Mind Over Mountain | On the Bugs to Rogers Traverse
Wow. How did I wanna do this in the first place? Wow. How did I wanna do this in the first place? Like, I've been in those places before, but usually like there's a hut, like we can escape. This was like, no, you're in it, and you have to be within this for the next eight to ten days. And it kind of just made me realize like how hard it was gonna actually be.
I'm like, "Do I wanna do this?" The Selkirk Mountains I feel like are everybody's dream. It just takes years and years to feel even remotely comfortable in these mountains. You just gain way more awareness about how big of a country that you're actually traveling through.
And then you develop this, um... kind of mental tenacity for always wanting to go further and just being able to physically go further, too. The Bugs-to-Rogers is a 120-kilometer route up and over tons of mountains, eventually ending in Rogers Pass, and usually takes around eight to ten days. I've been skiing for so long now that I can be skiing a double black diamond and I'm thinking about what to make for dinner.
So now I find the level of skiing that I have to do to be engaged is really intense, and I think that this will be a different kind of intensity, like more of an endurance intensity. And I feel like this type of trip and this route, specifically, is kind of like the next step for me, where I've admired these places from afar. And I want to add my... my name to the list of people who've done this. But I just want to see if I can do it. I think that's the greatest challenge of all, to go out there and see what you're capable of.
I think that's the biggest thing for anybody. My name is Leah Evans, and I live in Revelstoke, B.C. Leah, oh, my gosh. How do you describe Leah? You can just tell that she's got a very unique and beautiful way of looking at the world. She has psychic gifts.
Think what makes an ideal team or group is just dynamics in general. Everyone's gonna have like their push and their pull of what they're good at or what they're not good at, but in the end, you have to come together to make like a full woven basket, you know, to hold with the trip. So me and Marie, in the last three years, we have gotten to do a bunch of stuff together, and I think Marie is really good at just sparking the atmosphere with a lot of joy. So, my name is Marie-France Roy, and I live currently between Whistler and Ucluelet in the summer. She's like always figuring out like what's the joke avenue.
She's like, "What are you doing? You're still just tobogganing, really." You're not gonna ask me to talk about Maddo, the wolverine? Yeah, Maddie's like the ultimate unsung hero. She's just such a strong person, like mentally, physically. My name's Madeleine Martin-Preney, and I live in Revelstoke. We met on a forest fire-fighting crew. And I was like, "Ah, sweet, there's another girl," and I just like gave her a nice smile 'cause I was like, maybe we can be friends.
So humble, so hardworking. She's also just making everybody better at the same time too. I just think she's such a boss. Yeah, if you could kind of list off your traverses and kind of... How far back are you wanting me to go? The Bonnington Traverse, 40-ish kilometers.
Didn't find one of the huts and had to snow cave. The Trophy Traverse, fourish-day traverse. Their sea kayak-accessed ski traverse of the Whitemantle Range in 19 days. Ran out of food. Living off of fiddleheads for a couple days.
Dumped sea kayak and we're stranded on an island with super howling winds. Yeah, made it back and I was just like, "This is what I want to do." Went to India, traversed through the Spiti Valley, over to Rohtang Pass. Blackcomb to Currie. Traverse of the Selkirks.
Thirty-five days, log crossing. Travel only at night, covered in broken glaciers. I feel like I'm probably forgetting some, but... Oh, yeah, done the Bugs-to-Rogers as well. I think it's over... a hundred and something kilometers.
Yeah, I don't think my skill strength is like breaking trail. I've done a little bit of it, but I'm definitely not by any means like, um... I would say, a champion of that type of approach, so... background is definitely more freestyle and then move to the back country, but still really focused on the freestyle aspect of things.
Most of my friends who are doing the snowboarding thing think I'm crazy in that I like "hiking" so much, but like I come here and I'm a total newbie out here. It's intimidating, but at the same time, it's like a really cool challenge. I feel like I'm really good at skiing downhill... in looking at terrain, picking out this turn, this line, and the experience I've moved into, like touring.
I'm like, okay, I can ski tour and I can base camp, and now coming to this place where I just want to spend that much time in the mountains. The Bugs-to-Rogers is a total rite of passage. But it's just like this goal of like proving it to myself. Okay, if you really want to do this, like commit and don't think about anything else and just go for it. One heart that hopefully will still be beating in ten days. That’s a tragic thing to say.
-Yes. -It is. It started out so lovely and like sunny and amazing views... where we could just see these little glimpses of all the spires in Bugaboo Provincial Park. And we finally got to the spires, and it was just this moment where you just stopped and you're like, Whoa! And everyone was feeling really jazzed that we, like, finally were on this trip.
All right, like, got my backpack and all my systems. And then it was all good until the weather changed. The clouds rolled in. Complete whiteout.
Super windy, and I'm like, hey, got this cold. People were getting like frostnip on their faces. We basically had to pause at several moments because we were trying to figure out where we were. Starting to see big crevasses and the trail breaking was super deep. The freezing, and our digits weren't working.
Then it got to this point where I was like, oh, this is so intense. And kind of noticing everyone getting quieter. It was interesting because I've seen it in other people and just like the downward spiral, and I was like, "Oh, that's happening to me right now." I got super hungry, really dehydrated, and I basically was like, oh, my God, I'm a client. I have to pull it together here and I have to focus on transitioning so I can get down, and this survival mode that came up at that point.
And that was on the first day. It started feeling very real, and I think I started feeling a lot of kind of responsibility and pressure, 'cause I was like, oh, shit. I'm one of the few that has experience actually moving through terrain like this in weather like this.
We worked our way down on to the Vowell Glacier and that's where we had to set up camp for the evening. The fact kind of kept crossing my mind of like, if this is what it's gonna be like every day, I don't know how we're gonna do this. My mind definitely went to a lot of different places.
There's a lot of reasons that you might turn back. It's part of the process. It can be disappointing... -Potentially save your life. -...and let you do another traverse.
Emotional response... illogical response. Staying safe... having a good experience. Refocus... everyone makes it back. Make the decision that's best for the team. In the end, you kind of just have to put one foot in front of the other and take each step and each section as it comes. Definitely be distance for sure, but it wouldn't be as intense with the white and the crevasses.
Day 2 was this really interesting experience. Every time it opened up, you were like, wow. This is the magnitude of the place we're in. Much more optimism with better weather. -Oh, yeah. That helps a lot. -So much. I don't think I've pushed my body this hard in a very long time, if ever.
Once we got down and we got back into the trees, it just felt like this hug and this, like, safety for me. I was like, "Whew! We're not in the alpine anymore." I went from zero to a hundred... from last night. The low route is basically going down Crystalline Creek, and then just around.
So you end up at this same point and then go up. Good old mmm! at the end of the day. I'm surviving. Whew! Ski traversing is like the ultimate form of freedom, because you are carrying everything with you. Like, you've got the tent, you've got your sleeping bag, and every day the only thing you have to do is move through the terrain and survive that day, in, yeah, whatever way that looks like. You're trying to heat water, stay warm .
You have more gear because you're in avalanche terrain. Transition, traverse... Okay, there's that peak and we know we have to get there.
Like, it's just gonna be hard. And you build your own little community. Like, that's the really neat thing is, those traverses are as much about the terrain that you're in, and then the people that you're doing it with, that's your team. Like you're relying on them, they're relying on you, and often the success of the traverse... isn't necessarily on the conditions that you're getting, it's the conditions that are within your group. Having Marie at the back, like, she's such a rock star.
She did it in soft boots on a splitboard. Just like feeling bad for, like, you know, being kind of the weakest link. You want to take the lead, too, you want to help pitch in, but like you just don't have the capacity. And you're just like, "Okay, I'm just doing my best to just keep going, just try to catch up."
I can be like maybe a little bit in front of her, and just do this like solo march, or I could hang out with her and, like, try and bring her up. Halfway through the trip, I was like, "I'm just gonna hang out with Marie." We're both pretty positive people, but we just had a moment to be real.
We're like, "I don't think this is for us." I'm like, "I'm so glad to have you," and she's like, "I'm so glad to have you." I was like, "I would be downward spiraling right now." It is one of those traverses where you're going from mountaintop to valley floor on like almost a daily basis. And I had to have, like, really honest conversations with myself and be like, "This is just where you're at."
And like just full acceptance and being like, you're maxed out. We got there and I was just toast. I just needed some time. That's when I needed five minutes.
-Your neck hurts? -Yeah. -Why does your neck hurt? -'Cause my backpack's so heavy. Why is your backpack so heavy? 'Cause I packed too much food. Big days... slow and steady.
But it's just, I don't know, a lot when you get the new food and then, yeah... skiing down is not easy either. It's so different. But then you got the jackrabbit. Still going. I think we have different blood types.
So this is how you get your harness off when you're tired. Marie, how are you doing? Oh, I'm fuckin' toast, man. Toast. I'm toast. I am...
so done. That's definitely the most physical thing I've ever done. What have I been doing in my life? I mean, look at this girl. Look at this girl. Like, we're freaking dead.
Look at her. Still going. Made it a lot further than we originally thought. Which is awesome.
Sets us up really well for the next few days. And the weather held, which was also really great. As a small female in the world, there's a lot of pressure to prove yourself. Like a lot.
If I want to be accepted into some of these opportunities, it's like I have to be not only... as strong and capable, I have to show that I can be better. It's not something that I think about consciously a lot, but it's just, um... Yeah, I think it's still there, even when we don't necessarily want to admit it. Feels like that process of walking uphill, because it's a little bit slower, and because it's all about the effort that you put into it and how well you're paying attention, it's just, yeah, I find it fully engaging and that's where I feel like I experience more of that feeling of flow.
You know, Malachite Spire is one that definitely comes to mind, where you're kind of in a super-exposed place for a while. I'd kind of gone to the wrong col in the first place, and we had to backtrack. Super steep side hilling next to a broken glacier on blue ice.
Then having to basically scramble down on super shitty shale with icy patches. We didn't know where the other route was. Kind of like my fault for wasting other people's energy when we didn't have a lot of extra energy to waste. And then the exit that they did find... This is like not an awesome option, but it's kind of the way. If my decision is wrong and something happens, it felt like it was really going to be on me, because both Leah and Marie-France were trusting me with those decisions.
And so if I wasn't right, that felt like breaking trust in a really big way. These places where you're like, all right, like, nothing else matters in the world except for this moment. And responsibility is not a new thing for me to feel, especially, like, given the work of... as a guide. Um, but I think the responsibility with friends kind of has a different weight to it for me. Being involved in an avalanche where there was a fatality and I was part of the rescue team. And again it was just such a wakeup call of like...
yeah, the mountains are a pretty harsh place sometimes, and you can think that you're doing everything right and conservatively... and it doesn't work out the way you thought. And that one, I think, shook me a lot harder. Yeah. Sorry. I mean, that's...
that's been two years, but... And having to learn how to trust again, not only the mountains but myself and those around me, is, yeah, it's still a work in progress. Having that trust was... yeah, definitely felt like a privilege, but one that I didn't take lightly at all. Me skiing with Maddie down and seeing her cross the slope that was recently wind-loaded and there was glacier ice below, I was like, "All right, like, breathe through this experience."
It didn't last for long, but it was just that moment in those cruxes that you have to get through, personally, and then you just make sure everybody gets through as a team, and you're like, "Whew!" What that shifted for me was... this trip isn't about me. The shift was just like, okay, I'm... my mindset needs to be a little more in like guide or work mode, not like friend or common adventurer mode.
This is the way the trip is gonna be and that's gonna be my challenge. Like Leah and Marie had their own challenges, and that was gonna be my challenge of how to balance it, and especially having to do that with friends. Maui, Malibu, Hawaii. Hawaii, Nexpa.
Where else? Bali. These are nice, comfortable places. Yeah. This is a nice, comfortable place, too. A bit more sunshine would be nice.
I've come to notice that, if you're not talking, you're struggling super hard. But I'm struggling right now. I stopped caring a while ago.
-Thank you. -What's the weather doing? Sucking. Yeah, and then we got to ski down and that was a part where I was like, "Oh, the skiing is gonna be super easy," and then it was so challenging. Just traverse turning, and you're like, "Agggh!" Catching speed and you're like, "Don't get too much speed."
Okay, tic-tac-tac, and then... Four dollars an hour. You really realize fire is like one of the essence to life.
You get to hang out with people for an extra 20 or 50 more minutes, versus like eating and then going to sleep to try and lock in all that heat. Hazard rating is 3-2-1, due to wind slab. Likely to size 2 due to extremely southerly winds overnight. I wonder if they had seen any activity on the wind slabs or if that's just kind of predicting based on the winds.
Yeah, that's definitely the main concern. We'd been wearing double long-johns and like such winter layers, and just to feel that warmth and that heat and the sunshine and laughter, like... The real sun, not the sun followed by hours of flurries. Taking advantage. Let me put my cankles away.
That is bad. Perfect for summer. That's a cute dress. Bikini season.
Gotta eat more, eat more. Eat more. Gotta go. If you're not in fight or flight, you're not...
You're not trying. You're not gonna make it. No time for drying, no time for eating, no time for pooping.
No time for sleeping. I'm trying to keep a journal. No time. We are...
I think, at the base of the Grand Glacier. We're trying to punch up to Grand Mountain col, onto the Deville. Sounds like it's gonna be 1,900 meters. Pretty scared of that number. Only did 200 and I'm dying.
That's the thing, you never know what's gonna happen. That's the beauty of the Bugs-to-Rogers. You make plans and they change all the time. We're thinking of changing plans again and going up Beaver Overlook instead of the Grand. Like, the route Cam Zed goes up through these rocks, and then over, but it looks reasonable kind of going out left because that big face has shed mostly.
And then hopefully catching that glacier ramp all the way up, left to right. That kind of excitement of just trying something different, that gets me super jazzed, because there's not like a precedent that's set of like, here's where you have to go and this is how you have to do it. It's more about, like, I'm just gonna try and see if it works, and we're gonna use the skills that we have to put it together and get us to where we want to go. Just to mentally set yourself up for the next pitch, which was no stopping, like, let's go until we get to the top. For me that was just...
almost survival mode. This is my ultimate edge. Like, I'm... I can't go any further than this. I'm... hurting. Happy we made it up that hill.
So, getting late. And I'm starting to limp, so... we stopped here. But we made it. We made it this far. We were all the way over there. And it just got calm, and it was beautiful, and we had the sunset, and it was just like, we really were maximizing the daylight.
Like, that, ah, so fantastic. That really... yeah. For me, that's like a spring trip right there. Then there's like the biggest day of skiing I've ever had in my entire life. The Deville Glacier is really interesting 'cause all the mountains kind of go like this, like, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, and they lead you to the spot...
...that maybe you've been thinking about and being, like, you're a little bit anxious about (it). This is terrifying. This is terrifying.
Yeah, it feels like everything's just gonna fall away. Looking for the rappel station. Three rappels to get down to the valley floor, and...
This is a part I haven't been looking forward to the whole time but that's okay. I think we'll just have to trust the process and... yeah, just... it'll be fine,
but it's just getting to that point. You know. Yeah, I think... when you start to push your skiing and you start to push the things that you want to ski down or you want to ski up, it comes with this whole new navigation of being afraid. You have to bring it back in and bring it down to like step by step and you break down the small puzzle, 'cause otherwise, if you think about being afraid, you're not gonna go anywhere.
Getting to the rappels is like, "Okay, I'm on, just have to focus on this." Okay, and I can go off belay? Got there and I was totally fine. Nice. That was really not that bad. This next one, oh, my God! Next rappel, focus. And then got to the bottom and you're like, whew! How is that ass though? Whoo-hoo! That's done.
It's so nice. We're at the bottom of the Deville rappels, which is awesome. I think the girls are pretty stoked that we're through that section. Skiers have to be climbers for a minute.
So the Glacier Circle Cabin is actually one of the reasons why I wanted to do Bugs-to-Rogers. And to go in and open the doors, you can feel Canadian mountain culture in that hut. 1931. A place where it's documented, it's written on the walls...
It was just really cool to be surrounded by that and to actually make it there. We're supposed to get a bunch of snow the next day, so we're trying to keep pushing on these big days, because of the weather squeezing us. We are so close to Rogers Pass. Just up and over that little bit is the Illecillewaet Glacier.
And then you get onto the summer hiking trails, and then you're at the parking lot. Makes me feel good. I'm just so hesitant though because I'm like, everything is like a step.
Like, we have to get up this little bit here. And it's been hot and sunny. And I feel like once we're up on that and then we're on the Illecillewaet, it's like smooth sailing. But it feels like one last crux. Like, I've never really been like, "Yeah, I'm gonna go ski touring across a glacier at 6:30 at night."
I've set up all these rules for myself to keep myself safe in the mountains, and that kind of just went against some of my personal rules. -Are you going first? -Yeah, just ski really slow. -Okay. -Go for it. What? The fall line you sent me on put me right on top of a crevasse. I think we're so past our point of like normal composure. Like, it was two o'clock in the morning, to give you like a framework.
I can't even... Ugh! Oh! There's, like, gonna be a creek crossing at some point, too. -Gonna be a what? -A creek crossing. Just take it easy. Guys, slow down! I was done, so done. Basically, and I know Marie was totally done, too, and like being with her at the back, like...
You okay? And then I was in a lot of pain. My left leg was killing me. There were just moments where I was like, "Maybe we should stop." My body is destroyed completely. Wow.
Ehh. It's kind of fucked up. Holy shit. You never done anything that physical before.
Neither have I. No, hell no. I was like, oh, Bugs-to-Rogers will be easy. I so wish somebody told me it was this hard. -So naive. -Hardship.
I can't... I can't believe my body's just shutting down like this. It's like full-on... I'm gonna get sick. Okay, you can get to these really hard places and think you can't take it anymore. And then something happens where it's like maybe the weather eases off a little bit, or you see that place in the terrain or you dig a little deeper and you find that... little bit extra, and you make it through. Whoo! We actually did it! We did it! Thank you.
-Amazing! -We did it! Marie! Thank you so much. You're the best. Thank you so much. Marie. Marie walked away from a hug. I'm so sorry.
I love you, my friend! Oh! Oh, my gosh. I almost wanted to cry there. I saw your eyes.
I was really close. No idea. No idea what I was getting myself into. How you doin'? Good. I'm pretty tired. Well, I can honestly say that that was one of the hardest things I've done in my life.
Why was this something that I wanted to do in the first place? The kind of overarching picture for me in this is that, like... the mountains are a place where you really come close to the essence of who you are. Just be comfortable with being bad and build your team so that they'll support you while you're being an amateur at something. Like, that's how you're going to grow. What are you, what are you learning from Maddie and Marie? What do they teach you? Yeah, I think I value both of them so much that ...
um... Yep. Uh, I think to... I think this probably speaks to a lot of it.
Just like to... ...have these like special little moments in the mountains with people, I think is... um... is... yeah, super special. Those two ladies, like, are definitely, um...
yeah, they're honestly just making the world a better place. Like, when you hang out with either of them, you're like, "Whoa, I can do this," or, like, "I can bring this joy." Like, I think it's, um... very, very rare that you meet people of that caliber.
I don't know, I have like tears of joy for a second 'cause it was just like when you actually sit down and appreciate your friends, you're like, "Whoa, they're so awesome!" I think that's exactly why you do things. It makes you so connected to the people you're with, because they've experienced it for the first time, and you're together, and you will always be able to go back to that catalog and be like, wow, that was an amazing thing that we saw and we felt. That's what you do it for.
2021-12-11 11:10
