at all and made for hard travel. 

We achieved out goal of hiking to the top and afterwards finding a nice spot to make a kicker. I've included a couple pictures, the one of me on in the snowshoes shows me on top of the hard layer not breaking through the waist deep snow. The second was my buddy off the kicker with a gorgeous backdrop. 

-C


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

Is that Fortress?


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## Jenzo (Oct 14, 2008)

Closed down ski hill in BC? Where is it?


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

I am sure it's fortress, been down for 4-5 years now. Was a great little place to ride back in the day. It would be haunting to ride there now, like riding in post apocalyptic times.


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2009)

Zee said:


> Is that Fortress?


That is correct it is Fortress, good eye. It closed down during the 06-07 season.

It was quite a hike to get to the top but it is interesting to see all the old building still there. Interestingly we ran into an employee who was working as a maintainer for the old buildings up there. The ski resort has been bought out since the closure and he said there are plans to revamp it with some new lifts and infrastructure. He said look for it to open again in 3ish years.

-C


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## Grimdog (Oct 13, 2007)

Fortress was an awesome resort because of all the natural 1/2 pipes it had. Also, because of their elevation they used to get some great snow as well.


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

How far can you get my 4x4? do you pretty well have to hike/skin the whole road up?


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2009)

The road has multiple gates on it right at the base so you have to hike/ski the whole way.


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

Damn, that sucks. I suspect the bridge is not healthy anymore anyway.


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## SB4L (Jan 12, 2009)

Snowolf said:


> I know what you mean! I love old ghost towns and relics. I go to Alaska to ride every year and have found this web site about old ski areas in Alaska, you might enjoy it too...:thumbsup:
> 
> 
> Alaska Lost Ski Areas Project


That's an extremely cool link!


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

Nostromos said:


> The road has multiple gates on it right at the base so you have to hike/ski the whole way.


How long is that road? I may do this anyway... I think I remember it being something like 7KM or so?

But I don't remember if it can be ridden back down, or if it is too flat.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Sounds like you could easily get a 'bile back there. Any rentals in the area?


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

I could rent from Calgary. I don't mind the hike up, good for fitness, and I have to get used to it.

but I know it is going to make me want a split more... MEC is sold out of Mojo's this year. Last year at this time, they had put them on sale for 30% off


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

I was thinking of using the sled to get to the base area then go to hiking. I've used sleds a few times for this purpose. On our hut trip we used sleds to get back to an area that was a couple of miles from the hut. We then skinned from there and lapped it three times before riding out. No way we would have done that if we had to hike all the way back there.


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2009)

The distance from the parking area to the old resort is just over 8km. Then you get to start hiking the runs themselves. It is a pretty long trek up but a lot of people do it. As long as there is an inch of snow you can board the whole way down even though some sections are pretty flat. It took about 20 mins to board/glide back to the base. For the hike up, unless there is a lot of new snow, you dont need snowshoes until the base area of the runs. 

The time I made the trek we got about 2/3 of the way up when the guy working as a maintainer came by and gave us a tow up on the back of his snowmobile. That was one of the highlights of the hike up actually. =)


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

8 km at a light incline is not too bad... start climbing at 8 am, should be about 90 minutes up. Have a bite, then start lapping. Sounds like fun.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Ok, I had to do a metric conversion to figure out how far you were talking. Looks like just over 4 miles. That is a bit of a hoof just to get to the base of the area you are considering making runs. Not that I haven't done that. I think we did over 6 miles to get to Dead Dog Couloir, which converts to 9.66 kilometers. This was a one and done run. Which after all that hiking is about all I had in me anyway.


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2009)

I think you are being a little optomistic with 90mins. We made the mistake of trying to follow the powerlines which run straight to the resort for a distance of 4km. It may be shorter but the terrain is much more difficult. What I am trying to say is I don't know how long a straight hike up the road is because I never did it but you can be sure it is longer than 90mins.


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

I would imagine the uphill trying to follow power lines would be more challenging. I wonder who I can bribe to leave the gate open lol...

I may try it anyway, even if it becomes an exercise in fitness... just gotta convince a couple of guys to come with me.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

I have to say that riding at a closed resort is a great idea. You've got the runs, and trails to get you in there. Generally speaking, it's easy to avoid avalanche prone areas at closed resorts. Berthoud Pass used to have a ski area and a lot of what I do there is on the old ski runs. There is a lot more to it than that too, but it makes for a great starting point.


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2009)

You can probably convince me to head back up to Fortress again this year. We wasted so much time hiking up I didnt get a chance to properly explore the area. The snow conditions are better than they were and we have had a bit of snow the past few weeks. I wouldnt mind trying it the next weekend there would be some fresh snow. 

I think this would be a good chance for me to rent a split board from the Uni and test one out to see if I like them. My long term pipe dream would be to get a custom split but I want to get out there sans snowshoes to see if it is what I expect.


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

I was thinking early April maybe, the days are longer, the weather milder, and Fortress still usually has good snow. I am also thinking of renting a split from MEC.


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2009)

That works for me. We'll have to be in touch.


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## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

Sounds cool. We're heading to KH for 3 days a week from Thursday. This season is coming to an end too quickly.


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