Golden Alpine Holiday’s Meadow Lodge Ski Week

March 7-14, 2025

While it’s been a very difficult snow year for the Canadian Rockies, I’ve been SO lucky with my lodge-based ski weeks. It was looking very grim as we flew into Meadow Lodge on Friday. It was a very low snow pack, with lots of unskiable sun-baked slopes. The previous group were sequestered to north facing terrain only.

After we flew in and unpacked the food, our Camp Manager Gail Crowe-swords set up a companion rescue scenario for us with multiple avalanche burials. After that, we set out in a few different directions to get the lay of the land, and to dig some pits. That night, the sky clouded over and the snow started to fall. Hallelujah!

This is one of four ski lodge trips that the Rocky Mountain Section of the Alpine Club of Canada has organized this year. I was the Camp Manager for a week at Kokanee Glacier, and the other two camps were held at Snowfall Lodge and Amiskwi Lodge. The season will finish with a camp at Campbell Icefields at the end of March.

A big thanks to everyone who submitted photos and videos. For an overview of our week, see my video.

Gear

Backcountry skis, boots, poles and skins. All avalanche gear including transceiver, shovel and probe. A variety of layers and glove options. A variety of outerwear including gore-tex shells for jacket and pants.

As this is an Alpine Club of Canada – Rocky Mountain Section trip, all participants must have their AST2 (Avalanche Safety Training Level 2), plus relevant experience and good fitness.

SKIING BELOW THE HUT

The day after we flew in, the snow FINALLY came. After such a long dry spell, we were extremely fortunate for the new snow. I believe we received over 60 cm of storm snow over two days. While this is awesome for powder skiing in the trees, the low visibility and High avalanche danger made access to the alpine very limited.

Have no fear – the below lodge skiing is divine! We spent several days skiing various runs including Back Door, Front Door (when conditions allowed), Waterfall and Treasure Chest. There’s a short pillow run between Waterfall and Treasure Chest that I renamed “Water Chest Nuts”. In the video, Christina is flying down this run. The snow was best described as buttery goodness 🙂 So smooth.

We had a really bad sun-crust on any south-facing slopes, so we kept to all north-facing slopes. As the storm progressed and the sun crust got buried, we were able to do some runs on select slopes, but we had to be careful. We dug several south-facing pits, and tested stability before venturing. Regardless, the sun crust made most south facing slopes just not a lot of fun to ski, so we stayed away.

For those who don’t mind a LONG slog back up to the hut, there was sublime skiing to be found on Cheese Fondue, Chocolate Fondue, and Double-Chocolate Fondue. The game was to see who would go back to the lodge first, and thus break trail. We call this “skiing on credit” because you lose the elevation first, and have to gain it all back at the end of the day. The trick is to leave enough in the tank to haul your tired butt back to the lodge.

Unfortunately, even skiing in the trees does not guarantee safety. While we were in Meadow, two skiers in the Rockies lost their lives – one in Kananaskis Country, the other near Lake Louise. Both were in the trees. We saw lots of avalanches in and near the trees as well. After the second big storm, an avalanche came down and covered the uptrack in the Fondue area.

Here are some glory shots from the amazing tree skiing. Check out the video at the top for more action shots.

SKIING ABOVE THE HUT

On our first day, after the companion rescue scenario, I went with Gail to check out the runs above the hut. We stayed below Paradise Ridge, and found a good spot to dig a couple of pits. There were two layers causing concern, and we found them both.

After touring around, and not finding anything better, we decided to return to our uptrack and skied Elevator Shaft. This turned out to be so good, that we skinned back up for another run before heading back to the Lodge.

The day after the storm broke, a group of us headed above the hut to check out the alpine. Wowzers! It was so beautiful, but natural avalanches were everywhere. We stayed to the ridgetops, and generally just toured around and enjoyed the views. We found one fun little slope called Short Sucker (the trees in the photo above). With absolutely nothing better to ski above the hut, we lapped that about five times.

CUPOLA MOUNTAIN SUMMIT & BACKSIDE TREE SKIING

Two days after the storm broke, we had enough confidence in the snow pack to venture up Paradise Ridge. This was dealt with very seriously. First, we had a very good morning meeting, where we discussed all the hazards. Not everyone was keen to ski the alpine, and they elected to ski trees below the lodge. They had an amazing day.

The rest of the crew headed to Paradise Ridge. Before ascending, we had beta from a variety of sources as to the best low-angle ascent in these very touchy conditions. The team dug a pit, and did more on-site assessments. The skin track up was very conservative, and we ascended one at a time with no incidents

Once on Paradise Ridge, we split into two groups. One group headed for the run called Better than Sex. It was pretty awesome, but they found they preferred Paradise Found. Both of these runs are in the trees, with a long haul back up to the ridge.

Four of us (Pete, Lynn, John and myself) continued up to Cupola Mountain, which is the highest mountain in the Esplanade Range of the Selkirk Mountains. It sits at 2,632 m / 8,635 ft. As we gained Paradise Ridge fairly far north, we traversed the entire ridge to get to the base of Cupola at the south end. The day before, Pete saw a guided group from Sunrise at the summit, so we knew A) it was doable and B) there would be some sort of skin track near the summit. While we were only able to use a couple hundred meters of their skin track, it was still nice to get a bit of a break.

The summit block is a short boot pack, with 360 degree views. We had the sun come and go, but did manage to get some good views.

The sun came out when we needed it the most, and that was the descent. We skied the iconic Peak to Creek run, which was probably the sweetest run of the week! John and Lynn headed back to the hut, while me and Pete did a short lap on Paradise Found – just to say I did it 🙂

PINE MARTEN

We had a Pine Martin at the lodge, who was very adventurous. He got into the outdoor fridge on the first day – not ideal. He made for great entertainment all week.

GPS Tracks and Data

I normally provide maps and GPS tracks. I have a Gaia Folder with GPS tracks for the week, but I can only share via email for some reason. If you’re keen, drop me an email and I’ll send it to you. Otherwise, all runs are pretty self-explanatory. GAH provides the Boon Maps app with all the runs listed, and there’s a good map at the Lodge.

Wrap Up

None of these amazing lodge trips would be doable without the Rocky Mountain Section, and more specifically, our Camps Committee Chair Steve Fedyna. He books all the lodges and keeps the Camps Committee organized. We have lodges booked into 2029, which is what you need to do in order to get a spot. These trips are all self-catered and self-guided, and the number of lodges that allow us to do this is getting smaller and smaller.

Every camp has a Camp Manager, who is responsible for selecting the participants, and organizing everything prior like meals and gear. While at Camp, the Manager hosts a daily morning meeting where we discuss the prior day’s snow pack and any avalanche activity. We discuss our ‘mindset’ which will dictate our decision-making for the day. For example, we were in “Assessment” and “Persistent Slab” mindset when we arrived, but then we added on “Storm Storm” to our mindset. It’s a valuable tool. There is a lot of pressure on the Camp Manager, even with a group of very experienced skiers. Gail has been a Camp Manager several times, and did a great job. Thanks buddy!

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Alisen