Last season, Dr.Goldfinger and Wolfgang set an unofficial goal of skiing to the top of, and skiing down all of the summits in the Trophy range near Clearwater. Success was had on Trophy itself, at 8455 feet, and its neighbor, Prospector Peak, at 7800 feet. Both trips were realized in good weather and with good powder snow. In marked contrast, a third trip, with the summit of 7600 foot Wolverine Peak as the goal, was met with crap snow and even worse weather. Massive and complete failure, along with shame and scorn, was the ultimate consequence. As a result, when the avy danger in the North Columbia bottomed out at low, redemption was on the Powder Wardens collective mind.

While fueling the sleds in Barrier, we scan the sky for weather and despite high clouds, we put the ceiling well above the 8000 foot level that is desired for our climb. 45 minutes later we fire up the sleds and roar off up the road. It is a quick trip on smooth roads, and we are soon skinning up through the thick under growth of the southern flank of Wolverine. The combination of an unseasonably shallow snow-pack, and the heavy forest makes the first 1500 vertical feet of this climb a bit of an ordeal. Switching back and forth up the 35 degree lower slope, we slowly emerge onto flatter ground in the sub-alpine at around 6800 feet. The 800 feet above us is shrouded in cloud. The route is fairly straight forward and Rex carries his fantastic GPS unit, so we head up into the cloud zigging and zagging until the GPS tells us that we are at 7600 feet, or, the top. Not wanting to step off a cliff or venture out on to a cornice in the white out, we sit down to lunch on the summit.

After a quick bite to eat, we set off into the misty blue. Three turns lead to complete vertigo in the pea soup visibility, and Wolfgang is stumbling around on his skis like he's been huffing the high octane sled fuel. Rex shows us how its done, as he rips down into the fog. Visibility soon improves near tree line and we find some sweet turns down through the glades. We pull up 1700 feet below our lunch spot, and throw on the skins as Little Cheecho steams uphill at 39 Km/H leaving us all behind. He doesn't stop until we shout at him when it appears that he wants to summit a second time!

Ripping off our skins, we do another run down through the glades until the trees get too thick, then we contour around onto the southern face where there are a couple of avy chutes that run down to the road. These things are huge steep and scary! Despite the danger rating of low, we dig a pit anyway and get confirmation on the stability. Then we sally forth and make turns down the crusty surface of these chutes whose pitch never drops below 35 degrees and is much steeper in places. Finally, after 1500 feet it relents and we cruise to the road. A quick skate brings us back to the sleds, another peak checked off the list. Totals for the day are 4300 vertical feet climbed, and 10 km toured. After some complaints from the Doctor that it is not yet a full day, we load up the sleds and head home.



On another note, the weather in Kamloops has been most unwinter-like this year, and it has got to the point now that mountain biking is good to go and in the spirit of The Powder Wardens, I feel the responsibility, as a good journalist, to give our readers a little something cycling related. Unfortunately, fellow wardens don't share my desire for this, citing work, school and hill skiing as lame excuses for their sloth, so Wolfgang has to bear this cross himself.

Being a fan of simplicity as well as a man always at the cutting edge, Wolfgang loves a good rigid bike just as much as he adores his 6 inch travel Santa Cruz. So when parts became available, (Thanks Derek!!) he installed a 29'r front wheel and Avid BB7 disc brakes to his trusty, yet somewhat rusty, 15 year old Kona Hot. This old girl runs a 1x9 drive train, and various and sundry XTR, Race face and Synchros parts from a previous decade. She sports a rigid P2 fork and rocks the single track hard!

A 20 km loop in the Bachelor grasslands left Wolfgang with a smile on his face as the new parts transformed the old Kona into a whole new beast! Better fit, precise steering and a slightly smoother ride all contribute to a fine single track performance. No action pics due to the aforementioned idleness of the wardens, but Jak the dog came along and posed for some static shots..... Enjoy!