Searching for Sugarman

Unlike the movie about American musician Sixto Rodriguez this search for Sugarman was more about discovering the current conditions in the backcountry and how bad the "sugar" or instability in the snow pack currently is. Of course our primary motivation was to investigate if there was indeed any good skiing to be found. Our journey began in Five Mile and took us to the ridge of Larch Peak and back again. We covered all aspects in an effort to find any semblance of good turns. The 'Sugarman' was never far below our skis and pockets of instability along with variable conditions were wide spread. From one aspect to another and even five feet away conditions could be as different as black and white. I won't uh, sugar coat things here but the skiing was challenging at best. The good news story is that snow is on the way and possibly lots of it. The flip side of this is that it will send the avi rating through the roof so keep your enthusiasm in check if you are heading out of bounds. There are sleeping dragons in the snowpack and this may just be their wake up call.

For more details on the backcountry conditions around Whitewater Ski Resort complete with photos and a map read more here.

Enjoy.Backcountry Skiing Canda