Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010

Postby Tony Crocker » Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:31 pm

Mustang is a very impressive operation, and in some ways this was my overall best snowcat experience since I'm been coming to Canada since 1997. Pickup is about 30 miles west of Revelstoke on the TransCanada Hwy, then 1/2 hour by truck or bus and usually an hour by snowcat to their lodge at 5,700 feet in the Monashees. 4 of us got the last minute deal for the last 3 days of a 5-day tour, so we were taken in by snowmobile.

It snowed all morning the first day, but without wind and visibility was usually adequate with drop offs around tree line ~7,000 feet. The reported 3 inches new snow topped off the "settled powder" base nicely. The next 2 days were sunny and many of the runs started in the alpine as high as 8,200. The Monashees drop into deep canyons and last fall's SKI Magazine article boasts of a 6,000 vertical run. That would take unusual conditions for the snow to be good, but on the 2nd and 3rd days we had a run of 3,500 and there were several more of 2,000+. They have an extra cat to pickup after the 3,500 run to keep us moving. We were also skiing a much higher percentage of steep terrain than my other snowcat trips as they said the snowpack was very stable.

Another strong point at Mustang is that they use all the daylight hours they have to maximize skiing, figuring (reasonably in my view) that we get a rest on each snowcat ride and should thus be able to handle a longer day. We set out at 8:30AM and and the sun is just coming over the eastern peaks before the first drop, yielding photogenic alpenglow views. Skiing ends 4:30- 5PM. The result was our group skied 15,600 (missing the first 2 runs while we were doing transceiver drills), 18,100 and 17,100 on the 3 days. These are the first, third and sixth highest totals of my 39 (so far) snowcat ski days. The people on the 5 day tour thought the day before I arrived might have been 20K.

These 3 days were the first test of my new Head Jimi skis. As Adam predicted they did very well in the alpine. They like to make big turns and with modest sidecut and some rocker they will plane on but not break through crust. The Jimis also handled the steeps well. In steeps they will sink into the powder some and it's easy to smear turns if necessary to control speed. In trees it took more effort for shorter turns to stay in control. But there were only a couple of runs in thick enough trees for this to be an issue during these 3 days.

Many things went right on this tour, the weather, snow stability and a very compatible group (which included someone who was a year ahead of me in junior high school!) in terms of ski ability. Only the face shot day at Chatter Creek 2 years ago was better. And Mustang probably has its fair share of those as it's close to the old weather station on Mt. Copeland that gets 600 inches of snow per year. The measured base at the lodge was 3 1/2 meters. Other evidence of the deep snowpack was that logging clear cuts were open powderfields with just scattered indications of the huge tree stumps I have seen at other Canadian cat/heli places.
http://bestsnow.net
Ski Records
Season length: 21 months, Nov. 29, 2010 - July 2, 2012
Days in one year: 80 from Nov. 29, 2010 - Nov. 17, 2011
Season vertical: 1,497K in 2016-17
Season powder: 291K in 2011-12
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010

Postby Tony Crocker » Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:12 pm

Pics from 1/25:

End of 1,900 vertical first run in good snow but flat light
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A couple of the steeper drop-ins:
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Skiers on the above run viewed from below:
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A nearly buried clear-cut:
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Late in the day:
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http://bestsnow.net
Ski Records
Season length: 21 months, Nov. 29, 2010 - July 2, 2012
Days in one year: 80 from Nov. 29, 2010 - Nov. 17, 2011
Season vertical: 1,497K in 2016-17
Season powder: 291K in 2011-12
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010

Postby Tony Crocker » Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:43 pm

Pics from 1/26:

This is how early we board the first cat at Mustang:
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And here's the view when we get out for our first run:
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Emerging from the trees:
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On to the alpine in the nice weather:
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One of our morning runs started with a traverse just below the rocks on the distant peak:
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The Monashees plunge into deep valleys ~5,000 feet below:
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Gladiator, long, steep and NW facing, was one of everybody's favorite runs:
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More alpine delights:
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This snowfield of ~1,000 vertical reminded me of the glacier run at Eagle Pass Heli last year:
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Our highest drop at 8,200 feet. You can drop either side of the saddle below and keep going as long as the snow is good:
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More pics as we skied the 3,500 vertical of Love Me Longtimes with pickup from a spare cat so we don't have to wait:
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http://bestsnow.net
Ski Records
Season length: 21 months, Nov. 29, 2010 - July 2, 2012
Days in one year: 80 from Nov. 29, 2010 - Nov. 17, 2011
Season vertical: 1,497K in 2016-17
Season powder: 291K in 2011-12
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010

Postby Tony Crocker » Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:57 pm

View at first drop on 1/27:
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Not as many pics, but the weather and snow were just as good as the previous day:
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We skied a steeper line on the snowfield today:
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View of previous day's tracks on Love Me Longtimes in gully lower center:
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So we traversed left for more untracked:
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The mountains (including Mt. Copeland) on the far side of the deep valley are within Eagle Pass' tenure.
http://bestsnow.net
Ski Records
Season length: 21 months, Nov. 29, 2010 - July 2, 2012
Days in one year: 80 from Nov. 29, 2010 - Nov. 17, 2011
Season vertical: 1,497K in 2016-17
Season powder: 291K in 2011-12
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby rfarren » Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:14 pm

beautiful!
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby q » Mon Feb 08, 2010 3:33 am

Stunning photos Tony.
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby Harvey44 » Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:10 am

Nice, nice photography. Love those pics into that steep chute.

Is this a new camera? The color seems much better than some of the older stuff.
Harvey Road: http://NYSkiBlog.com/
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby jasoncapecod » Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:13 am

thanks for the great pix..
i'm planing on going there for my 50th or 49th
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby EMSC » Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:46 pm

q wrote:Stunning photos Tony.


ditto. Especially, Pic #2 from Jan 26th = awesome
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby rsmith » Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:34 pm

Amazing shots - you definitely got your money's worth on this one.
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics add

Postby Tony Crocker » Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:27 pm

The camera was repaired after Memorial Day 2009 but before Mammoth closing weekend and the dog hikes in the eastern Sierra June 13-14.

rsmith wrote:you definitely got your money's worth on this one.

Especially with the 25% discount for booking just 2 weeks ahead. :mrgreen:

jasoncapecod wrote:i'm planning on going there for my 50th or 49th

Some of you may recall that the pics from Chatter Creek 2 years ago were just as good and with much deeper snow. So there's the usual luck (good or bad) involved with weather/conditions in this year's reports. Nonetheless I think you're planning for the right place.

In comparison with Chatter Creek/Island Lake:
1) Chatter Creek is primarily above tree line, unique among cat operators. But Mustang and Island Lake have their fair share as shown here. The numerous operations between Revelstoke and Rossland have minimal skiing above tree line.
2) We weren't in the trees that much but Mustang's rate to be better than Chatter's based upon the Monashees' reputation. Island Lake's trees (some judiciously gladed as they are on private land) are excellent if the snow is good quality.
3) Chatter's topography lends itself to slightly longer cat rides for a lot of runs just over 1,000 vertical. Over a full day this adds up to 10-12K vert of skiing, based now upon 16 days of skiing there. Max day was the waist deep perfection of Feb. 3, 2008, still only 14K. That's quite a disparity vs. the 15-18K that Mustang and Island Lake deliver fairly routinely.
4) Island Lake is efficient because its terrain is more compact. There's an obvious downside there because the place can get tracked out if it doesn't snow for a couple of weeks. Mustang compensates by stretching the ski hours. Chatter Creek can't do that at the end of the day because its remote location requires helicopter evacuation in case of emergency. Chatter has backed up its start to 8:45AM but they could probably go half an hour earlier if they wanted.
5) Chatter has safest insurance against adverse weather with that glacier up to 9,800 feet, the only cat terrain in B.C. that was not rained upon during the January 2005 Tropical Punch. Mustang cancelled/rain-checked 2 tours during that time and I heard at the time that Island Lake was closed for 3 weeks.
6) The 600 inch snowfall average at nearby Mt. Copeland is likely to be a frequent advantage for Mustang. It's not exactly the same place, but the 3 1/2 meter base at Mustang's lodge in late January is the highest reported by any ski operation in western Canada at that time. The snowfall advantage can play out in many ways. The super deep days like I had in 2008 are more frequent. The small refresher storms are all that's needed to keep cat skiing high quality, and Mustang's location in the western part of the Monashees rates to get more of those. Finally, with more snow terrain gets covered earlier and snowcat roads can be built into the far reaches of the tenure more consistently.
http://bestsnow.net
Ski Records
Season length: 21 months, Nov. 29, 2010 - July 2, 2012
Days in one year: 80 from Nov. 29, 2010 - Nov. 17, 2011
Season vertical: 1,497K in 2016-17
Season powder: 291K in 2011-12
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby kingslug » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:31 am

Nice pics...you touring alone??
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby Tony Crocker » Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:01 pm

Nice pics...you touring alone??

Yes, but the cat skiing lodges were 9 of the 14 days and there's always a lot of cameraderie at those places. The main thing to watch out for in traveling alone up there is the driving. Break it up and avoid long stretches after dark. Very little of it is cruise control interstate as we often have here.
http://bestsnow.net
Ski Records
Season length: 21 months, Nov. 29, 2010 - July 2, 2012
Days in one year: 80 from Nov. 29, 2010 - Nov. 17, 2011
Season vertical: 1,497K in 2016-17
Season powder: 291K in 2011-12
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby kingslug » Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:45 pm

A couple of years ago I went to panorama and KH. The driving was the scariest part..just me and the logging trucks..either up my ass or creating a whiteout in front of me. It got so bad trying to get to KH that I turned around and went to pan....Great time though as it snowed every day.
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Re: Mustang Powder Snowcat, B.C. Jan. 25-27, 2010, pics added

Postby Tony Crocker » Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:13 pm

Actually Hwy 93/95 Golden/Radium/Invermere/Fairmont/Cranbrook is one of the easier interior B.C. roads. Very straight as it's in a glacier-cut U-shaped valley. The east-west routes 1 and 3 that cross the mountains are tougher. And Rossland/Nelson/Nakusp/ferry crossing/Revelstoke is exhausting. Allow lots of time in that area. Garry Klassen warned me about the driving when I first started going up there.
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Ski Records
Season length: 21 months, Nov. 29, 2010 - July 2, 2012
Days in one year: 80 from Nov. 29, 2010 - Nov. 17, 2011
Season vertical: 1,497K in 2016-17
Season powder: 291K in 2011-12
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