by Yvette Cardozo with photography by Yvette Cardozo and courtesy of Cat Powder Skiing
Jan 2003, Vol. 7 No. 4
Knee deep and untouched, patches of stark boulders, appearing like rocks from the moon, poked through the crust of the crystal white snow. Down the slope, alpine trees meshed in a wild and wooly tangle. This was virgin terrain … no lifts, no crowds, no tracks. This Revelstoke outback was accessible only by snow cat.
Decades of heli-skiing paved the way for the increasing popularity of cat skiing. And with good justification: not everyone has the time or money for a week’s stay in a remote lodge trip and $600.00 or more to spend for each day of helicopter flights to a glacial peak.
For almost 20 years, Clyde Newsome has operated Cat Powder Skiing in Revelstoke, a remote and rustic townlet located in the interior of British Columbia. Clyde’s three cat machines rumble up 250 named runs between 6,000 and 8,000 feet in elevation. He covers 17,000 acres of the northern Selkirk Mountains. In its infancy, Cat Powder logged 93 skier days (that’s carrying bodies up the mountain), in 2002 he carried 3700 skiers. Four fifths of his business are repeat customers. In the early years, those clients were primarily male, largely in their 30s and 40s, but these days, more and more couples enjoy the adventure.
Snow cats are the same machines used by ski resorts to groom runs. Each cat, which can hold 13 passengers and a guide, is basically a box on tank treads with modifications for creature comfort: reclining bus seats with shelves and baskets to hold gear and water bottles.
Each morning, we’d bus from the newly renovated (to the tune of $300,000) Powder Springs Inn to the 6000-foot cat base where we piled into the snow cats to trundle up the mountain. On our first trip, we stopped halfway up the mountain to practice a Pieps (avalanche transceiver) safety drill.
The second night of our five-day stay, it rained all night in the lower elevation of the town, but high on the mountain, it DUMPED powder. After a 90-minute ride, the snow cat nosed above the trees and through the clouds into brilliant sunshine. Across the valley, the Monashee Mountains were outlined in white as the clouds parted to reveal the braided Columbia River glistening below.
Unloading, we headed down the mountain. Our skis carved figure eight’s in knee deep fresh powder as we “whooped” our way down. Most skiers will agree that deep, fresh powder is the ultimate in skiing … soft yet resistant. Gliding downhill in slow motion, we felt as if we were traveling through a surreal dream. “As good as sex,” one skier said as we plowed to a stop. “No,” countered another. “Better. This, you can do over and over and over.”
Each of our seven daily runs averaged 1,300 feet, and we usually began on rolling knolls above the tree line inevitably ending in the lower terrain of the woods, schussing until we intersected with the cat at its base. Then we’d climb aboard for a 20-minute ride back up. We took a frantically brief break for lunch (who wanted to waste time eating).
When we descended into the tree line, the terrain got scary. “Don’t look at the trees, look at the spaces between them,” people always say. Invariably, the people who say this are very good skiers. But thick snow bundling the trees has a way of softening any unexpected impact, quite literally. The heavy snow slows you to a crawl, giving you plenty of time to consider your track options among those between-tree spaces.
Suddenly, the woods became filled with mounds and dips like a giant skateboard park. We swooped. We careened off embankments like so many projectiles in a pinball machine. We had a blast!
Our final trip down the mountain was Cat Powder’s signature run through Mount Mackenzie ski resort. We started at 7,700 feet, dropping off a ridge where the jagged peaks of the Monashee Mountains offered us a spectacular landscape. We floated over knoll after knoll, descending in thousand foot drops. The feathery fluff felt like a heavy cream, then slush. But it was a kinder, gentler slush …more like greased corn. We skimmed over the stuff, swerving around low mounds and small trees.
As we descended to the top of the ski resort, the run became wide, well groomed, soft and forgiving. The final run had been a 6,000-foot drop … the perfect end to a day of powder.
Though cat ski and heli-ski companies may use neighboring territory, the experiences have very real differences in pace, terrain, skiers and especially price. Heli-ski companies fly their client to untouched glaciers; they ski through the tree line only when weather forces them to stay at lower elevations. Most cat companies don’t have the option of avoiding trees since pickup points are usually well below the tree line.
This leads to an interesting paradox: cat skiing, at least for a novice powder skier, can be tougher and more strenuous than heli-skiing. This difference in effort shows up especially when comparing weeklong heli packages to snow cat skiing.
Some heli-ski lodges now offer “intro” packages for the novice or less aggressive powder skiers. They provide two guides rather than one and the entire group is of equal skill. The group goes slower, takes more breaks and has higher pickups.
Cat operators can accommodate a novice by adding a second guide but the skier may still be grouped with more advanced skiers and spend the day huffing to keep up. In cat skiing, the runs are shorter (1,000 to 1,500 feet) and there is that welcomed 20 to 30 minute break between runs as the snow cat carries you back up the mountain. Heli-skiing runs often drop 3,000 feet, and if you’re lucky, you get a 10-minute break during the flight back up the mountain.
Daily vertical drop is usually lower with cat skiing. In Revelstoke, cat skiers might drop 13,500 vertical feet, while heli-skiers descended 28,000 feet. But the next day, when the fog rolled in, the heli-skiers were grounded while the cats bagged an additional 13,000 vertical.
As for wiggle room, snow cats may be cozy but they’re certainly not as tight as a helicopter. Each group stays with the same cat all day, which means you, can bring a small day bag with extra clothes and gear on a cat.
Cat skiing usually operates in a town or ski resort, eliminating the feeling of “cabin fever” You’re free to wander and party at night. Sign up for a weeklong heli package, especially at a fly-in lodge, and you’re there for the duration. Apres-ski means a soak in the hot tub followed by dinner and maybe a rousing game of cards in the lounge
Both cat skiing and heli-skiing take you away from the crowds and busy slopes. The choice is yours.
For more information: Cat Powder Skiing Inc. (800) 991-4455 or www.catpowder.com Box 1479, Revelstoke, BC, V0E 2S0, Canada