March 30, 2025
~ submitted by Evan Martin
This winter, Evan W is stepping into the world of backcountry skiing with big ambitions—he’s eager to take on longer ski tours as his skills grow. While I’ve done my fair share of backcountry skiing, my experience has been limited to the mainland, making this my first year exploring the island’s terrain. Motivated by the opportunity to ski with Evan, I brought my gear over and planned a trip to Mount Becher, hoping to invite other Ramblers and share the experience while rebuilding the backcountry ski culture within the Ramblers. After our previous attempt to organize a trip to Mount Cokely fell flat, we were pleasantly surprised by the high level of interest this time. In the end, we had six people in the group, with a range of experience from first-timers to seasoned skiers, which made for an exciting and diverse adventure.
Evan and I met the four other participants in the parking lot just before 9am to accommodate people picking up rentals from Ski Tac Hit. After a quick introduction and beacon check, we departed at about 9:10. The snow line started immediately at the parking lot, allowing us to skin up and start skiing immediately.
We proceeded directly up the old ski hill and followed the obvious trail into Strathcona Park. The trail followed along an open waterway, but there was plenty of snow that going was easy. When we came to the first steep slope at about 1100m we took a few minutes to ensure that everyone knew the basics of a kick-turn before proceeding. We arrived at 1200m by about noon. At this point, we stopped for a lunch break enjoying the sunshine and avoiding the summit winds.
Immediately after this point there was short steep slope allowing everyone to get some solid practice on their kick turns. The mixed blessing of warm weather while skiing made the upper snow surface quite soft, making edging in the snow quite difficult. Despite the steep slope and soft snow, everyone did a great job making it up. Once above this slope, it was a gentle climb to the summit.
After stopping for a quick moment to take in the views, we took off the skins and prepared for the descent. The ski down was less than ideal, especially for novice skiers. The warm soft snow lower down had quickly transitioned into a breakable surface crust – too weak to support a skier, but strong enough to prevent a turn. The more experienced skiers managed to make the most of it, while the more novices skiers struggled down off the summit block.
Once back in the trees the snow softened again making skiing more enjoyable. Although the avalanche risk was low, the upper snow pack was wet and heavy, on top a drying layer below, leading to some wet loose sluffing on the steeper slopes. The final push back to the ski hill was a mix of short ups and down requiring lots of energy side stepping up to coast down the next section of trail. It was debatable whether we were better off with skins on or off, but most of us opted to keep them off. We missed our turn on the ski hill, as our ski tracks were almost unnoticeable and we got drawn in by other people’s tracks who must have skied the old skill hill while we on Becher. We ended up coming down what appeared to be an old access road. Near the end we were faced with multiple small streams, some allowing us to cross on skis, others requiring us to boot across.
Overall everyone had an enjoyable day – after all what even is a bad day in mountains? Especially one with sunny weather and spectacular views! Experience was gained, lessons were learnt, and friends were made. I’m looking forward to posting more ski trips and getting the opportunity to get more Ramblers out on skis!