Looking for prime backcountry spoils? Then find
your inner Genghis Khan and head to Ymir, B.C.
Back in the 15th Century after a tiring day of
unleashing their abhorrent brand of barbarism on their hapless
victims, Ghengis Khan and his mongol hordes would retire to the
comfort of a circular domed tent called a Yurt. The next day
- refreshed and newly energized - they would return to pillaging
all that lay in their path.
These days pillaging anything is in decidedly bad
taste. Except, that is, for fresh, untracked, fluffy powder.
Ain in the Selkirk Mountain wilderness near Nelson, B.C. a new
species of lusty nomad is taking to hunting snow by day and retiring
each night to the same kind of circular domed tents to sleep,
feast and exchange war stories.
Ymir Yurts is a backcountry skiing lodge that offers the latest
alternative for those seeking an introduction to the potentially
risky, always fun sport of backcountry skiing. Yurting entails
two advantages: First, each yurt costs $25,000 to build and install,
considerably cheaper than constructing a permenent cabin on the
side of a mountain. The result is prices like $795 for five days
of guided and catered skiing, which is about $3,000 cheaper than
a week of heli-skiing. Second, the yurts can be easily deconstructed
and moved. As Trevor Holsworth, the owner and operator of Ymir
Yurts explains, "We didn't want a structure in a location
we'd be fixed to forever."
Ymir's yurts are a lot bigger than the ones Ghengis and his band
favoured. Using a woodwork lattice as the circular frame, radiating
beams for the rood and a one piece insulated canvas cover, the
yurts provide a strinkingly simple design that nevertheless affords
such luxuries as windows and a woodstove. Built on a oplatform
that provides room for staff quarters, storage and a sauna underneath,
each yurt rounds to about 400 squar feet of comfort. They stay
warm in winter and cool in summer, and as Holsworth describes,
"blend unobtrusively with the surrounding landscape."
As good as Holsworth's choice of accommodation is, his choice
of location may be better. This area of southeastern B.C. has
been known to receive up to 50 feet of snow. While sweating is
part and parcel of skiing out of the Ymir Yurts, Holsworth is
wise enough to remove most of the slog part of the adventure.
Our group travels by snowcat 10 kilometres up the would-be-painful
logging road to WildHorse Pass. Thus, we begin with fresh legs
and keen motivation at 5,800 ft. All we have with us is touring
gear, a change of warm clothes and toothpaste.
At Wild Horse Pass we step out of the cat into the heart of typical
West Kootenay winter and sink up to our waists in fresh snow.
Unfortunately, deep snow means arduous going, so slog we must,
winding sluggishly towards our first descent. But it's worth
it. We gain enough elevation to dive into 1,500 vertical feet
of steep, well-spaced trees buried in white smoke. The run drops
us to the bottom of another hour-and-a-half ascent that winds
upwards through more glades to the low point of the Qua Peak
ridgeline, a mere 400 feet above the home base. After skiing
down to the yurts, we discover that the day isn't over yet -
this is backcountry skiing after all, and we still have three
feet of fresh snow to dig out. Some of us clear pathways between
the eating yurt and the sleeping yurt, while other get the woodstoves
going. Then comes the reward: a gourmet meal in the midst of
this blessed alpine nowhere.
The next morning's un dawns cold and quiet over an utterly pristine
wintertime landscape. Night - time temperatures of -15C have
settled the snow, and avalanche conditions are favourable. Many
backcountry touring operations in B.C. give you the option (
if skill permits ) to guide yourself, and our group chooses to
got it alone, keen to test ourselves in the terrain that surrounds
the yurts. This area is well suited for differing skier levels.
With 40 per cent of the terrain rated black diamond and 60 per
cent intermediate: both intermediate and expert skiers, snowboarders
and telemarkers can safely satiate themselves amongst the mellow
glades, steep tree lines, 20 alpine bowls and numerous 2,800
foot descents that lie within an hour's tour of home base.
As each day passes, we pile on evermore first tracks and face-shots
as we explore the ridgelines and bowls of this paradise in the
Selkirk Mountains. Huge cornices cast blue shadows upon wide-open
slopes, which in turn give way to intermittently spaced bands
of larch and alpine fir. Hidden Bowl, Secret Chutes, Skuline
and the Cook's Apron are runs whose quality and incline non of
us will soon forget. And each night we return to the warmth and
comfort of the yurts, recalling the day's moment's of inspiration
and hilarity over delicious food and heli-dropped beer. With
stuffed stomachs and tired tendons we then wash away the work
of the day with Polish showers - scorching woodstove sauna sessions
broken by frequest dives into the snow.
Our last morning marks the end of the high pressure system that's
hovered over us like a guardian angel. Clouds begin to move in
from the southwest. We scurry to ski one last run down the 2,000
foot Upper Seeman Bowl before retracing our long-forgotton tracks
of day one to the meeting point where we find the cat waiting
for the ridge back. The yurts arebehind us now and home is not
far away, and I find myself considering which one is better.
Thankfully, I don't have achoice, otherwise, like some nomadic
traveller, I might still be in a yurt in the woods with nothing
but the silence of the Selkirks, my friends, my skis and a lot
of fresh snow.
First published in Explore Magazine Winter 2002/03
Issue
Photographs courtesy of Matt
Scholl
Article re-printed with permission Mitch
Scott
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This article first appeared
in Explore Magazine Winter Issue 2002.
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