Christmas in Rossland TR

Words by Darryl Hunt
Photos by Darryl Hunt & Steve Shannon

On Sunday, December 16th the town of Rossland woke up to 21cm of blower pow which was the start of a week long storm that dropped a total of 144cm of snow in 8 days. I was able to get away from Revelstoke quickly and ski inbounds on day two of the storm and it was amazing. I have never seen Red Mountain that good in mid December before. Long time locals say they haven't seen Red this good in decades and all this at the time when Rossland and Nelson are in the finals of Powders 'Ski Town Throwdown'.

After a few days hanging out back in Revelstoke I had to drive my girlfriend to Kelowna so she could fly home to the family for the week over Christmas. With clear skies and a stable snow pack I took this opportunity to spend the week ski touring around Rossland. I arrived in town to find out that Rossland/Nelson won Powder Magazine's ski town contest and figured I'd write up an article of my skiing to help hype up the area.









































By the end of the day we did two runs down the north side and one down the east back to the highway. The dog was pooped by the end to say the least. On Boxing Day I headed out to Kootenay Pass for a tour. With three Revelstoke folk, two from Nelson and one Rosslander it was a good group of Kootenay folk. I forgot my camera (like usual) but my friend Steve had his and took a couple pictures. The following three pictures are his. (Steve has some skill with the camera - check him out if you want at www.facebook.com/SteveShannonPhotography)

















The next day Wiggly and I headed up Hanna Basin with the goal of doing a few lines on 1950 Ski Movie and Hanna Ridge. Our plans changed as the day went on due to clouds coming in but the day was fun nonetheless.

















We had plans to head up to a cabin in the basin on the north side of Plewman on the night of the 28th to spend the night up there skiing under the full moon. With a high inversion all day all but the peak was in the clouds, and as the sun went down some high cloud cover rolled in ending any chance of seeing the moon. Luckily, the bar was a good substitute for good times.

Tomorrow I head back up to Revelstoke for New Years and the forecast looks promising for getting up in the alpine. Rossland has been fun, but as much as I love sleeping under a pool table, Rogers Pass and my bed are calling me.

Happy trails!
Darryl Hunt