Road trip to OR, ID, BC and WA. February 10-28, 2023 was my 4th road trip from San Jose, California to Canada for 3 days of snowcat skiing at Mustang Powder’s remote lodge (2015, 2016, 2019, 2023). I’ve also flown to Calgary twice for Mustang (2018 and 2020). In three consecutive years, I drove to Whistler; once after Mustang and Sun Peaks (2016) and twice was traveling solo and skiing on way there (2017, 2018) then picking up my wife in Vancouver and having her with me on drive home with overnight stops in Vancouver BC, Seattle and Vancouver WA and Bend OR (not all during same year).
This year we booked a flight home for Lucia from Spokane so she could ski Bachelor and Schweitzer up to two days each, but she hurt a finger loading too heavy carry-on into overhead on Halloween return from Lisbon to SFO after 12 days in Spain and 8 in Portugal. She did not want to be in car for 1,000 miles without being able to ski so we canceled her flight. Skiace had booked flight into Spokane on day she was going to depart so I still had to be at GEG on 2/15.
I was away from home 18 nights and skied 17 days. Twelve days were on previously unused Ikon (6 Bachelor, 3 Red Mountain, 2 Schweitzer and 1 Revelstoke - Red, Schweitzer and Whitewater were all new-to-me ski areas and my first since 2018. Three days snowcat skiing. Bought tickets for 49N and Whitewater.
Put 2,975 miles on Honda Pilot that I bought new Dec. 31, 2002 (and drove to Kirkwood the next morning). Now has 295,395 miles. My fuels records from trip are not perfect. I estimate fuel cost (includes some Skiace bought) was $510. Before going into BC where regular was about $5/gallon (C$1.70/liter), filled up at Northpoint, WA for $4.11. Cheapest fuel was $3.54 going N in Klamath Falls, OR. Vehicle got dirty in OR where it hit 295K next to Upper Klamath Lake.
I’d booked inexpensive, cancel-able motels, mostly through hotels.com where you get 1 night free for every 10 nights stayed. We canceled 2 nights we had reserved near Trail, BC (only 5 miles from Rossland, but down 2K hill) and 1 night in Colville, WA. Instead Skiace booked AirBnBs where we each got our own room and cost was a little less. Bend motel was less than $50/night. Ponderay motel had hot tub and limited breakfast, but was over $90.
Will try to post one picture from each day. If you want more details and photos, see recent posts by tseeb at https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/forums/western-north-america.3/
Fri 2/10 Left San Jose at 11:30 AM to mostly beat Sierra traffic leaving Bay Area. Arrived Bend in time to get to Crux brewpub before they close at 9 PM
Sat 2/11 Skied Bachelor 830-310 with Bend friend. 4x Summit 29.3K vertical. Went to On Tap Bend Picture: Tracks on Cinder Cone with moon above it.
Sun 2/12 Super Bowl Ski Bachelor 905-315 with Bend friend. 6x Summit 24.1K. Long drive to Sprague Lake rest stop, 40 mi short of Spokane
Pictures are skier jumping kicker into Hourglass hike-to top of Bachelor with Three Sisters in background. @Glenn Pacifico on Cows Face. Me on top of Bachelor.
Mon 2/13 was going to be travel day, but snow was predicted so I started skiing Schweitzer a day early. Poor visibility on top of mountain in AM and 1 hr lightning hold in PM. Skied 9-3 28.9K including Lakeside chute no. 9 (on right in picture). Met high school friend who moved to Sagle, ID for early dinner
Tues 2/14 Poor visibility again on top of mountain in AM. Skied 920-330 Over 40K including Lakeside chute no. 10. After hot tub, walked to Laughing Dog Brewery and Wal-Mart. Visibility at top of Lakeview was worse on previous day. 2nd picture is Upper Kaniksu. It was so bad on previous day, I missed entrance.
Wed 2/15 Only day off during trip. Visited high school friend in Sagle and drove with him to Shepherd Lake and Bottle Bay on Lake Pend Oreille, then picked up @Skiace at GEG at 1 PM. After lunch in Spokane, drove to motel in Warfield/Trail BC.
Thu 2/16 Skied Red Mountain 915-145 21.1K with Skiace, two more friends going to Mustang and @David Chaus. Mountain tour by John, a former councilperson with a lot of stories who we later learned was Nancy Greene’s brother. After quick lunch at Alpine Grind Coffeehouse and three hour drive including over an hour driving in snow by Skiace made hourly Upper Arrow Lake ferry 5 with 5 min to spare. Butter chicken spätzle and schnitzel at Indian/German/Thai restaurant.
Fri 2/17 Skied Revelstoke 920-1250 22K. Some new snow which meant gondola opened late and lifts crowded in AM. Just realized I did not write this up on firsttracks. Weather was good enough for helicopter transfer to Mustang’s remote lodge. Skiace got to sit in front seat since he’d never been to Mustang.
Sat 2/18 Mustang Powder (snowcat). Our cat was first to finish avalanche training and depart. One third run, when our lead guide was still assessing us and snowpack stability and we were about 3/4 down then run, Andrew from Toronto, who was in our cat, hit a tree and broke his femur. All 4 cats were done skiing for about 2 1/2 hours to handle life-threatening injury. Another cat had 5-6 Canadian orthopedic surgeons who were able to give injured skier morphine from medical pack Mustang has in medical room at lodge. Helicopter that flew injured skier to Kelowna first had to drop their heli-skiers and refuel, then took a couple of tries to get under clouds and above trees for pickup. We had three runs with female guide who quickly got us into some good stuff. May have been under 10K vertical, my lowest ever at Mustang where we usually have over 50K on our three days. Our guide accompanied injured skier to Kelowna. Nick, Mustang’s owner joined our table at dinner and shared some excellent BC Touriga (Portuguese grape) with us.
Sun 2/19 Mustang Powder (snowcat) Deepest day most of us had ever skied. Runs in open areas required timing your breath to avoid breathing snow. Getting up after sitting down in snow very difficult, Going in headfirst could have been life-threatening. Snowcat struggled on unplowed roads to pick us up from last run which meant a 40 min ride back to lodge with no skiing. 10.5K vertical.
Mon 2/20 Mustang Powder. Snowcats struggled to get up hill above lodge and had to go slower than usual at times in deep snow. Run of the day was Snake Charmer, long, mostly in trees across valley from other runs we skied. 13K. Could not exit via helis so had hour cat ride to transfer point then 13 Km on bus with chains on all 6 wheels bus ride to muddy parking lot. Made SB ferry with 3-4 min to spare due to snow on Transcanadian highway and highway 6 to ferry.
Tues 2/21 Whitewater 4” new and 4/2/2/2” new on preceding days. Artic cold was starting and got windy in PM. Skied 2K+ Glory Ridge chair 7x finding a lot of powder. Very good food in lodge - I had C$17 Thai Bowl. Stopped at Nelson Brewing Co. before leaving town, then went to Flying Steamshovel in Rossland. Skiace tearing up new snow on Back Burner almost at closing time.
Wed 2/22 Red Mountain Resort. Cold with 6” new snow. Found great, often untracked powder, but also ended up in steep, tight trees on a few runs. Skied 9-345 26K and went to Flying Steamshovel for Happy Hour beer. @Skiace throwing some of the new snow on a Grey chair run.
Thu 2/23 Red Mountain Resort. Colder and new snow from previous day wind-affected. I skied Red chair 3x and we skied Grey chair 1x. We skied newer Topping Creek chair the most as it was warmer, sometimes in the sun. We stopped twice at new this year lodge near Topping base twice, meeting up with @charlier on first stop. Skied 10-2 15.4K, then after stop at Rossland Beer Co. (I wasn't driving), returned to US. Spent night in Colville, WA where it was -2. Too cold for skiing pictures. Picture shows T-bar that I rode for my last run at Red.
Fri 2/24 Skied 49 North 930-130, 23.2K on $59 + tax ticket purchased night before. Sunnier and warmer than in BC. Mostly skied E-facing Sunrise lift first, then moved to high-speed lift. Rode slow chair 4 once. Stopped at Zip’s (WA fast food) for Skiace to re-pack for flight home and late lunch. After dropping him at GEG at 4 PM, drove to Bend arriving at 10:30. Planned two nights with friend ended up being 4 nights. @Skiace tearing up Sunrise side of 49 North.
Sat 2/25 Skied Bachelor 830-2 when I had to quit for Zoom call.20.5K It was first day for Summit after 13” new Wed. We only rode it once, skiing S side after visiting Wall of Voodoo. Friend of friend I was staying with struggled in 3-day old snow. We had full (5 people) truck after picking up a couple of people on way up, then dropped them and picked up another on way home so got a good tour of different areas of Bend I’d never seen. Friends came over for pizza. Tracks I left on South side.
Sun 2/26 Skied Bachelor 935-340, 21K powder day. 1” new reported, 3” in parking lot when we arrived. Only had slow Red chair for first two laps, then Pine Marten, then Outback opened. Best powder was skiers right on Outback, Cloudchaser in PM and mostly gravity traverse into lower Cinder Cone (signed I-84). Some traffic getting to mountain. Hot tub after very good pasta dinner cooked by friend’s wife. Glenn skiing Cinder Cone after using I-84 entry.
Mon 2/27 I’d planned to leave in time to catch half-day at Shasta Ski Park to try new chair they’ve added since only time I’d skied there in late 80s and to breakup my drive and avoid evening commute traffic in Bay Area. But with more new snow (5” reported but only 1 overnight) and free Ikon days I skied skied Bachelor solo (shared a few Northwest runs with Ryan from CO who told me in trees on 2nd Outback lap that patrol said Northwest was opening). Had three deep laps in PM on Cloudchaser, skiing to lowest catchline twice. Skied 26K from 925-350. Stopped at Deschutes factory on way back. They no longer give you four 4 ounce tastes a day, but gave me eight 2 ounce tastes. After dinner and some parenting duties by host, we went to new 10 Barrel factory brewpub not very away.
Looking up Cinder Cone. I've tucked, then hiked to top on previous Bachelor visits when better lifts not running, but no need this year.
Tues 2/28 Bachelor reported 9” new with 7 overnight and it snowed all morning. Skied 4 laps on busy Northwest, 4 on Pine Marten and one Outback for 16.7K from 9-1230. On road at 1240. Some snow and a lot of trucks on 97 until I got to I-5 at Weed, CA. With minimal stops, I was home at 940. Last run, Cinder Cone.
This year we booked a flight home for Lucia from Spokane so she could ski Bachelor and Schweitzer up to two days each, but she hurt a finger loading too heavy carry-on into overhead on Halloween return from Lisbon to SFO after 12 days in Spain and 8 in Portugal. She did not want to be in car for 1,000 miles without being able to ski so we canceled her flight. Skiace had booked flight into Spokane on day she was going to depart so I still had to be at GEG on 2/15.
Put 2,975 miles on Honda Pilot that I bought new Dec. 31, 2002 (and drove to Kirkwood the next morning). Now has 295,395 miles. My fuels records from trip are not perfect. I estimate fuel cost (includes some Skiace bought) was $510. Before going into BC where regular was about $5/gallon (C$1.70/liter), filled up at Northpoint, WA for $4.11. Cheapest fuel was $3.54 going N in Klamath Falls, OR. Vehicle got dirty in OR where it hit 295K next to Upper Klamath Lake.
I’d booked inexpensive, cancel-able motels, mostly through hotels.com where you get 1 night free for every 10 nights stayed. We canceled 2 nights we had reserved near Trail, BC (only 5 miles from Rossland, but down 2K hill) and 1 night in Colville, WA. Instead Skiace booked AirBnBs where we each got our own room and cost was a little less. Bend motel was less than $50/night. Ponderay motel had hot tub and limited breakfast, but was over $90.
Will try to post one picture from each day. If you want more details and photos, see recent posts by tseeb at https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/forums/western-north-america.3/
Fri 2/10 Left San Jose at 11:30 AM to mostly beat Sierra traffic leaving Bay Area. Arrived Bend in time to get to Crux brewpub before they close at 9 PM
Sat 2/11 Skied Bachelor 830-310 with Bend friend. 4x Summit 29.3K vertical. Went to On Tap Bend Picture: Tracks on Cinder Cone with moon above it.
Sun 2/12 Super Bowl Ski Bachelor 905-315 with Bend friend. 6x Summit 24.1K. Long drive to Sprague Lake rest stop, 40 mi short of Spokane
Pictures are skier jumping kicker into Hourglass hike-to top of Bachelor with Three Sisters in background. @Glenn Pacifico on Cows Face. Me on top of Bachelor.
Mon 2/13 was going to be travel day, but snow was predicted so I started skiing Schweitzer a day early. Poor visibility on top of mountain in AM and 1 hr lightning hold in PM. Skied 9-3 28.9K including Lakeside chute no. 9 (on right in picture). Met high school friend who moved to Sagle, ID for early dinner
Tues 2/14 Poor visibility again on top of mountain in AM. Skied 920-330 Over 40K including Lakeside chute no. 10. After hot tub, walked to Laughing Dog Brewery and Wal-Mart. Visibility at top of Lakeview was worse on previous day. 2nd picture is Upper Kaniksu. It was so bad on previous day, I missed entrance.
Wed 2/15 Only day off during trip. Visited high school friend in Sagle and drove with him to Shepherd Lake and Bottle Bay on Lake Pend Oreille, then picked up @Skiace at GEG at 1 PM. After lunch in Spokane, drove to motel in Warfield/Trail BC.
Thu 2/16 Skied Red Mountain 915-145 21.1K with Skiace, two more friends going to Mustang and @David Chaus. Mountain tour by John, a former councilperson with a lot of stories who we later learned was Nancy Greene’s brother. After quick lunch at Alpine Grind Coffeehouse and three hour drive including over an hour driving in snow by Skiace made hourly Upper Arrow Lake ferry 5 with 5 min to spare. Butter chicken spätzle and schnitzel at Indian/German/Thai restaurant.
Fri 2/17 Skied Revelstoke 920-1250 22K. Some new snow which meant gondola opened late and lifts crowded in AM. Just realized I did not write this up on firsttracks. Weather was good enough for helicopter transfer to Mustang’s remote lodge. Skiace got to sit in front seat since he’d never been to Mustang.
Sat 2/18 Mustang Powder (snowcat). Our cat was first to finish avalanche training and depart. One third run, when our lead guide was still assessing us and snowpack stability and we were about 3/4 down then run, Andrew from Toronto, who was in our cat, hit a tree and broke his femur. All 4 cats were done skiing for about 2 1/2 hours to handle life-threatening injury. Another cat had 5-6 Canadian orthopedic surgeons who were able to give injured skier morphine from medical pack Mustang has in medical room at lodge. Helicopter that flew injured skier to Kelowna first had to drop their heli-skiers and refuel, then took a couple of tries to get under clouds and above trees for pickup. We had three runs with female guide who quickly got us into some good stuff. May have been under 10K vertical, my lowest ever at Mustang where we usually have over 50K on our three days. Our guide accompanied injured skier to Kelowna. Nick, Mustang’s owner joined our table at dinner and shared some excellent BC Touriga (Portuguese grape) with us.
Sun 2/19 Mustang Powder (snowcat) Deepest day most of us had ever skied. Runs in open areas required timing your breath to avoid breathing snow. Getting up after sitting down in snow very difficult, Going in headfirst could have been life-threatening. Snowcat struggled on unplowed roads to pick us up from last run which meant a 40 min ride back to lodge with no skiing. 10.5K vertical.
Mon 2/20 Mustang Powder. Snowcats struggled to get up hill above lodge and had to go slower than usual at times in deep snow. Run of the day was Snake Charmer, long, mostly in trees across valley from other runs we skied. 13K. Could not exit via helis so had hour cat ride to transfer point then 13 Km on bus with chains on all 6 wheels bus ride to muddy parking lot. Made SB ferry with 3-4 min to spare due to snow on Transcanadian highway and highway 6 to ferry.
Tues 2/21 Whitewater 4” new and 4/2/2/2” new on preceding days. Artic cold was starting and got windy in PM. Skied 2K+ Glory Ridge chair 7x finding a lot of powder. Very good food in lodge - I had C$17 Thai Bowl. Stopped at Nelson Brewing Co. before leaving town, then went to Flying Steamshovel in Rossland. Skiace tearing up new snow on Back Burner almost at closing time.
Wed 2/22 Red Mountain Resort. Cold with 6” new snow. Found great, often untracked powder, but also ended up in steep, tight trees on a few runs. Skied 9-345 26K and went to Flying Steamshovel for Happy Hour beer. @Skiace throwing some of the new snow on a Grey chair run.
Thu 2/23 Red Mountain Resort. Colder and new snow from previous day wind-affected. I skied Red chair 3x and we skied Grey chair 1x. We skied newer Topping Creek chair the most as it was warmer, sometimes in the sun. We stopped twice at new this year lodge near Topping base twice, meeting up with @charlier on first stop. Skied 10-2 15.4K, then after stop at Rossland Beer Co. (I wasn't driving), returned to US. Spent night in Colville, WA where it was -2. Too cold for skiing pictures. Picture shows T-bar that I rode for my last run at Red.
Fri 2/24 Skied 49 North 930-130, 23.2K on $59 + tax ticket purchased night before. Sunnier and warmer than in BC. Mostly skied E-facing Sunrise lift first, then moved to high-speed lift. Rode slow chair 4 once. Stopped at Zip’s (WA fast food) for Skiace to re-pack for flight home and late lunch. After dropping him at GEG at 4 PM, drove to Bend arriving at 10:30. Planned two nights with friend ended up being 4 nights. @Skiace tearing up Sunrise side of 49 North.
Sat 2/25 Skied Bachelor 830-2 when I had to quit for Zoom call.20.5K It was first day for Summit after 13” new Wed. We only rode it once, skiing S side after visiting Wall of Voodoo. Friend of friend I was staying with struggled in 3-day old snow. We had full (5 people) truck after picking up a couple of people on way up, then dropped them and picked up another on way home so got a good tour of different areas of Bend I’d never seen. Friends came over for pizza. Tracks I left on South side.
Sun 2/26 Skied Bachelor 935-340, 21K powder day. 1” new reported, 3” in parking lot when we arrived. Only had slow Red chair for first two laps, then Pine Marten, then Outback opened. Best powder was skiers right on Outback, Cloudchaser in PM and mostly gravity traverse into lower Cinder Cone (signed I-84). Some traffic getting to mountain. Hot tub after very good pasta dinner cooked by friend’s wife. Glenn skiing Cinder Cone after using I-84 entry.
Mon 2/27 I’d planned to leave in time to catch half-day at Shasta Ski Park to try new chair they’ve added since only time I’d skied there in late 80s and to breakup my drive and avoid evening commute traffic in Bay Area. But with more new snow (5” reported but only 1 overnight) and free Ikon days I skied skied Bachelor solo (shared a few Northwest runs with Ryan from CO who told me in trees on 2nd Outback lap that patrol said Northwest was opening). Had three deep laps in PM on Cloudchaser, skiing to lowest catchline twice. Skied 26K from 925-350. Stopped at Deschutes factory on way back. They no longer give you four 4 ounce tastes a day, but gave me eight 2 ounce tastes. After dinner and some parenting duties by host, we went to new 10 Barrel factory brewpub not very away.
Looking up Cinder Cone. I've tucked, then hiked to top on previous Bachelor visits when better lifts not running, but no need this year.
Tues 2/28 Bachelor reported 9” new with 7 overnight and it snowed all morning. Skied 4 laps on busy Northwest, 4 on Pine Marten and one Outback for 16.7K from 9-1230. On road at 1240. Some snow and a lot of trucks on 97 until I got to I-5 at Weed, CA. With minimal stops, I was home at 940. Last run, Cinder Cone.
