Posted by Topher Donahue on Thu, Jul 22, 2010 @ 04:29 PM
Last winter I was standing on the rim of the Canoe River drainage, stunned by the view across some of the biggest glaciers left in British Columbia. Above us, the 3516-metre bulk of Mt. Sir Wilfrid Laurier dominated the sky. I turned to ask Dave Gauley, our heliski guide and assistant manager of CMH Cariboos, about skiing from the big peak’s summit. He told me that it used to be a CMH ski run, but that a big crevasse opening had effectively killed it.
With ten years experience as a professional freeskier, Gauley is not one to be easily deterred by terrain challenges. He mentioned something about trying the descent, not doing it, climbing out of a big crevasse - and then skied away and dropped into the Canoe. Distracted by big terrain and stellar heliskiing, I forgot about his unfinished story.
Earlier this week I was daydreaming about big mountains, remembered Dave’s story, and caught up with him – he’s easier to catch in the summer - and here’s what he had to say:
If you skied it (Sir Wilfrid Laurier) from the summit to the valley (which they used to do) it would be 2500 metres vertical. I’m not sure how that ranks with other CMH runs, but it's pretty frickin’ long. I tried to ski off the summit, but there is a big, melted-out crevasse a few hundred metres below the summit you have to climb out of.
The North Canoe Glacier (which would be the lower part of the run) also has huge crevasses, and an icefall that it did not used to have. I think when they built the Cariboo Lodge in 1974, it was in the middle of the biggest snow decade in the area. From talking to oldtimers like Kiwi (Gallagher) and Ernst (Buhler), as well as (people) who grew up in the area - that's kind of their memory.
So I think the changing of the glaciers is a combination of back then they were really lucky with a huge snowpack to fill the crevasses, and glacier recession is now coupled with less snowfall. Bingo - less terrain to ski.
Other runs in the Cariboos are changing quickly too, like pretty much everything at the apex of the Premier Range on all the big ice (“big ice” is guide speak for glaciers) is becoming trickier to ski. Crazy Horse, Little Matterhorn, Penny, Ned's Moon, Thompson Glacier, Jerry's Perch, The Zipper… These are just a few runs that are becoming difficult, or are no longer possible to ski.
Another thing that has changed is that they were much more aggressive on glaciers in the old days as well. Those first Euro guides did not know anything about tree skiing, so they almost exclusively skied on glaciers. What was acceptable risk then would in no way fly today.
I heard, maybe from Bob Geber, that the Bugaboos has lost 30-50% of their glacier skiing from the original area over the last 40 years. Just look at the S&S Glacier. I skied it on a guide exam in 1997 - we were roped up shitting our pants - and they used to take heliski groups down there!
Sounds like a good reason to book a heliski trip now before we lose more ski terrain! Are there any of you lifelong heliskiers out there who can remember the natural closures of ski runs being a sad day?
Photo of skiing Ned's Moon in 2010 by Topher Donahue.
Posted by Jane Carswell on Tue, Jun 08, 2010 @ 01:00 PM
Our founder, Hans Gmoser, was a passionate skier and mountaineer. He was inspired at a young age by the local Catholic Priest, of all people, to spend time in the mountains. This pasttime ignited a passion in Hans and he committed his life to persuing that passion. Now Hans is remembered as many things but most notably as the father of heliskiing and a founding member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides as well as a world-class climber with remarkable first ascents to his name.
Today our CMH Heli-Skiing guides share Hans' passions and dreams and are making history of their own. I asked one such guide, Dave Gauley about his life as a skier and who were the heroes that inspired him. Here's what he had to say:
JC: Dave, when did you start skiing and what got you into the sport?
DG: I started skiing when I was about 6 years old in Rimouski, Quebec. I started because my friends were doing it and I got some hand-me-down equipment from one of my cousins.
JC: As a young skier, who were the athletes and skiers that inspired you?
DG: The skiers that inspired me were at first Scot Schmidt (the first ever professional extreme skier), then Trevor Peterson, Jean Marc Boivin, Pierre Tardivel and the likes.
JC: There are some pretty hot skiers out there these days that are pushing the envelope on technology and technique. In your opinion, who are the skiers and riders that are the heroes for the next generation?
DG: Shane McConkey was an inspiration. I had a chance to ski with Shane a few times. He was very talented and always thinking of new ways to advance the sport. Many, if not all of today's performance powder ski designs were his brainchild. That footage of him mounting ski bindings on waterskis, and ripping an Alaskan face to convince people that the spatula design was worthy is something i will never forget.
I am more inspired by the big mountain riders like Seth Morrison, than any jibbers. But Jon Olson is pretty impressive, in that he can dominate the jibbing world, and may compete in the next olympics in alpine racing.
JC: Did you always aspire to be a Heli-Ski Guide for CMH or like other young boys did you really want to be a fireman?
DG: I dropped out of university where i was pursuing a law degree, to move to Whistler to chase a dream. I watched ski movies, and wanted to be one of those people in the movies. I made that happen and had a career as a professional skier chasing first descents around the world for about a decade. During that time I had a chance to go to CMH for a photo shoot in the Gothics with Brad White. I saw what was going on and thought "This is a job?". I became a guide over the next 5 years, moved to Chamonix to guide for a year, then got started with CMH in 2000.
JC: And now, what do you want to be when you grow up?
DG: I don't want to grow up. I have achieved everything i have ever put my mind to. I just have to figure out what the next challenge is.
What about you? Who are your ski heroes and where has your passion for the mountains taken you?
Ski with Dave: Dave Gauley is Assistant Area Manager at CMH Cariboos and the brainchild behind CMH's Steep Weeks held each April in the Cariboos.