Side Country With Cinnamon Buns
Story by Amy Knapp for the 2025 ACC Gazette
Winter is a time when the world becomes a playground, covered entirely in soft white powder to play in. At least that’s what it should be, but Prince George’s early spring this year, with rain in January, was pathetic. But we in PG are lucky to have nearby mountains to escape to.
And that’s what we did. While it was raining in Prince George, six of us ran away for a weekend Intro to Touring in Wells trip in nearby Wells, BC, where it was snowing fluffy flakes, rather than spitting rain on our dreams of winter fun. The original plan was to spend a day working on our touring skills in the side country terrain of the Troll Ski Resort and then explore the backcountry on the second day.
Some of us had never toured, for some it was their second or third time, and one couldn’t remember, but we were all game for adventure! I had to scramble to borrow everything I needed, but as the outdoor community in PG is close knit and wants to share the passion, I was able to find gear that (mostly) fit.
Saturday started with playing on some groomers and fresh powder and it didn’t take those of us with borrowed gear long to get excited to take our boots off! A couple of us were in enough pain early on that we were expecting to have to bail on the day of ‘real touring’ on Sunday.
After a break, boot adjustments, and some of Troll’s GIANT cinnamon buns, we headed up high for a mini tour off the top of the T-bar and up to the old cat skiing trails. Not a soul had been up there, and the runs were full of fresh powder!
We took time to nerd out over avalanche safety and snow quality and worked on our kick turns, which sometimes looked more like awkward snow yoga.
The evening involved a little après-ski, another cinnamon bun and live music. From friends we got reports that the snow conditions at the nearby mountains that we were planning on skiing the next day absolutely sucked.
The next morning, we took time to dive into trip planning processes with the entire group and decided to spend another day at Troll, this time touring up in the new development on the west side of the main hill.
The sun was out, and it was a beautiful day! Things were steady and easy, until they weren’t. Skiing up a road brought us to the bottom of a steep willowy section. Let’s just say that by the time we got to the top of it we had all gotten better at kick turns. We then discovered someone else’s up track on an old road and we chuckled to ourselves that we may not have taken the easiest line after all, but we were happy to have gotten in some practice in setting tracks and choosing lines through more difficult terrain.
We pushed to the top and after a break for lunch and switching out of our skins we were ready to fly! Only the first part of the run wasn’t very steep and there was a lot of double-polling over the ups and downs. And poor Kurtis who was on a split-board. We cleared the flats and rode an easy run that was nice and loooong!
It had been the most work I had ever done for a green ski run, but it was such a fun experience with a great group.
As we had parked at Troll, we heard the cinnamon buns calling us one more time. We snacked and relived the wonderful weekend in the lodge.
Thank you so much to those who lent me gear so that I could get hooked on touring, to the crew for such a great weekend, and to Lauren and Chris for sharing their experience and knowledge and leading the trip!
Now I am in search of my own gear, because I definitely want to do more touring!
Regional ACC Sections are the Alpine Club of Canada’s strength. Membership in an ACC Section enables members to participate in numerous summer and winter mountaineering, rock climbing, and skiing activities, coordinated by experienced amateur leaders in their local area. The majority of activities offered by sections are either free or are offered on a break-even basis to their members. Through ACC Section trips you’ll learn all the basics you need to travel safely in the mountains, while meeting new friends to enjoy your experiences with.
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