In the midst of the glaciers, winding rivers, and thick forests of the Battle Range, there's an unexpected refuge from the elements: Snowfall Lodge. A luxurious respite from the wilderness, Snowfall Lodge is the perfect spot for backcountry skiers to stage for a week of uninterrupted backcountry skiing. It's no Hollywood mansion or 5th Avenue penthouse, but considering its location in the wilds of BC, the lodge boasts incredible amenities.
All Blackbird BC Lodge trips are fully catered. All food for the week is provided, with the exception of specialty bars and energy chews - if these are important to you, make sure to bring your own supply! Our guides typically just roll with the lunch food provided as it is quite good!
Food Restrictions - Make sure to advise the guides and lodge of any food restrictions you might have well before the trip! It is difficult for the cook to pivot the menu without significant notice before the trip.
Sauna. Snowfall Lodge has a wood-fired cedar sauna in a separate building.
Showers. It has two shower stalls and a large changing room. You can warm up and clean up after a big day skiing.
Bathrooms. There is an indoor pee toilet for women and an outside area to pee for men. There are two outhouses for solid human waste. There is running water and a sink inside for hand washing - cleanliness is key in this intimate environment!
Snowfall Lodge does not offer Wi-Fi. While Snowfall Lodge is equipped with satellite internet for weather forecasts and emergency response, there is no internet for guests. The satellite Wi-Fi system at Snowfall does not have enough bandwidth to support guest usage and therefore the lodge cannot supply guests with Wi-Fi access during the trip. This makes it a great opportunity to unplug from the world for a week - it's amazing how good it feels to unplug for a few days!
Drying Room. Snowfall Lodge has a dedicated drying room with a propane heater and a blower for drying boots and gloves.
Dining Room. The lodge is equipped with a large room for relaxing, sharing meals, and even has yoga mats with plenty of room to stretch.
The closest major town to Snowfall Lodge is Revelstoke, BC. The helicopter staging area is roughly 2 hours south of Revelstoke near Beaton, BC. Most people fly into Kelowna, BC, take a shuttle or rental car to Revelstoke and then a shuttle or rental car to the staging area. There is a ferry along the way, so timing is critical.
The Terrain at Snowfall Lodge is a perfect mix for a mid-winter trip when the conditions are uncertain. It's nice to have access to a tenure with a mix of tree skiing, high alpine, open bowls, glades, chutes and glaciers. With a setup like that, there is always something to ski and if the weather and snowpack align, the terrain will blow your mind!
We were blessed with incredible snow quality for our week at Snowfall Lodge this year. The week before had been arctic cold, with temps consistently below in the minus 20-30C (-5 to -20F) range! Just before we arrived, things changed around and it snowed and got warmer - but not too warm! We had -4C/25F temps all week with light snow each night, keeping the snow surface topped up with pure fluff.
The snow quality and stability were excellent, but the visibility was often cloudy, and we were thankful to have some incredible tree skiing! Open, old growth glades, forest fire burned areas and bouldery pillow lines abound at Snowfall Lodge and we had a blast exploring runs like Endless Trees and the Office.
]]>British Columbia has something that no other place in the world has: incredible, remote lodges that provide unique access to wild backcountry terrain. Sure, Europe has plenty of refuges that provide access to the mountains, Colorado has a few pretty plush huts, and California has some incredible huts as well. None of these options provide the remote feel of British Columbia.
A typcal Client Room in a British Columbia backcountry Lodge.
Most BC lodges are accessed by helicopter, from staging areas that feel like wilderness even before you fly 60 klicks into the sticks. In Europe, huts are quite comfortable as well, but they're easily accessed from lifts and other means and often lack the feeling of being completely removed from civilization as they are open to passersby wandering in for an expresso and a slice of pie. Which is not to say they're bad, this is actually an amazing feature of travelling in the alps and other ranges of Europe. But it doesn't give off that "you have to fly in or skin in for days to get here" vibe that you get from BC Lodges.
Lodge trips in British Columbia are a basecamp for ski touring and ski mountaineering. Instead of acting as a quick stop over for a night or two while guests tick off an objective in the Alps, guests stay at Lodges in BC for a whole week, exploring deeper in the terrain as the snowpack and weather allows. The goals less about gaining a peak than it is about skiing the best snow quality you can find and discovering all the features the terrain has to offer.
The feeling of teamwork is always at the forefront on BC Lodge trips. The group flies in together and lives together in an off the grid "hut" powered by micro-hydro generators and solar and heated with propane and wood. Each day, groups of skiers choose a group to tackle their objective with, whether it's one huge singular ski line or a day of linking multiple smaller lines. Groups flex with the desires of the and can range from a couple thousand vertical feet to over 6,000' per day.
Better than breakfast in your ski town?...Snowfall Lodge, BC
Some Lodges are fully plumbed and have fancy creature comforts, while others are rustic and require a bit more work from guests. Snowfall Lodge and Icefall Lodge both have great micro hydro power and running water, while Sunrise lodge requires buckets of water to be drawn at a nearby lake. Not as bad as it sounds, but definitely a bit more rugged!
Yeah, that can make for a cold morning... Snowfall Lodge BC.
Lodges in BC definitely are not hotels, they’re about as close as you can get being off the grid in the middle of nowhere.
Typical create comforts include:
Some Lodges have:
Beautiful views and incredible snow at Sol Mountain Lodge, BC
Suffice it to say, if you're a skier or rider first and a hotel connoisseur second, you will have an awesome time at a British Columbia Ski Lodge! It's exactly the kind of trip you want to go on if an expedition sounds appealing, but you don't like tents, being cold, or having to cook for yourself! It's exactly why this is our favorite way to ski tour!
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Bookmark these pages for each zone we cover, and they can act as your “dashboard” for quickly understanding the conditions, hazards and weather for your skiing and climbing objectives.
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This page contains critical information on:
Bookmark these pages for each zone we cover, and they can act as your “dashboard” for quickly understanding the conditions, hazards and weather for your skiing and climbing objectives.
North Lake Tahoe Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Eastern Sierra Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Mt Shasta Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Lassen Peak Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Snoqualmie Pass Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Mt Rainier Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Mt Baker Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Mt Shuksan Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
Forbidden Peak & Boston Basin, WA
Forbidden Peak Conditions, Avalanche Info, Weather & Webcams
]]>My Setup:
Uphill Travel Winner: Hardboot
For myself and most folks who have spent time in hardboots, the biggest benefit to hanging up the softboots is on the uphill. The assets of hardboots can be summed up in three areas: lateral stability, range of motion, and the use of a tech toe.
Hardboots offer a rigid lateral support that makes nearly all travel uphill more supportive and secure. The lateral stability makes sidehilling, or travel that traverses across a slope, far easier by transferring more power into the edge of your ski. In softboots, you will have to put far more energy into balancing on an edge and might even need to use an extra attachment to get close to the performance of a hardboot.
I still remember the day I got my Backland boots and tried them on in my living room for the first time. My partner is a skier and when I put the boots on and pointed my foot for the first time I enviously asked her, “Have you been doing this the whole time?!” The most popular hardboot is the Atomic Backland, which has a ridiculous 74 degree range of motion. Spark R&D’s Arc softboot binding, arguably the most popular binding on the splitboard market, has a mere 13 degree range of motion. The range of motion of your boot/binding combination is important for uphill travel because it dictates how easy it is to stride as you are skinning. The more freedom you have to move, the more efficient you can be on each step.
An unexpectedly valuable aspect of uphill travel for my hardboots has been the use of a ski-style tech toe. I have found the tech toe uphill attachment to be far more reliable than any of the toe pieces offered on softboot bindings. The style of attachment used in softboot bindings tends to be more prone to snow build up, involve more parts, and fail more often than the tech toe. The tech toe has been industry standard in the ski world for years, with simplicity and reliability being the main drivers for universal adoption. It’s hard to see why splitboarders would need to reinvent the wheel for this tried and true technology.
Downhill Performance Winner: Softboot
Few other activities evoke the same euphoric descriptors that snowboarders use: surfy, flow, mind expanding, artful, glide. These feelings originate in the experience one has of putting their board on edge to make a turn or floating through soft snow. Many riders, rightfully so, believe there is an inexorable link between the boots worn and this experience. Softboots offer a sense of natural mobility that hardboots seem to revoke. Plus, if you are a proficient resort rider, you have probably spent season upon season getting in tune with moving your board using standard snowboard boots. These barriers make the mental leap to wearing a ski boot difficult. Wearing a hardboot is an objectively different riding experience and if the main reason you slide sideways is for the downhill feeling to which you’re accustomed, softboots are the clear winner for downhill experience.
Mountaineering Winner: Softboot
First, let’s define what I intend by saying mountaineering: pushing into bigger, more committing terrain where you are likely to end up with your board strapped to your pack as you move across a mix of firm snow, ice, and rock to get on top of a line. The benefits of hardboots can be summed up in two words: crampon compatibility. One of the scariest moments of my life came when I was climbing Mount Hood via the Pearly Gates in softboots. I had a hard time finding a crampon that was wide enough to accommodate my softboot, and the boots didn’t have the requisite toe and heel bail needed for use with automatic crampons. I was using universal strap-on crampons, but the toe of my boot was too large to stay put. French/flat foot technique was insecure because the toe of my boot kept popping out of the side of the crampon. Climbing the twenty feet of semi-technical steep ice through the Pearly Gates was sketchy to say the least, as the boot wasn’t stiff enough to use for front pointing. Since then, my hardboots have allowed me to climb near vertical ice and march all over icy glaciers in the Pacific Northwest. Even in my local terrain around the Lake Tahoe Basin, the fully rigid soles and hard outer shell of hardboots allows me to kick steps into firm, icy snow where my softboots would collapse.
If you have any intention of pursuing ski mountaineering objectives, you will most likely be looking toward a mountaineering focus softboot, like the Jones MTB anyway, which weighs in at 1.5 kg, compared to a Backland Pro that weighs just under 1.2 kg. Even the dedicated mountaineering softboots lack the same range of features as a standard ski boot. The features and weight make this an easy win for hardboots.
Cost Winner: Softboots (kind of)
If you’re looking to get into splitboarding for the first time, the cost of gear is a huge barrier to entry. You need a board, bindings, skins, boots, avalanche safety gear, a pack, and probably a few new layers just to get out on your first tour. Softboots can take a big item off that costly list if you already have a resort setup, as softboot bindings allow you to use your resort boots for touring.
Durability Winner: Hardboots
Durability differences between hard and softboots makes the true cost “winner” harder to determine. The initial investment in softboots is less, but the highly leather and plastic construction means that the parts wear out faster. The hardboot bindings I have used, the Spark R&D Dyno and Karakoram Guide HB, both have fewer parts and less plastic than softboot bindings. I have had just about every component of a softboot binding fail, especially the plastic components such as the ratchet buckets and toe/heel straps. Binding failures can range from frustrating to dangerous and the minimal, mostly metal components of a hardboot binding make me feel much more confident, especially on multi-day missions, as compared to a softboot binding. Further, if you spend a substantial amount of time touring in softboot bindings, the imperfect connection of a leather boot in the binding while touring will eventually lead to wear in the outer shell of the boot. The plastic shell of the hardboot means that the boot will last for many seasons to come. Finally, if you do need to replace a component of your boots, the first thing to wear out, both in soft and hardboots, is typically the boot liner. Because so much of the world are skiers, there is extensive aftermarket liner availability.
Conclusion
While the upfront cost of hardbooting is greater than softbooting, over the long term I feel that the durability and modularity that comes with hardboots ends up costing less. For folks who are just dipping their toe into our sport or plan to tour for only a handful of days a year, the cost of a hardboot setup won’t provide the long term benefits. However, if touring is your main winter hobby and you have aspirations to get out in bigger terrain, the investment can be more than worth the cost. My hardboot setup is my daily go to and with enough time in the saddle, you will get in tune with the downhill differences and find any number of small modifications you can make to get your experience to be nearly the same as a softboot. Finally, while touring we spend nearly 90% of our time traveling uphill. The increased efficiency on the uphill makes nearly all the downhill trade offs worth the cost.
Author
Jacob Sellinger
So, you're headed into the Frog Lake Backcountry Ski Huts in Truckee?! The first thing you might be wondering is "what do I need to bring?!"
The Frog Lake Huts are unlike any other backcountry ski huts in California, and maybe even the world. They offer upscale amenities, and the setup of the huts is unique, so knowing what is available and what you should bring is different than other hut trips.
First of all, the huts aren't just a couple of independent, self-contained huts with comfortable beds. They are a compound of buildings that work together to provide an interesting living situation with communal cooking and dining, but with separate sleeping quarters. It's really the best of both worlds: you get to mingle and socialize with other random backcountry skiers and riders, without having to listen to them snore!
The Frog Lake Huts compound consists of guest sleeping huts, a large, communal building, and a number of older huts that are for TDLT use only. were the original structures built in the 1930s. One of the older huts has been refurbished into the Hut Master's quarters and the others are used for storage of various sorts for the Truckee Donner Land Trust ("TDLT" who own the property and created the new Frog Lake Huts).
The largest structure on the property is the Eschenbach House, which is the centerpiece of the huts compound. This building contains a commercial kitchen, dining room and lounge, map room, half bathroom and a second story loft (which has become the main entrance to this building in 2023 with our massive snow this year!).
When you arrive at the huts, you are usually greeted by the Hut Master. They will help you can settle into the hut space that you rented, show you where to store your food, and provide you with hut booties for your stay. You're welcome to hang out in the Eschenbach House whenever you'd like and the Hut Master will typically have a fire going in the fireplace by afternoon or early evening.
The kitchen is incredible, even when compared to kitchens in urban settings. It is a fully stocked, commercial kitchen - keep reading for a full inventory of the setup!
The Frog Lake Huts have a full commercial kitchen, so it makes sense to suffer a bit with a heavy pack to have some real-deal, fresh food! If you’re feeling weighed down by the wieght and bulk of your food, consider hiring a porter. Porters carry 45 lbs of food/beer/gear/anything reasonable that you want, which can make your trip an incredible experience without throwing out your back! A key note here is that porters are not guides or consultants - they just meet you, grab your stuff, and carry it in for you. If you’re looking for a guide, we’d be happy to work with you at the Frog Lake Huts and we have many options available!
Food items that are normally stocked by the Truckee Donner Land Trust at the huts are:
Food items that are not stocked at the Frog Lake Huts:
Butter, baking powder, flour, sugar and soy sauce are not available at the Frog Lake Huts. If your meals require those items, pack ‘em in!
The ability to make great food is a highlight of the Frog Lake Huts in Truckee. Bringing in your favorite Apres beverage adds icing to the cake!
Beer, wine or other alcoholic drinks can be a nice way to end a long day of ski touring, so consider packing in your favorite apres ski beverage. If you’d rather save your back, the TDLT has tall boys of our local brewers in Truckee, 50/50 Brewing. Beers are $10 + tax, so they come out to over $11/each and are billed to the credit card of the person who booked the huts. The best value without compressing your vertibrae for budget minded skiers and riders is to bring in a nice whiskey or your favorite hard alcohol.
Of course, if you don’t drink or just don’t want to, there are also a selection of hot teas available at the huts an coffee is supplied by TDLT and prepared fresh each morning by the Hut Master. Hot Chocolate is not provided, so if you want cocoa, bring a few packets along.
Bedding
The Frog Lake Huts guest cabins are very comfortable and the ammenities are unmatched in backcountry lodging. There are 3 guest cabins with different floor plans, but they all share similar construction and ammenities. The Ted R Cabin has bunks for 8 people, the Rockwood has two sides, each with capacity for 4 people and the Morgan hut has two sides, with capacity for 2 people on each side. Each side of the Morgan and Rockwood huts are rented separately.
Relaxing on a bunk at the Frog Lake Huts. This shot shows one half of the Ted R hut, which sleeps 8 people in a large communal room. Snow creeping to the top of the first story window! March 18, 2023.
Amenities at each of the Frog Lake Huts Guest Cabins include:
Beds at the Frog Lake Huts have thick foam mattresses with waterproof covers. While the covers certainly make them more sanitary, they aren’t the very comfortable to sleep directly on top of. There are no pillows or linens provided by the Huts, so its nice to bring in lightweight options for these designed for backpackers.
Here are a few items that I find make sleeping at the Frog Lake Huts a little bit nicer:
Backcountry skiers and riders should always be prepared to be self-sufficient in the backcountry. The Frog Lake Huts and surrounding terrain are remote, and a relatively small injury could become a serious issue without the right gear and training. We encourage everyone travelling without a guide to have:
The Truckee Donner Land Trust has large medical kits in the main lodge (the Eschenbach House). Please don’t rely on these kits for small incidents as it is difficult to keep them properly stocked if they are picked apart. Use your own first aid kits when possible and save the trauma kits for when they’re truly needed! If you do use items from a kit, make sure to tell the hut keeper what you used so that they can note it and restock the kits when necessary.
Limit the food garbage you bring in to the huts. With the exception of burnable garbage (paper, cardboard, and some food items) you have to pack out all of your trash! Some containers like cardboard boxes for crackers are helpful to keep delicate foods from being smashed and can easily be burned after use, but things like glass bottles and jars and plastic boxes can be a lot to pack out.
Cooking utensils, silverware, serving dishes and plates, bowls, and cups. These are all provided by the Land Trust, so don’t bother bringing in any of those items. To help make sure you don’t pack in anything unnecessary:
Here is a comprehensive list of the kitchen supplies at the Frog Lake Huts:
Miscellaneous items that are also provided by the TDLT are:
If there’s something you’re wondering about, please feel free to reach out! We’d be happy to fill you in if we know!
]]>Large cornice chunks below a ridgeline near the Sierra Crest on November 9th, 2022. Photo: Zeb Blais.
Add fresh batteries and check the terminals for corrosion!
2. Bring your Wilderness First Aid Kit and Repair Kit! I bring my wilderness first aid kit and basic repair kit on every tour I take. I used my repair kit in the parking lot of my second tour this year to help someone reattach their front bumper after ramming into a snowbank! You never know when that will come in handy!
A typical wilderness first aid kit for backcountry skiing.
3. Expect hazards to exist! Early season snow coverage is soft and weak, and even if it is deep, it's easy to punch through to the hazards below. Common hazards that cause early season backcountry skiing injuries are branches lurking just below the snow. It's easy to hook a ski tip under one of these and have the branch bring your ski to an abrupt stop, and your season to an early end!
A lightly covered tree can snag skis or break a leg on the descent. Nov 9, 2022. Alpine Meadows Backcountry.
4. Take it easy! Early season isn't the time to give it 110%. Build your ski legs with a few mellow tours to get your muscles up to speed. Your body will appreciate a bit of time to get used to having ski/snowboard boots on, lugging heavy skis uphill and not crashing into the thinly covered hazards at high speed!
5. Aim for low angle terrain and avoid roll overs. Steep terrain may look great with a coating of soft, fresh snow on it, but it's also the terrain that is easiest to scrape the snow off of. Look for consistent, low angle slopes with few roll overs to minimize the chance that you'll scrape the snow off and ruin your skis or get injured.
6. Avalanches Still Exist! Just because the season is just starting, doesn't mean that there is no avalanche hazard. In fact, as we kick the season off it's actually more dangerous in a lot of areas based on the fact that:
7. Tell your friends where you're going and ski with partners. Given the increased hazards of early season skiing, and the potential to wreck your season, go out with friends to help you choose terrain and respond if you have a gear failure or injury.
What else do you do to make your early season backcountry ski tours fun and safe? Drop us a line - we'd love to hear what tips you use to stay safe for early season backcountry tours!
A Wilderness First Aid Kit is a piece of gear that should come on every backcountry trip. Whether you're backcountry skiing or splitboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking or any outdoor activity with potential for injury, a wilderness first aid kit is an essential component of any outdoor enthusiasts' gear list.
Wilderness first aid kits should be stocked with supplies to address minor injuries, basic medical emergencies, and serious trauma. First aid kits should be optimized for the demands of whatever activity you're going to be doing. For technical and high-altitude climbing where you may be pushing your limits and every gram counts, you may need to pare down your kit to make climbing easier. For backcountry skiing and general mountaineering, a heavier kit with more supplies may be appropriate.
Whatever activities you're planning on undertaking, be prepared to address the following situations:
Remember to keep in mind other items that you will have with you that might be useful in treating trauma. Trekking poles, tree branches or closed cell foam pads can make great improvised splints. Ziplock bags can be made into an improvised irrigation by simply filling them with water and poking a tiny hole in them to create a forceful water stream to clean wounds. Backpacks can be used as slings or swaths.
In the backcountry, we can't carry all of the specialized first aid supplies we might want to. We're limited by weight and space in our packs, and we have to prioritize critical items and carry items that are versatile. With a small assortment of critical first-aid specific supplies and some resourcefulness and improvisation, we can address a huge variety of injuries, even in remote, wilderness areas.
Here are the items that I keep in my first aid kit for a typical backcountry skiing or general mountaineering trip:
I've found it easiest to start with a store-bought first aid kit and modify it to meet my needs. My Wilderness First Aid Kit, shown above, started with a Hart Medical Weekend First Aid Kit. I find this kit to be the right size: big enough to just fit everything I might need to manage a serious incident. After purchasing the kit, I swapped out a few items and added some extras.
So, here is what's in a wilderness first aid kit for backcountry skiing and general mountaineering.
Optional Items to Consider
Beefing up your Medications/Treatments for Extended Trips
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Spending a week at a backcountry ski lodge in British Columbia should be high on every backcountry skier's tick list. These remote lodges offer a Canadian take on experiencing the backcountry, allowing guests to get deep in the mountains without embarking on a grueling winter mountaineering expedition.
Rather than hauling in a week's worth of supplies in packs and ski pulks, guests arrive at the lodge via helicopter or snowcat. Deep in the backcountry, far from crowds and other skiers, the lodge becomes a well-provisioned and comfortable "basecamp" for daily backcountry exploration. to their own remote plot of backcountry skiing terrain.
While any snow-based vacation is subject to conditions before and during your trip, British Columbia is renowned for high quality powder skiing. Consistent snowfall is the name of the game in BC, with many locations recording snowfall 141 days per year! Beyond consistency is quantity. Many places in BC receive a huge amount of snow, with Fidelity Mountain, between Revelstoke and Golden, BC topping the list at around 550" per year! Cloudy skies, high latitudes and cold temperatures help to maintain ideal conditions for skiing and riding throughout the season as well.
British Columbia gets a lot of snow, and at a backcountry lodge, there aren't many people to ski it up. While it's true that a lodge full of hard-charging skiers and riders can cover a lot of terrain and ski up a lot of snow when their only job for the week is to do just that, generally the amount of terrain and the consistency of snowfall means that you're in for top-notch snow quality.
Ranging in the terrain of the Columbia Mountains in BC. Photo: Zeb Blais.
There are over 35 lodges in British Columbia in 4 Mountain ranges. Between BC’s four major mountain ranges (the Rockies, Columbia Mountains, Cariboo-Chilcotins, and Coast Range), there is a massive amount of ski terrain. From the steep and rugged peaks of Eastern BC, to the glacier smattered peaks of coastal BC, there is a terrain to suit every style of rider.
BC Lodges access everything from mellow powder fields to extreme ski lines. Many lodges offer a full variety of terrain, from below treeline glades to glaciated, high alpine bowls. Lodges like Sunrise Lodge and Valkyr Lodge host a number of short lines close to the lodge as well as some long runs further afield. Days at the Icefall Lodge are characterized by big objectives, skiing only one or two huge lines per day.
Cold breakfast first thing in the morning at Sunrise Lodge. Hot Breakfast and lunch to follow before leaving for a day of skiing! Photo: Zeb Blais.
Unlike self-supported backcountry trips, BC Lodge trips are fully stocked and each Blackbird trip is supported by a dedicated cook for the week. Depending on which cook we hire, we’ll get anywhere from 4 to six prepared meals each day. Days often start with cold breakfast and coffee, followed shortly after by a hot breakfast. Some lodges and cooks do a build your own style lunch, while others prepare that as well. When the day of shredding powder is done, appetizers greet guests before the evening sauna, which is followed by a full dinner and desert. You’re not going to go hungry on a BC Lodge Backcountry ski trip!
Eating well is a huge part of a successful trip. With full days of trail breaking, powder skiing, and exploring, we’re burning a lot of calories each day. We need to keep up with the energy demands of the week and have plenty of calories on board each day to keep up. We’ve been blown away by how good the food has been at our lodges. The cooks typically work full time at lodges over the winter and have prepared hundreds of meals for hungry backcountry skiers and riders. They know exactly how to fuel a week of backcountry skiing in British Columbia!
As an example, at Sunrise Lodge in 2022, our cook Michelle baked fresh bread for the entire trip. Each day we'd start with a cold breakfast of full-calorie yogurt, homemade granola, fresh fruit salad and freshly brewed coffee. This was followed by a hot breakfast ranging from bacon, eggs and pancakes to eggs benedict. After breakfast we'd grab a specialty sandwich she'd made fresh that day, and ski until either daylight or our legs gave out. We'd return to appetizers of charcuterie, nachos, soups and dinners of Lasagna, burritos and even ribs. Desert was always exciting, and the crowd pleaser of the trip was a Michelle's family recipe banana cake with cream cheese frosting - delicious!
If the snow ever fails to excite, great food has a way of making up for it. Incredible meals have a way of making good days great! Cooks are the hardest working people on any BC Lodge trip and their work is always appreciated!
Outside the Sunrise Lodge. Photo: Zeb Blais.
Each Backcountry Lodge in British Columbia has its own story to tell. Some are older, with deep history and decades of stories of skiers and riders hunting deep snow and steep lines. Others are more modern and offer creature comforts that rival front-country hotels.
No matter which style you choose, there are a few features common at all of the lodges in British Columbia. These include:
Dining Room and kitchen at Sunrise Lodge. Photo: Zeb Blais.
A small room at Sunrise Lodge in BC.
The Boot and gear drying room at the Sunrise Lodge.
If you're looking for an incredible and comfortable lodge experience in the lower 48, we've got just the thing! The Frog Lake Huts in Truckee, CA is Tahoe's answer to the British Columbia Backcountry Ski Lodge. Read more about the Frog Lake Huts Here.
Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and Certified Cross-Country Ski Coach, Martin Benes performing a Glute Bridge.
Backcountry skiing is a challenging sport. In addition to the aerobic component of skinning up mountains, there are the strength demands of carrying your equipment. Skiing down challenges our leg strength, trunk control, and for longer runs, our aerobic system. Add this to the fact that backcountry ski days can be long and often at high elevation, and you've got a sport that requires some serious fitness!
Having good backcountry skiing strength fundamentals will give us better control on our skis and also allow for faster approaches and climbing. So, what muscle groups should we focus on to make the greatest gains toward fitness for backcountry skiing?
Leg strength is an obvious answer, but skiing requires strength in almost every muscle group of our bodies. Often, the first days on skis each season make our quads sore, but performance and injury prevention in backcountry skiing requires more than just quadricep and hamstring exercises.
Core stability and strength are essential to backcountry skiing fitness. Having control over our core makes us stronger and also helps with injury prevention. It also makes our bodies better at withstanding long days of ski touring with backpacks and ski gear strapped to our feet.
The core is more than just abs. it actually includes hips, glutes, lats, and chest. Let's dive into exercises that will help you prepare for backcountry ski season by building critical leg and core strength without weights or going to the gym.
In the following 5 Essential Bodyweight Exercises for Backcountry Skiers and Snowboarders, we'll show you how to build core strength, leg strength, upper body strength and balance to get the most out of your ski season - without going to a gym! The video demonstrates the exercises and the techniques and benefits to each exercise are described below.
Lie flat on your back. Put your arms straight up in the air and bring your legs up so that your hips, knees, and ankles are all at 90 degrees. Keeping your low back pressed into the ground (You can visualize pressing a piece of paper into the ground) extend opposite arm and leg, reaching one arm overhead and pushing the foot away from your body.
Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and Certified Cross-Country Ski Coach, Martin Benes Performing a Three Way Lunge.
Stand tall with your chest open. Put your hands on your hips. Shift your weight onto one leg. With the unweighted leg, reach the foot out in front as far as you can, squatting on your standing leg as you do so. Come back to center, without putting your foot down, and stand tall again. Then, without putting the foot down, reach out to the side with your foot, repeating a squat motion. Come back to center. Then reach behind you with the unweighted foot, squatting again on the standing leg. Keep your hips level throughout and your torso tall.
Targets: Posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, back) development, core stability, hip strength.
Lie flat on your back with your feet flat on the ground and your knees hip width apart. Touch the backs of your heels with your hands. Pressing through the heels of your feet, lift your hips towards the sky/ceiling. Once your body is in a straight line from your shoulders to knees, pull one knee towards your chest and then the other. Then slowly lower yourself back down to the ground.
Start in a high plank position. Shoulders stacked over your wrists, and on the balls of your feet. Lower yourself down until your elbows are about 90 degrees. Then push up and as you come up, open into a side plank on one side. Come back to center and lower yourself down again. Push Up and open onto the other side.
Stand tall with your chest open. Have a slight bend in your ankles and knees. Put your hands on your hips or clasp them together in front of your chest. Step back with one leg and cross that leg behind you. As you do this, squat down and place the back leg behind and to the outside of the front foot. Press up and back to center. Repeat on the other side.
Time Required: roughly 10 minutes per session
Sessions per week to see results: 2-3 Sessions per week (year-round or in the months leading to ski season).
Each Session: Do 8-12 repetitions per side for each exercise. Do the full sequence of exercises 2-3 times total.
Rest: Give yourself 15-20 seconds of rest after each exercise and 1-2 minutes after you complete 1 round of exercises.
Progression: After you’ve done the workout 4-5 times, shift to doing each exercise by time. Start with 30 seconds on-time and 30 seconds of recovery time. Build up to 1 minute of on-time and 15-20 seconds of recovery time. If you already have a strength program, I’d still encourage you to add these exercises into your routine.
At first these exercises might feel challenging. But within a few weeks, you’ll start to develop a really solid strength foundation. Once you get to doing 1 minute on, you’ll also be developing some good aerobic capacity for skinning and longer days in the mountains. These exercises are a great foundation for backcountry ski strength. Combined with running, hiking, biking, and a solid plan, you’ll be ready to go for the first winter storms!
Martin Benes is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach and Certified Cross-Country Ski Coach. He is the Owner and Founder of MVB Coaching based in Truckee, California. As a sport coach for over 15 years specializing in endurance and mountain sports, Martin has coached multiple Olympians, Paralympians and active people from all walks of life. Martin enjoys running, biking, backcountry skiing, and cross-country skiing.
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The interior of the Ted R Hut at the Frog Lake Huts complex in Truckee, CA near Castle Peak. Photo: Zeb Blais.
The Frog Lake Backcountry Ski Huts in Truckee are a paradigm shift for backcountry hut skiing in California. These are the first remote, backcountry huts to offer running water, flush toilets, propane stoves and a commercial kitchen to backcountry skiers and riders in California.
Take a look inside with our video tour! This video showcases the Albert M Rockwood Hut, one of the newly constructed backcountry ski huts at Frog Lake in Truckee, California. The Rockwood Hut has bunks for 8 people and has a long list of amenities that make it much more comfortable than other backcountry hut skiing options in the area, such as the Sierra Club Huts.
Please reach out with any questions on the Frog Lake Huts and backcountry skiing in the Truckee, North Lake Tahoe Area! We're happy to answer any questions you may have and can produce additional video content if we get enough requests. Happy Backcountry Skiing this season!
The Truckee Donner Land Trust built and manages the Frog Lake Huts in Truckee and their website has additional information about the complex.
]]>The Newly renovated Eschenbach Backcountry House. This building was originally built in the 1930s and now houses a full commercial kitchen, a fireplace, sitting areas and a map room for planning out the next day’s backcountry skiing. Photo: Zeb Blais.
This week marked the grand opening of the Truckee Donner Land Trust Frog Lake Huts. And what a week to open! Massive Sierra storms are on the way and the backcountry skiing at the Frog Lake Huts is going to be off the charts. With 80” of snow from our last storm and more on the way, this will be an exciting spot to weather the storm!
We made a trip up to the Frog Lake Huts this week before the storm this week. We checked out the huts, get the lowdown on the amenities, and of course, to log some of the best backcountry skiing in Truckee! The huts are a fair way in, but that's what keeps the traffic down and the snow fresh.
There are a number of ways to get into the Frog Lake Huts. Options include Johnson Canyon, The I-80 Rest Area (you must get dropped off here or you WILL get a parking ticket) and Castle Peak. There are also some alternatives from Euer and Carpenter Valleys, that are a little more difficult to navigate.
One option to get into the Frog Lake Huts is via Johnson Canyon. This is a fairly direct approach, but still requires a fair amount of navigation and terrain management and is not an insignificant amount of distance or vertical gain.
Johnson Canyon Approach Stats:
Upon arrival, we were immediately struck by the layout. The old cabins from the 1930s had been renovated and are now home to communal cooking space for the compound and a caretaker cabin.
The Eschenbach Backcountry House is where the kitchen is located and boasts a full commercial kitchen. It also has a great living space for gathering groups, dining and planning your next day's backcountry skiing adventure.
The commercial kitchen inside the Eschenbach Backcountry House at the Frog Lake Huts in Truckee. Great meals will be prepared here! Photo: Zeb Blais.
Communal living space and dining room at the Eschenbach Backcountry House at the Frog Lake Huts in Truckee. Great meals will be consumed here! Photo: Zeb Blais.
The newly constructed huts have a modern design and are equipped with amenities that make them easily the most comfortable backcountry huts in Tahoe. Outside, they are corrugated metal, with lifted porches to allow for easy access, even on big snow years.
Hangin’ outside the new Morgan Hut Backcountry Ski Hut, with the Eschenbach Backcountry House in the background. Frog Lake Huts, Truckee, CA. Photo: Zeb Blais.
Inside, the new construction Frog Lake Huts are bright and modern. The floor plans range from the 4 bunk Morgan Hut with two double occupancy rooms, to the 8 person Rockwood Hut with two rooms of 4 bunks each, to the party house: The Ted R hut, with capacity for 8 in a large, open floor plan.
Inside the Ted R Backcountry Ski Hut. This hut has the largest capacity of the Frog Lake Huts, with bunks for 8 in a shared, open floor plan. Truckee, CA. Photo: Zeb Blais.
Inside one of the double occupancy rooms at the Morgan Backcountry Ski Hut. This hut has capacity for 4, with two mirrored rooms in this configuration. Photo: Zeb Blais.
The interior layout of the Rockwood Backcountry Hut. The Rockwood sports two mirrored 4 bunk rooms with a bathroom and mud room joining the two sides. This hut has capacity for 8 like the Ted R, but is broken into two, 4 bunk rooms. Photo: Zeb Blais.
Ok, enough about the huts already! What about the terrain?! Frog Lake Huts are situated within striking distance of a huge variety of terrain. Right out the door, there is serious, exposed, and cliffy terrain that requires deep, stable snow to ride.
The Eschenbach Backcountry House perched above Frog Lake and below Frog Lake Cliffs in Truckee. The new Frog Lake Huts are obscured by the trees in this picture. Photo: Zeb Blais.
There is easy access to the open bowl skiing on the north side of Castle Peak. This terrain is serious avalanche terrain and has been the site of many avalanche accidents, including this one in 2019.
Low angle tree skiing options exist around the hut in multiple directions when avalanche hazard prevents travel in more avalanche prone terrain. On days with large storms, you can still find reasonable terrain to ski if the avalanche hazard is elevated. Be dialed on your navigation skills and make sure you have the education to understand the hazards!
There are some really LONG runs available. From Peak 8428 just above the huts, you can drop 2,000' into Carpenter Valley through old growth forest! There are some younger trees in certain areas, but there's a ton a great tree skiing to be had - not bad for Truckee backcountry skiing!
All in all, there is some great terrain to be skied out here! We can't wait until it's our turn to spend some time at the huts!
Skinning to the ridge above Frog Lake Backcountry Ski Huts before the storm. Photo: Zeb Blais.
We're getting fired up for some of soft new snow with winter storms on the horizon! But as they say, you gotta know before you go! We're hosting a live webinar to get you dialed in on using digital mapping tools to plan backcountry ski trips.
Our live webinar is all about how to plan a backcountry ski trip with our favorite software tool, Caltopo. We'll be live with Caltopo's Meghan Twohig and Blackbird Mountain Guides founder and IFMGA / American Mountain Guide, Zeb Blais, to deliver a 1-hour webinar on using Caltopo to use digital maps to plan trips.
The presentation will be focused on backcountry skiers and splitboarders with minimal digital mapping experience. The presentation will run approximately one hour and there will be time for questions and answers.
Topics covered will include:
How all of this applies to backcountry skiing and planning a trip using digital mapping tools:
Ski touring in the Monashees of British Columbia. In remote ranges like this it’s critical to have a solid time plan to get back to the lodge with some daylight to spare! Photo: Zeb Blais/Blackbird Mountain Guides
Trying to figure out what time to start your ski tour to avoid the heat of the day? Need to figure out a turnaround time? Don't want to be late for dinner? Or how about this for a novel idea: you just want to have a good estimate of how long your backcountry trip is going to take? These are all great reasons to calculate the travel time for your backcountry ski trip or mountaineering objective.
Here is a process and some tools you can use to estimate the length of your backcountry ski tour based on the elevation and distance of your trip. Before we can estimate the time a ski tour or mountaineering trip will take, we need to pick an objective and plan the route.
Regardless of whether you want to ski Mount Shasta or simply get a few laps in at your local backcountry zone, you need to pick an objective that makes aligns with the conditions and your team. Be sure to check your local avalanche center and used a checklist (the AIARE framework, etc.) to make sure your objective is reasonable based on the avalanche hazard for the day.
Before you can estimate the amount of time your trip will require, you’ll need to create a route. Start by researching your area of interest in guidebooks, topographical maps, online forums, websites, and by talking to people who know the area well. Once you have a general idea, draw the route using an app like Caltopo. Create your route in sections based on how you plan to travel in the terrain.
Here are a few great ways to calculate the time your tour will take. For each method, you'll need to know the distance, elevation and what type of travel you'll be doing for each leg of the trip. This can be hiking uphill, hiking downhill, skiing downhill, bushwhacking or, you can even set up your own custom travel rate once you're familiar with the process.
This is the OG method of estimating travel times. It all began with, who else, but a Swiss Mountain Guide named Werner Munter. This simple formula is remarkably accurate at estimating times. You can also calibrate it based on how fast you travel, so it provides more accurate estimates specific to you. The formula for the Munter time calculation is:
For most people typical Munter rates for the Munter Time Calculation are as follows:
To calculate your time for the route above you would have 4 sections: red, green, purple and blue. Let's break it down by section:
The Travel Plan feature from Caltopo is the fastest and easiest way to calculate travel time. Using this method we can calculate the travel time without breaking the trip up into legs and simply draw it as one continuous loop. By setting the route in the direction of travel, Caltopo knows when we’re travelling up and when we’re travelling down, and can calculate the time for the entire route all at once. As shown in the screenshot below, the time calculated by “Travel Plan” for Ski Time is the same as what we calculated using the manual Munter Time Calculation above.
This feature is only available on the pro subscription. Another thing to note is that it calculates travel times so quickly that you might miss out on terrain features you would have otherwise noticed while scouring the map for ups and downs. But I've never heard of anyone complaining that it's too efficient!
Our entire route, this time shown in orange, can be calculated all at once with the Travel Plan feature in Caltopo Pro. Photo: Zeb Blais / Blackbird Mountain Guides
Be careful with this feature, it makes a difference which direction the route was drawn! If you drew your line opposite the direction of travel (you started drawing it at the destination and finished the line at the starting point) you can get the calculation back on track by reversing the direction of the route. To do this, select your route, choose “Modify” then select “Reverse.” This will switch the direction of travel and will use the proper Munter rates for each uphill and downhill section.
GuidePace is a simple and inexpensive mobile app that can save a ton of time crunching numbers. Basically, you give it the distance, elevation gain or loss and the Munter rate and it gives you the time it should take. The Munter Time Calculation is simple math, but this app makes it almost fool proof. If you work in good ‘ol miles and vertical feet, it allows you to enter imperial units as well and just sends you back a time estimate. GuidePace can also compute 3rd/4th class travel times and technical (5th Class) climbing times if you have an estimate of how fast you climb pitch lengths in those respective terrain types.
Yep...GuidePace really is this simple. It works in imperial or metric units (who uses those anyway?!) to estimate travel time in various terrain from hiking and ski touring to 3rd/4th Class Scrambling, to pitched out 5th class climbing. It's an inexpensive mobile app that is simple and easy! Photo: Zeb Blais / Blackbird Mountain Guides
In summary, we have 3 great options for estimating travel time for backcountry trips and ski tours. The classic Munter Time Calculation, the Caltopo Travel Plan and the GuidePace mobile app. When you plan the total time your trip will take, make sure to add in time for breaks, layer changes and transitions (skinning to skiing, skinning to crampons, crampons to skiing, etc). Keep track of how long you stop when you do stop, cause maintenance breaks and transitions will eat up a lot of time if you're not diligent to stay on track!
Good luck out there and let us know how your trip planning goes!
Gratuitous South America backcountry powder skiing photo. Made possible by the power of the Munter Time Calculation and well well-planned backcountry trips. Photo: Zeb Blais / Blackbird Mountain Guides
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The Frog Lake Huts in Truckee have opened! Check out our new blog post with current pictures and descriptions of the new huts!
The Frog Lake Huts are a series of backcountry-skier-designed, European alps influenced huts that have significantly raised the bar for backcountry lodging in Tahoe. Situated on the east side of Castle Peak, the Frog Lake huts provide easy access to some of the best skiing in the Tahoe backcountry. You’ll ski untracked runs in some of our favorite terrain including Red Mountain, Carpenter Ridge, and Frog Lake Cliffs.
The huts were designed, built, and managed by the Truckee Donner Land Trust with a focus on backcountry skiing and splitboarding. Offering a modern, comfortable option for overnight trips in the Tahoe backcountry, they most closely resemble huts in the French Alps. Without taking anything away from other local huts, Frog Lake is less about the camping and more about the riding!
Constructed in 2021, the huts host a variety of lodging options based on the group size and amenities you're looking for. Gas stoves, comfortable sleeping pads, solar powered LED lighting and device charging are incredible creature comforts, but the real game changer is the hot and cold running water and even flush toilets. And what backcountry-skier-designed hut would be complete without a drying area for skins, boots, and gear?
Each hut has a similar layout and was designed with the needs of skiers in mind, providing space for skis, gear, and drying wet boots and apparel. Here is the lowdown on the differences between the huts:
Sound like fun? Blackbird Mountain Guides is offering select dates for guided skiing and riding at the Frog Lake Huts this winter! We'll take care of the logistics and cooking, all you have to do is ski! Our trips come complete with après ski appetizers, and fresh cooked dinners and breakfasts. It's the perfect way to spend a few days exploring new lines and skiing fresh snow deep in the Tahoe backcountry!
]]>Backcountry skiing in the huge terrain of the Italian Alps. The Alps are one of the most magnificent ranges for backcountry skiing, boasting huge terrain and often incredible snow quality. Photo: Zeb Blais.
How do I start Backcountry skiing? This is a common question for many seasoned resort riders. Lucky, the answer is not as daunting as it might seem.
Backcountry skiing can be an intimidating sport to get into. There are a lot of hazards, a lot of unknowns, and a lot of gear. This post will give you a framework to get started. Stay safe and experience the incredible sense of accomplishment and pure joy that comes from making deep, untouched turns in the backcountry with your friends by following these guidelines. We'll refer to both skiing and snowboarding simply as skiing, so no offense to the splitboarders in the crowd, we're all just snow-sliders in the end!
A backcountry skier enjoying some perfect Japanese powder skiing in Hokkaido, Japan’s northern powder skiing paradise. Photo: Zeb Blais.
Step one: be or become a great resort skier. The backcountry is not the place to learn how to ski. There are many challenges that don't exist at ski resorts, such as variable snow surfaces including breakable crust, "schmoo," and the surface we all pray for - bottomless powder! By the time you hit the backcountry you should be an advanced to expert level resort skier. There is no ski patrol to scoop you up in the backcountry if you get injured, so the golden rule is don't fall out there!
Use the power of the chair lift to get your reps in and improve your skills. In the backcountry, you're going to spend 75% of your time, or more, going uphill. You're much better off developing your skiing skills by actually skiing, rather than hiking up hill. As an "expert" backcountry skier, I still love riding the resort for the simplicity of enjoying the descent without exerting the time and effort to hike to the top.
Backcountry skiers and splitboarders skinning in some fresh powder in the Lake Tahoe backcountry. Photo: Zeb Blais.
"Ok, ok, I'm a great skier! How do I get into the backcountry already!?" Once you feel ready to tackle the snow surfaces and terrain the backcountry is going to throw at you, it's time to get out there. The easiest way to make the leap with confidence is to rent some gear and take an Introduction to Backcountry course from a guide service. These programs are the fastest way to start building the skills and confidence needed to adventure in the backcountry safely and in style. You'll learn:
Now, with your first tour under your belt, it's time to dig deeper. The Intro to Backcountry course just provided you with a great understanding of how it all works, from the gear to the skiing back down. Now you can take the reins and continue to progress. If you plan to ski in the backcountry on your own, without a guide, you need to understand the hazards.
The hazard that most resort skiers are unfamiliar with is avalanche. Start understanding what avalanche terrain is and what makes a snowpack unstable (or more prone to avalanche) with these simple online tutorials:
Take an AIARE Avalanche Level 1 Course. An AIARE (American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education) Level 1 Avalanche Course will provide you with a foundation to understand mountain weather, a layered mountain snowpack, and small-team avalanche rescue. It also provides a framework for making good decisions in the backcountry. Make sure you pick a provider with a solid curriculum with experienced instructors that fits your schedule. The Blackbird AIARE 1 Avalanche Course provides an online course with multimedia content, quizzes and exercises that allow you to learn the material on your own time and the instructors are AIARE and AMGA trained and have decades of combined experience in the Lake Tahoe backcountry. There are plenty of options for other AIARE avalanche course providers on AIARE’s website, avtraining.org.
Students performing a snowpack test during an AIARE 1 Avalanche Course in the Truckee / Lake Tahoe Backcountry. Photo: Zeb Blais.
Take an AIARE Avalanche Rescue Course. We avoid getting into avalanches by making conservative decisions based on the decision making framework from a Level 1 avalanche course and commitment to continued avalanche education, but accidents still happen. And when they happen, they happen fast. Once a person is buried, statistics show you have less than 15 minutes to locate and dig them out before the chances of survival drop exponentially.
Mentored practice with multiple scenarios in varied and realistic terrain is the best way to dial in your rescue skills. Blackbird offers the only lift accessed Avalanche Rescue Course in North America, which provides students with more scenarios in more realistic terrain during each course. The last thing you want to be doing when your partner is buried is wondering what to do!
Continue your avalanche education - every year! There are no avalanche “experts” and understanding the phenomenon of avalanches is a lifelong pursuit. Seek mentors to tour with and make it a point to refresh your skills each season. Here are a few simple ways to build skills and continue your avalanche education:
Expand the terrain you ride in. Try new routes and travel to new snowpacks. Hire a guide to take you into terrain that pushes your limits and builds your skill sets. Reach out to guide services with questions and ideas. Guides we love helping skiers and climbers build the skills they need to achieve their objectives and custom programs that are tailored to your team focus on the skills you need and are fun for guides too!
One final thought as you venture out into the backcountry: As you gain experience, keep in mind that uncertainty with weather, the snowpack or your group can be managed by choosing simpler terrain! If in doubt, keep scaling down the terrain until you feel confident that you and your team can manage the hazards that you’re exposing yourselves to. Terrain choice is the variable that is always in your control!
We love working with new skiers and riders, so please reach out with any suggestions or comments!
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