49° North - February 2006

Well, before last years Canada road trip goes totally out of my mind Id better say a few words about the day we had down at 49' North on Monday 27th Feb 2006.

For the last couple of years we had always planned to head South over the border from Canada to visit some of the nearby resorts in the US. Idaho, Montana or Washington? There were plenty of possibilities.

Our usual itinerary takes us from Calgary to Vancouver via Rossland, where we always go to Whitewater and other Canuck resorts nearby such as Phoenix Mountain, Fortress, Nakiska etc. This year we had spent a great day at Castle Mountain on our way to Rossland. After first getting to know Q through the GONEboarding website I had taken a keen interest in all the ski areas just South of the border and we had thought long and hard how we could possibly visit some of these places on our annual Canadian road trip. Places such as Big Mountain, Turner Mountain, Silver Mountain, Schweitzer, 49' North, Sitzmark, Loup Loup, Stevens Pass and Mount Baker were all areas we might be able to add into our road trip. But as usual, time constraints put paid to any chance of doing this.

Q had painted such vivid descriptions of some of these places that I knew that they would be the type of area we would love to visit and spend time at. So now that we were back in Canada in Feb 2006, when snow conditions were very good, I made the effort to plan a day in the States while we were based at Rossland.

We had flown out to Calgary on the 20th Feb and made our way down to Castle Mountain and then back "home" to Rossland. We had been experiencing great conditions at Red Resort, including a days Cat boarding with Big Red Cats. When we had finished our first week at Red we decided to take the plunge and head across the border. From Rossland the nearest US resort is 49' North. Its a short drive down to the border crossing at Paterson and we left Rossland in a snowstorm just after breakfast at 8.15am.

When we arrived at the border crossing there were no other vehicles to be seen and the snow had now turned to drizzle. I drove up to the barrier where the first US Customs officer stepped out...I was then told to move back 6" as I was over the line! This very officious guy then asked for our passports and vehicle documents. Panic, the hire vehicle papers were still in my folder at the Rams Head Inn!!! He said nothing and then looked at the cars plate before telling us to pull over to the parking bay and come into the office.

Once inside we were greeted by another officer, with no sense of humour who looked like something out of an animated film. Passports handed over then we were handed a Customs/Immigration form to sign before having our finger prints taken followed by a photograph of our eyes. Thought these guys were weird! Then the biggest shock of the day, we were asked to hand over $6 each for the privilege!! Luckily it was a very quiet morning and we were not held up for long.

Once on our way we headed South down to Northport and following the huge Columbia River to Kettle Falls. The change of scenery was dramatic as the snow capped peaks were replaced by lush green fields where Cattle were grazing. The temp on the cars temp gauge was rising dramatically, it was certainly spring time in this part of Washington State.

We were soon down to Chewelah and midway through the town there is a sign pointing up to 49. A few hundred yards out of town the road turns to a track and starts to climb higher through the forest. This is a link road through to the town of Usk with the Ski area being slightly under half way along the road.

We arrived at the parking lot by 10.15am. It was still mild and a slight drizzle was coming down from an overcast sky. Getting out of our 4x4 we stepped into a field of mud... not hard frozen mud but wet, dirty, sticky mud the type of mud we are well used to back home in Scotland. There were a few vehicles in the parking lot as well as a few yellow school buses but not many people around. We walked through the mud and up the steps to the base area and the ticket office. The place was deserted and after a friendly welcome at the desk we handed over our $31 each for our lift tickets. Don't think there had been many Scots here in the last few years!

The Lodge here has two levels with all the facilities that any visitor could wish for. Lockers, Rental, Ticket Office, Ski Patrol downstairs with the Bar, Cafeteria and Shop up above with a deck looking out towards the bottom lifts.

The main lift is the Bonanza Chair which goes via a mid station all the way to the top of the Chewelah Peak (5774ft). There are another couple of lifts nearby as well as the West Basin Chair which allows access back to the top without having to come back to the base area. We decided to get to the top as soon as possible and we were delighted when by mid station the drizzle had turned to snow. The relatively slow chair got to the top where the snowfall was heavier and as we "strapped in" the snow under foot felt "crisp and squeaky".

This looked promising, but I could not understand just how much untracked Pow there was under the chairlift! Why was this? Well I soon found out, after about 200m of riding in lovely pow (about 25-40cm) it soon turned wet and heavy! Heavy is not the word for it. Although the runs like Last Chance and Powderkeg were steep enough black diamonds it was very slow and we had a bit of a laugh just trying to get down. Once further down the hill it was easier to move on the pistes that had been groomed and were hard packed from skiers and boarders. Visibility was poor at times with mist coming in and rolloing out all the time.

We hit most of the hill in a good couple of hours riding and it was easy to see that this could be a great little hill when conditions were better (ie, colder). In fresh pow there would be plenty of possibilities with lots of glade runs and plenty of challenging terrain. The main runs were virtually all between the trees so it would be great when visibility was not 100%.

Well after all the hard work we thought it was time for a bit of lunch, so we headed down through the slush to the daylodge. The Bar and Cafeteria at 49 are a good size with plenty of decent sturdy tables and places for hanging up jackets and backpacks. We got a bite to eat and a drink and sat down next to the window so that we could look out out and see what was going on outside.

As usual, no matter where I am in the world I seem to attract all sorts of people, who seem at first to be the undesirable types who want to chat. Well here at 49 was no exception, except our "table guest" was a real interesting character. A local who had moved up to the Chewelah area from the Californian Surf community in the 60's and just loved to spend time on the hill as well as running his business producing clothing which was environmentally friendly, whatever that means! He was telling me just how good the area can be when there has been a fresh fall of snow and it was easy to see that on another day we could have been well worn out after a day on this friendly, local hill.

After lunch we had another couple of runs and then decided to call it a day and head back north to Rossland. We had a nice drive back and stopped at Colville to do some shopping, where a few bargains were picked up.

When we got back to Paterson Border crossing it was so so different from the Southward journey. The Border Officer greeted us cheerfully and then without showing any documentation we had a good chat about where his ancestors came from in the NE of England before we made our way back to Rossland and down to the Rock Cut for dinner and a few beers!

A good day out, and I will certainly be back at 49' North, probably in 2008 as we are having to give Canada a miss this coming winter. These small ski hills are well worth visiting and I certainly will be visiting a lot more of them in the future.

Stuart McWilliam hails from Dumfries, Scotland. He started skiing at age 12 and went on to embrace many forms of snow sport, from slalom to snowboarding to ski touring. He now spends 6 weeks travelling with his wife each year and also visits the Scottish slopes whenever possible. He has contributed to the “Where to Ski and Snowboard” guide books, and his other interests include football, horses, good food and fine wines.