Brandeeeepwine....

It's hard to remember a bigger week-end than the one we just had here in the Sea to Sky powder factory. It's funny how skeptical and bitter everyone's been as a result of two below average seasons. It's like we all forgot how truly lucky and special this part of the word is and what winter is "supposed" to look like.                    

Saturday morning we arrived at Brandywine meadows and set an up-track in one of our favorite old growth tree zones.     

The day was very stormy and we choked on snow all day!

Long live DEEP days!

      

High pressure and low pressure....

The conditions lined up perfectly for a Sunday afternoon ride in the alpine. You know what they say.... high pressure weather usually means low pressure tires. Actually I don't think they say that but it makes sense to me. The day before Kurt and I were on the North Facing slopes of Garibaldi and after sussing out the conditions I knew the Fat bikes had to come out one more time before the next snowfall. The temperature in Squamish was -6 deg C and we were soon riding up at
+5 deg C! Featured on Norco Bicycles news here....

It was too tempting to see what I could do with my Sasquatch so I dropped in!  

The slightly breakable crust turned out to be just right to get a little loose!

We enjoyed some amazing views of Garibaldi Park's more remote peaks like Castle Towers and Mt Carr.

It turned out to be another beautiful day in the mountains on a FAT bike!

November.... not quite Snowvember....

I'm going to be careful and not complain about early season November conditions. The fact is 365 days ago we were not making turns in the mountains because we had no snow at all. Fast forward to 2015 and we have snow so all is well in my world! For over a week the Sea to Sky has experienced a very strong temperature inversion. It's been near -5deg C in town and +5deg C in the alpine above 2000m. A fews days before the inversion, biblical winds took most of the fresh snow to who knows where? On the major plus side we have a solid base and the weather has been stellar so I decided to show Kurt Brohm Ridge for the first time.

       
We got an early Saturday start and were the first ones on the mountain. This is by far my favourite parking spot in Squamish.

We set off in search of the mother load?

From this place views of the Garibaldi Lake's volcanic features are outstanding....

The Whistler Peak chair area looked bony....

The impressive Castle Towers....

Our first lap was a scenic one on the Warren Glacier moraine....      

This is such a cool spot to check out Mt Garibaldi's massive volcanic debris trenches.... I can see this one from my house!    

The sleds are parked at the bottom right of this photo. The Tantalus range towers over the Squamish river valley.  

The Northwest slopes of Dalton Dome high above Squamish....

The Jim Haberl hut is clearly visible in the col below Mt Serratus. I had a memorable couple of days there back in April on a G3 2016 product photo shoot!        

The Brohm Ridge Chalet is visible on the bottom left of this photo.... No wonder they want to build a massive resort here!  

At about noon the sun hit us!

And Kurt made some nice turns on the Warren Glacier....

A jet airliner shot out of Mt Garibaldi!

Some more nice turns up high....

Kurt on the Warren Glacier with Parapet Peak, Isosceles Peak, Crosscut Ridge and Mt Luxor as an amazing backdrop.  

Later in the day we found some softer slopes on Brohm Ridge....  

After a solid day out we enjoyed a beverage back at the sleds....

And witnessed another surreal sunset on Howe Sound....