In general the snow went from great to excellent 25cm to 35 cm of new on top of a 70 cm base.
Day 1
10:30 start from Bow summit skiing to the east of the highway on the lower slopes of Observation peak . We broke trail up into the alpine starting our descents from the last tiny subalpine Xmas tree. We enjoyed three fine descents in wonderful snow finishing with an easy descent through the relatively open forest back to the cars . We had to push the awd subarus out from the parking spots to get going. It took 1.5 hrs to drive the 80 km to Hilda creek.
Carl skiing lower glades of Observation Peak
Dave and Shirley
JM in the flat light
Shirley having fun
Hilda Hut
A 300 m ski in from the hiway. Problem unlocking the door to the bunkhouse. We needed to use the alternate code. Hostel instructions were not correct ! 9 out of 10 propane lights did not work . Big thanks to Carl for bringing a battery powered lantern. We could not get the heater in the bunkhouse to work. Thankfully the weather was warm. And it took forever for us to figure out how to get the cook shack heater to go on.
Carl welcomes us to Hilda hostel
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Hilda_Creek_Hostel_JM_Carl_Shirley_Ed_John
Hilda Hostel
Hilda hostel Bunkhouse
Hilda_Creek_Hostel_CarlJohn_Shirley_Ed
Hilda_Creek_Hostel_Carl_John_Shirley_Ed_JM
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Day 2 Hilda ridge
We followed the creek up on an old uptrack crossing the creek on a sketchy log breaking trail to the last tree in alpine. We had several yoyos in wide open glades in excellent snow.
For the return trip to the hut Carl found an unbroken 200 m vertical drop two thirds of which was in a drainage gully with perfect snow. A thigh burning exhilarating descent .
Hilda ridge and mountain showing the skiable glades
Ed crossing Hilda Creek on a tricky log/snow bridge
Bridging Hilda creek Dave,Shirley, John,Carl,JM
John in the gully descending off Hilda Ridge
JM in the gully descent from Hilda Ridge
Day 3 Bow summit
A horrible and slow drive on unplowed roads brought us back to the Bow summit exit where we parked on the side of the road and skinned up to the old fire look out. The skiing again was phenomenal. We yoyoed until my legs screamed for mercy .
Ed and David in the Bow Peak slopes
David in the Bow Peak slopes
For an excellent finish to the trip it was time for a beer and Hungarian goulash at the Post Hotel .
Participants were Carl, David, Jean-Michel, Shirley, John, cs Ed