New year began with a quick trip up and down SW face of Hollyburn Mountain. This was my first self-propelled skiing of the 16/17 season!

We parked at Cypress Mountain’s overnight parking, and started to skin up SW face at 2:30pm. At 3:45pm we were just past Hollyburn shoulder, and a bit later we were at the peak. We got back to the parking lot just as the dusk started to thicken and terrain became hard to make out as you’re skiing in the glades. This was too late for my taste. It was the three of us on the trip, and the most rookie person struggled a bit on the way down through steeper sections and on the top while transitioning their equipment. That’s really no fault of theirs as this was a first trip of the season for everyone, but we should have left way earlier.

Skiing itself was super fun! Lots of soft, deep snow. I wore my old boots (which are very soft and probably a few sizes too large), so I felt a little clumsy but really enjoyed it. We veered too much left as we were going around the hill SW of the Hollyburn shoulder, and had to keep cutting skier’s right afterwards. Next time I’d probably go around the right side and cut left a bit instead.

Skinning up. We'll be skiing down here in a less than two hours.
Looking SW from just above Hollyburn shoulder, back the way we came. You can see how windy it is! English Bay in the distance.
Looking towards the ski slopes.
On peak of Hollyburn.
Sun was setting just before we started to ski down.