So.........here we go again.  Every year we go off to some remote hidden pocket of wilderness for the most unbelieveable skiing you could possibly imagine and come back to tell all our friends just how great it was.  And, in an attempt to make it easier to make you understand just how sweet the skiing really was, we've put all the best pictures from the trip up on this web page.  Now, anybody who has ever tried to compare trip pictures with trip memories knows that pictures very rarely capture the beauty, the scale, the colors---whatever.  It just doesn't work.  But, we're going to give it a try anyway.  So here goes.
 
 

First of all, some of the basics:  a big group of us met in and left from Seattle, then headed up to Wells Gray Provincial Park in central British Columbia.  This was our second annual backcountry trip with a professional guiding service (see http://faculty.washington.edu/metnier/yurttrip.html for pics from last year).  All of the folks in our group were on tele gear, but our guides didn't know any better and used their randonée gear instead.   But they got us to some really great powder stashes for what they considered to be the best skiing they've ever seen up there.  On top of that, they were also awesome cooks, and didn't even snore too loudly in the cabins.  Not bad for US$500 for the whole week, huh?
 

They always say that getting there is half the fun.  I'm not sure if that's really true, but "getting there" was pretty cool.  Here's a thumbnail of the 1961 Tucker SnoCat.  We took it on a 45 minute ride up into the Wells Gray Provincial Park.  Sure, it was kinda bumpy and loud.  But that didn't seem to be too much of an issue for some people. Follow the link to see more pictures of us in and around the snowcat

So, what else do you want to see?  People?  Face shots?  Steve skiing in bottomless powder?  Or are you more interested in seeing our guide, Tim McLean, catching some pretty sweet air (on randonee gear)?  Well, just go where you want to.  There are pretty nice shots spread throughout the page.
 
Bill Guthrie in color pencil

people pictures
ahhhh. the skinning track

scenery
steve in bottomless powder

Terminator Ridge and 
other sweet runs

 professionals the whole way
pics of our fearless guides
Eric Sach on tele gear
air shots
just checkin' out the snowpack
checking out the snow conditions
nice butt shot!!
just for laughs
relief at last!
in and around the cabins

Interested in finding out more about the British Columbia Provincial Parks?  They have a great web page at

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/
 

All images and text in this web page © 1999 by Michael Etnier.