Sawback Alpine Adventures

Mountaineering and Adventuring since 1995

Upcoming adventures 2011

Spring/Summer 2011 - Spring is finally here! Mountain adventures to consider in the coming weeks include ski touring (yes, amazing ski touring will still be possible into June this year), front ranges rock climbing (e.g. Yamnuska, cragging, etc.) and some of the alpine snow climbs such as Mts. Athabasca and Andromeda.

Images & Video::WINTER

This past winter has been one of the best on record. Despite a very slow start, constant storms from January onward ensured a deep, stable midpack and the quickly settling storm snow made for consistently AMAZING skiing conditions.

Northern Selkirks Traverse: Iconoclast to Fairy Meadow

Conrad Janzen (www.banffmountainguides.com) and I had the great pleasure of guiding together for a week this spring. Our group of eight travelled a total distance of 104km and accumulated elevation of 7000m, starting with an ascent of the amazing north face of Iconoclast Peak (up to 48 degrees steep) and finishing at the fabled world-famous ski touring destination, the Fairy Meadow Hut.

Here's a little slideshow that Conrad put together featuring the terrain and snow we experienced during our 8-day trip:

Ski Fairies, Ski Robots

We're crossing our fingers that we'll be able to provide a Fairy Meadow ski trip next winter. Here's some photos from this April. Tom's wife is the cute blond in the pink toque!

Chilko Lake on Ice

Chilko Lake on Ice was awarded the 2003 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival's Grand Prize.

Directed and produced by: Dave Sarkany

(Canada, 2003) - This is the story about a ski traverse on the glaciers and ice caps at the south end of Chilko Lake. Two skiers Dave Sarkany and Tom Wolfe kayaked out of Nemaia Valley and paddled through stormy weather to reach Farrow Creek and the surrounding ice cap. After crossing the ice and skiing peaks the two just had to get home, but this was not as easy as they had hoped...