Hootenanny implies a wild and raucous celebration and our recent trip to the interior was a prime example. With good friends bringing good news and a crew of Norwegians adventuring across BC in a rented 30′ RV, we were guaranteed a good time, even if we hadn’t been gifted with heaps of snow and the reunion of old ski friends.

Photo courtesy of the Norwegians

Nina arrived from Norway via Amsterdam and had already been travelling for 24 hours. I met her at the airport and we loaded the car, collected Caroline and made a break to try and beat a massive incoming storm. We were pounded by rain all the way to Hope and made it up and through Manning Park just as the swirling snows started to stick to the wet pavement. With great relief, we burst out of the storm and coasted down into a dry Princeton – thanks be to the Cascades!

We rolled into Nelson late that night to convene with the RV and to ski the snow we assumed would follow us to the interior. We weren’t wrong, but the the storm started wet and resulted in a soggy powday where Whitewater truly lived up to it’s name. The storm cooled as it passed and our next day at the resort was a different story. Resort laps were slayed by all but the promise of untracked lines propelled our exhausted legs out in the backcountry. That one taste was enough to prompt us to make the drive down to Kootenay Pass to harvest some serious pow.

The following photo gallery is the result of eight friends let loose in the beautiful powfields and cliffs adjacent to the aptly named Powder Highway.