Valkyr Outpost Lodge Backcountry Skiing

Jan 29 – Feb 5, 2023

The Outpost is one of three lodges owned by Valkyr Adventures, located in the Valkyr Range of the Southern Selkirk mountains. Nestled at the base of Mount Lequereux, the lodge is also referred to as LQ.

Like most backcountry ski lodges, this is a fly in/fly out lodge. Unlike heliskiing, the helicopter drops us off and picks us up one week later. We ski tour on our own power for the week. We were a self-guided and self-catered group, however fully guided and catered groups can be booked, which is a real treat but more expensive.

The Outpost Lodge recently underwent a major renovation and addition, with several new bedrooms, bathrooms and storage areas added. The lodge has private bedrooms, three bathrooms, and two indoor showers. There is also a sauna, with a water bucket shower.

This trip was booked through the Rocky Mountain Section of the Alpine Club of Canada, and was organized by the very competent Gail Crowe-Swords. I met Gail two years ago at the 2021 ACC Mount Mummery General Mountaineering Camp. Gail was a volunteer leader, and I was a participant. Selecting people to come on these ski weeks is not easy, and I have to give it to Gail for bringing together twelve of the most fun and well-suited people. The group naturally split out into skill and speed levels, while the après ski food and banter was the best I’ve ever had.

Outpost Lodge

The Outpost is a cozy, yet roomy lodge. The living room is spacious, with several sofas, and plenty of extra floor space to stretch or do puzzles.

The kitchen has a range and oven, plus another 4 burner cooktop. There is a prep area, and a serving counter. The full-size fridge was nice, and there was also a cold room with a full size deep freeze on the lower level.

The large table easily fit the 14 of us (12 participants, the custodian Jordan, and owner Martin). Downstairs were six bedrooms with single over double bunks, and two full bathrooms with showers.

While the Outpost Lodge has running water, and on-demand hot water, there was an issue with the pumps when we were there. I have to commend Jordan and Martin for giving it their full attention, and even managed to get the water running one day mid-week. Hydro systems in these mountain huts are finicky things. I don’t think I’ve ever spent a week anywhere without some issue popping up. When the problem was diagnosed, Martin flew out to buy parts, and then flew back in to fix it.

Meanwhile, Jordan the Custodian has his work cut out for him. He hauled about 150 litres of water up from the lake daily. Once Martin left, we helped with the water hauling.

Avalanche Awareness and Safety

Backcountry skiing is inherently dangerous, but even more so when the avalanche conditions are tricky. This has been a heinous snowpack year, with no signs of it getting any better. Even in the trees, we had Moderate avalanche conditions, and the alpine was a no go with ratings of Considerable and High.

To keep us on task and safe, Gail held morning safety briefings. We reviewed conditions from the day before, temperatures, and snow fall accumulation. We also reviewed the major snow problems we had, like wind slabs, deep slabs, and the deep persistent slab. To mitigate risk, we skied low angle terrain, and treed terrain. There were some fun looking ridges and alpine areas that stayed tantalizing out of reach. I’d rather stay alive to ski another day.

We also dug snow pits and analyzed the layers. This was a daily task as we got all kinds of weather from high winds at night, to a big dump of snow, to warming temperatures throughout the week. Terrain management was key, as was good communication. We all carried radios, and checked in at the top and bottom of every run.

Ski Areas

There are several main ski areas at Outpost. I got really spoiled at this lodge because most of the runs were within sight of the lodge. It would have been super easy to head in for lunch, but knowing me, once I get back to the lodge, I don’t want to leave again.

Do to high avalanche conditions, we mainly stayed to four areas – Koch Valley, Broom, Windy and the Machine.

Koch Valley

This was a gorgeous area that we saved for blue sky days as we needed good visibility. Mike and I skied here twice, and love it both times.

The first time, we ran laps from the col down through the trees to the first flat valley bottom. We had two groups in the area, and no matter where you were, we could hear the other group and keep in good communication.

Our second trip took us further afield, as we wrapped around the south east flank of Mount Lequereux. As we hauled higher and higher up the narrow ridge, it looked like we were so close to summiting. A quick map check dashed our hopes as this was only the false summit, with the summit being a ways away. Funnily, Gail and her group also attempted the same thing, and turned around dejected after consulting their location.

Tracks for the Koch Valley

Koch Valley – 1: Laps. Downloadable Tracks on Gaia.

Koch Valley – 2: Tour to Mount Lequereux. Downloadable Tracks on Gaia.

Mount Lequereux “Hot Flash Ridge” & “Hot Sex Trees”

Due to the strange combination of high avalanche danger, yet also a low snowpack, we spent a lot of time on the Mt. Lequereax ridge that leads down into treed runs. We could only descend a few hundred meters before the snow would crap out.

As the groups were spreading out along the ridge and the treed areas, we needed to create some Run names as the map just had big areas marked as “Broom” or “Windy”. We named our ridge “Hot Flash Ridge” because one of the women (cough, cough) was having hot flashes, and because some of the guys were having sympathetic hot flashes that had absolutely nothing to do with the elevation gain and pace. Nope!

The treed runs below the ridge were renamed “Hot Sex” trees, and I can’t for the life of me remember how we came up with that name. Probably because these tree runs were so good, they were almost orgasmic 🙂 Fluffy powder and nicely spaced trees. What’s not to love? As a bonus – the prevailing winds deposit fresh snow here almost daily, even if there is no new snow.

Hot Flash Ridge & Hot Sex Trees – Downloadable Tracks on Gaia.

Fail Days

Not everyday was sublime though. On day 3, we wanted to take the ridge down to Windy Lake. Unfortunately, the ridge only had snow along the top, and the descent off the ridge was steep and cliffy in spots. In a better snow year, this would not be a problem, but with our low snow year, the slopes down to the lake were icy and sketch.

Our group got split, with Mike, Bodgan and Kelly making their way all the way down to the lake. The rest of the group – Alisen, Lynn, John, Jim, Adrian and Doug – retreated back up the ridge for some some laps off Hot Flash Ridge. I’m including this because there is good skiing over here, just not for us.

Hot Mess – Downloadable Tracks on Gaia.

The other unfortunate day was when we skied the Broom area. You know it’s a bad day when Gail decides to do a puzzle instead of skiing. The Broom is a great ski area, we just hit it on a bad day. After several days of really cold (-15 to -25 Celsius), the temperature decided to dramatically heat up this day, which caused a few concerns. The lower elevation slopes were heating up, turning the lovely powder into heavy mush. I will admit to being spoiled by the light and fluffy cold pow we’d had the previous several days. We also had tree bombs going off as early as 11:30 am, which is not ideal in an already fragile snowpack. Broom is a great area, but just not the right day.

The Broom – Downloadable Tracks on Gaia.

Another fail was Mike’s skins! The front clip of Mike’s skin came off mid-week. Luckily it happened at the end of the day on our way back to the lodge. This gave the guys something to do, as they hunted around for possible replacement parts. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked until we got back to Ski Uphill in Canmore.

Outpost Lodge

All in, we had an absolutely fantastic time at the Outpost Lodge. Gail kept us on track and safe all week. We ate amazing meals that showcased people’s heritage and backgrounds. We had absolutely insanely good powder skiing, with a perfectly timed mid-week half-day rest.

I’d highly recommend the Outpost Lodge for anyone who wants to ski, without having to tour for an hour to access excellent terrain. Most days we were within sight of the lodge, and despite being out for hours, rarely travelled more than eight km.

A big thank you to Gail for organizing this trip, and for including Mike and me!

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Alisen