We live in a pretty spectacular place, so earlier this month, I hatched a plan to take advantage…

Day 1: climb and ski the Coleman Deming route of Mount Baker in Washington State.

Day 2: Do the beautiful Spearhead ski traverse, and if the stars align, ski the North Face of Cheakamus Mountain in British Columbia.

To prepare for a trip like this, it’s important to study the weather forecast and avalanche stability. It’s a lot of hurry up and waiting for a two-day weather window.

Even then, there are no guarantees in the mountains and success is not just in achieving goals in terms of summits and descents. It’s all about new experiences, meeting new people and maybe a new sense of purpose and energy after returning to the real world.

Here is a short video and photo gallery after our trip to the mountains…

Special thanks to Matty Richard, Tim Grey and Dominic Melanson who unbeknownst to us had the same aspirations to ski Mount Cheakamus, but started from Whistler Mountain (the other side of the traverse). Lucky for us, they were friendly and set a good boot track up. Good vibes! Thanks for your humble offerings and gracious boot pack.

Mike Traslin grew up skiing on the North Shore Mountains of British Columbia. Starting on plastic skis at the age of 3, his passion has remained steady ever since. Being Canadian, it was always ice hockey and skiing for Mike in the winter, but soon it turned into racing gates and then freestyle skiing. And once he discovered powder and backcountry skiing he was hooked, and never looked back.

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure, photos, travel, video backcountry skiing, baker, British Columbia, Canada, cheakamus, climb, Mount Baker, Mount Cheakamus, ski, spearhead traverse, Washington State

Over the past three years I’ve been keeping track of my vertical feet of climbing, backcountry skiing and mountain biking. I have now climbed a total of three million feet.

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Inversion in the Pass

From my last post you might think that all it does is snow up here in the Selkirks of BritishColumbia. Well, usually it does and for most of January it sure did. Alas, last week the snow hose shifted its focus, and squinty eyes and sun burned noses returned to the mountains of BC.

With my father in law, the original owner of my backcountry ski lodge Valhalla Mountain Touring, in place as the hut keeper, I knew I needed to get out of my neck of the woods and go play in the big peaks of Rogers Pass. A quick 2.5 hour drive from home (not including the snowmachine ride to my truck and the half-hour ferry ride inland), Rogers Pass is the number one place I go to play when I have some time off.  If you haven’t been, its time to change that, as it is host to some of the best road-accessed ski touring in the world, hands down.

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Mt. Seymour one of the first places my father  took me to ski — once to be exact.

Years later, when I’m short on time I find myself back at Seymour for dawn patrols. After 20 years of skiing the backcountry, it feels like I have skied every chute I could find and all the nook and crannies in between. Looking back now I have realized Seymour has kept me in shape for skiing all over the world and parts I still dream of. Sometimes the size of the mountain doesn’t matter, it’s best to just get out there, have fun and do it.

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, photos backcountry, Canada, skiing

Aside from the looming overhead cornices on the climb, and the swimming uphill travel at the top of the couloir, the 3,000-foot ski descent was epic, knee deep powder. Take a look.

Mt. Philistine-North  Couloir

Skiers: Andy Traslin, Mike Traslin, Alex Gibbs, Maddy Armstrong

Story: Andy Traslin Photos: Andy Traslin, Alex Gibbs

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure backcountry, Canada, ski, skiing

There is nothing quite like standing on an untouched mountain ridge surrounded by friends and looking down at untracked powder-laden rib lines that beckon for a descent.

Last week my team and I were embedded in the Esplanade range, less than a two-hour ski tour from a warm, large ski lodge, where no person had ever skied before and no other person was to be seen for miles around. We were alone in the vast expanse of the backcountry.

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Every year it has become somewhat of a tradition to ski the 26km Spearhead Ski Traverse. It’s almost a rite of passage for skiers and climbers from Vancouver to Pemberton.

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Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure backcountry, Canada, ski, skiing

It had to come to an end… the best season of powder skiing I have ever had at Valhalla Mountain Touring. Something like 80 of 90 days of the calendar winter with measurable precip. WOW… that just says to me, non-stop blower pow with no weak layers. I have never skied so much deep powder over 35 degrees in my life. So many new lines opened up at the lodge, and so many runs skied in the best conditions ever.

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We’re excited about the latest round of Mountainfilm guest speakers to be announced. In keeping with the 2011 Moving Mountains Symposium theme of “Awareness into Action,” the series of special guests announced last week, “have all committed their lives to rolling up their sleeves and making a serious difference in the world,” Festival Director David Holbrooke said.

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Decker Mountain is a quick side trip from the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, and a great introduction to the Spearhead range. So it was pretty cool to reconnect with a friend from the mountain bike race days and ski some powder.

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