The mountains of western Canada are world renowned for great snow; they offer immense opportunities for ski adventure of all kinds. Long untracked powder descents, comfortable mountain lodges and an endless panorama of glaciers and ice falls. You can ski fresh powder a short distance from your car or head out on a remote wilderness expedition and have the entire range to yourself.
 

Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Tours These are single day tours in the Canadian Rockies or Columbia mountains. You can put together a number of these local trips to make a great ski touring holiday. They list one way distance, elevation gain and level of skiing or boarding skills required. Cost: $350.00 for one $400.00 for two $450.00 for three $500.00 for a group up to six. Includes guiding and glacier travel gear. You must provide avalanche safety gear, touring equipment, lunch and transportation. Nov through April. 2007-08   Kananaskis Country Robertson Glacier Tour 9km 1000m intermediate. Commonwealth Creek Tour 5km 800m intermediate. French/Haig Glacier Tour 10km 1000m intermediate. Banff National Park Mt Hector Tour 5.5km 1600m intermediate. Cirque Peak Tour 6km 1100m intermediate. Crowfoot Mountain Tour 7km 800m intermediate. Bow Summit Tour 3km 300m beginner

Brenda ski touring The President and Vice President, Yoho Park

Glacier National Park, Rogers Pass
The Selkirk Mountains are a world renowned touring destination. This area receives up to 10m of snow a year and offers 1500m runs through large alpine bowls and cedar forests. Rogers pass is located between Revelstoke and Golden, B.C. Accommodation is at the local Best Western Hotel in Rogers Pass and costs $54.00 per night for two Nov through April

Rogers Pass Youngs Peak Seven Steps Tour 8km 1500m interm/advanced Asulkan Pass Tour 7km 1000m intermediate Sapphire Col Tour 8km 1300m intermediate Liily Glacier Tour 7km 1100m intermediate Ursus Minor Tour 5km 1180m intermediate
		Matt shredding deep B.C. powder, The Purcell Mountains

“Off Piste” Guide Service

A very fun and convenient European style skiing adventure. We utilize our local ski areas' gondolas and chair lifts for quick and easy access to the backcountry. We guarantee untracked snow and lots of vertical. This is a great venue to introduce backcountry skiing skills, avalanche awareness, or just make turns. Kicking horse, Lake Louise, Sunshine Village are all options. Includes guiding only. You provide ski touring gear, avalanche safety gear, lunch, lift ticket and transportation. Dec through April
Cost: $350.00 for one, $400.00 for two, $500.00 for a group up to six.

Wapta Icefields Ski Touring Holiday. Canada's Classic Hut to Hut Traverse 

The Wapta mountains are spectacular, located on the continental divide in Banff National Park. They offer moderate ascents of ski mountaineering peaks in extensive glaciated terrain. Access is easy from the highway and there is an excellent system of alpine huts operated by the Alpine Club of Canada.

Wapta Two-Five day Ski Mountaineering Holiday. This trip utilizes two of the alpine huts with the main focus on peak ascents and skiing descents. You can travel light with a day pack on most days while attempting Mt Crowfoot, Mt Rhonda, Mt Gordon, Mt Olive, Mt St. Nicholas and Mt Balfour, the highest peak on the Wapta.  Cost: $240.00 per person per day, all inclusive.

The Wapta Traverse. This five day trip is the complete Wapta traverse along the spine of the Rockies. The focus is on traveling across the icefields to one of 4 different huts each night, ascending a few peaks for a ski decent along the tour.
Dates: 2008  April 5-9, 19-23, 26-30.
Cost:  $1080.00 per person. This includes food, hut accommodation, guiding, and the use of glacier travel gear.

Bugaboo Ski Mountaineering Week The world renowned Bugaboo Provincial Park in the Purcell Mountains makes for a ski mountaineering trip of a lifetime. Touring and turning amongst the impressive granite spires of Bugaboo, Snowpatch, Pigeon and Howser. This area offers steep glaciated ski descents with moderate ski mountaineering objectives. Strong skiing skills and good fitness levels are a must for this trip. This is a six day trip based out of the Conrad Kain hut, we helicopter into the hut on Monday and fly out the following Saturday. Home cooked meals, comfortable hut living and spectacular vistas will provide a week you won’t forget.

Russ ski mountaineering the Pigeon Feathers, The Bugaboos

Dates: April 14-19, 2008
Cost: $1600.00 per person, min group of 4
This includes helicopter flight from Golden BC. food, hut fees, guiding and the use of glacier travel safety equipment.

Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Mountaineering Education

Cirrus Alpine Guides specialize in personalized quality instruction. We utilize a progressive approach that teaches modern state of the art techniques used by professional ski guides. This is an introductory winter mountain skills course designed just for skiers and snowboarders that want to head out into the backcountry in search of fresh powder, long lines and big fun in a wilderness setting. If you’re looking for education in winter backcountry travel and snow safety skills, then this is the course for you.

Winter Mountain Craft 
This five day course is held at the Mosquito Creek Hostel in Banff National Park. The first day is at the Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge in Canmore, Alberta. We spend eight hours in the classroom starting with an introduction to avalanche safety. Course content and manual is provided by the Canadian Avalanche Association. Skill development is via slide show, overheads, and lectures. That evening we move into the hostel followed by four days of skill development while on backcountry touring trips in the local area.
The course includes four nights’ accommodation, instruction, introduction to avalanche safety certificate, and manual. Use of shovel, probe and glacier travel gear. You must provide touring gear, avalanche transceiver, suitable clothing, food, national park entry pass and transportation. Intermediate skiing and boarding skills are a must for this program, this is the only prerequisite.    Min 4 students.
Ski and snowboard touring gear is available for rent.

Topics covered will be:
-Introduction and use of backcountry touring equipment
-Evaluation of avalanche terrain and route selection
-Up and downhill track setting
-Evaluation of mountain snow pack and slope stability tests
-Group management skills
-Transceiver search and avalanche rescue scenarios
-Introduction to winter Glacier travel and rescue skills
This course is provided by an ACMG/IFMGA guide Mark Stewart.

Dates:  Mar 1-5. April 7-11.  2008
Cost: $920.00 per person.
For more information or a course logistics package phone or e-mail Mark Stewart at Cirrus Alpine Guides, Tel: 403-678-8567 e-mail. cirrus@shaw.ca