Upper Lodge Ridge and Spruce Pass

The view from Bouncing Chuckles, showing Spruce Pass and the upper part of the "Golf Course" in the background. Upper Lodge Ridge rises on the left. The telephoto lens makes the road to the pass appear to be steeper than it really is. The Golf Course is quite a mellow rum, a great "warmup". Click on any Chatter News photo to enlarge it.

The path of the helicopter flight to and from Chatter Creek passes over the low point in the far ridge. The area to the left, in front of the low peak is known as "MCO". MCO is a large area which extends under the flight path. The high peak to the right hides the gully known as "REZUM". Here is another view of MCO.

The area known as "South Park" is also in the area of the distant peak, well to the southwest of Vertebrae Lodge.

The treed hill in the foreground is known as "Strawberry"

Super Spruce, high on the East Ridge, at the end of the "Super Road" that climbs the crest of the East Ridge from the Nose. Super Spruce drops to the west into the general area of Spruce Slide. It is also possible to exit further to the north, below Mullet Bowl and Steph's Thumb.

High on the Super Road on the way to Super Spruce and Super Bowl. We are heading roughly north on the top of the East Ridge. There is ample terrain for two groups to ski different slopes and aspects in the same area. Super Spruce and Super Bowl drop to the West from the top of upper East Ridge. There are lines on the eastern flank as well, but we don't know their names.

The expanded Chatter Creek games room and bar. Here's a view of the pool table before the Solitude lodge expansion.

Serious pool in the bar. For winter 2004, the hallway to the lower bedrooms was closed off with a heavy door. The clothes and boot drying room is in the adjacent room to the right. In 2005, with the completion of Solitude Lodge, the drying room will be moved and the partition wall will be removed to expand the bar and games room.

Helicopter safety briefing in front of the Alpine Helicopters' Hanger in Golden, BC. This is the 12-passenger Bell 212. Alpine Helicopters also operate Bell 407 helicopters for transfering Chatter Creek snowcat skiers to and from Vertebrae Lodge.

Megahooped and Jo-Pal

The lower slopes of Stovepipe Mountain, taken from Lodge Ridge. Megahooped is the entire area below the central bench acrossed by the Road to Vertebrae glacier. Wonderland and Bouncing Chuckles are two separate sets of lines within Megahooped. Megahooped Trees lies at the bottom of Megahooped.

Jo-Pal starts at the top of the Windlip and passes through a draw in the northern ridge before turning and dropping to the road on the bench, quite close th the Upper Lake. A road branches to the south and crosses upper East Ridge to Mullet Bowl, Steph's Thumb and makes contact with lower Super Spruce.

The Windlip and the Road to Vertebrae Glacier

After crossing between Megahooped and Jo-Pal, the road to Vertebrae glacier passes onto the Windlip, which lies just north of Jo-Pal. Near the top of the Windlip, the road passes a large rock tower at the base of which forms a huge blowhole. Hence, the name, Windlip.

Just below the blowhole, the road forks, and a north branch passes left through a narrow opening called the Keyhole and climbs a short rise onto the Plateau that forms the top of Vertebrae glacier. The road continues north a short distance to a high spot which affords views back onto the Windlip, Megahooped, the Golf Course and Lodge Ridge.

From the blowhole, the east branch of the road continues to climb to the top of the Windlip, which it traverses to the southern side of the hill, where there is an opening that passes through the rocky ridge onto upper Jo-Pal

Looking West from Lodge Ridge over the Chatter glacier

Here's the dining room in action with the new rectangular tables. Looks like a birthday party may be in progress. The rectangular tables lead to a very sociable experience. There is still lots of room for servers to get around.

Click on the image to enlarge it, use the browser's "back" button to return to the normal view.

The expanded bar in Vertebrae Lodge seems to be ample large for the 36 clients that it serves. The expanded bar and games room is very comfortable and there was no sense of crowding

The original Vertebrae Lodge bar, before the 2004/05 expansion. The bar is located in the games room with the pool table and darts board. The whole area will be expanded for 2005, when Solitude Lodge is completed. The hot tubs are not far away, so bar service is easily provided whereever it is needed.

The entry to Jo-Pal from the Windlip. From this draw, at an elevation of about 9800 ft., Jo-Pal drops about 2000 ft. to the bench that separates if from Wonderland and Megahooped. This area provides excellent powder skiing.

Hartley making big tracks. Watch the Chatter News and Ski Photography by John Dougall for more photography from Chatter Creek in the weeks to come.

Shredding the powder at Chatter Creek. Click here for one more shot from the Jan 28 tour.

Fresh tracks on the Vertebrae Glacier. Chatter Creek provided over 34 skiers and guides fresh tracks every run for 4 days and showed no sign of running out of new territory.
Click here for two more recent shots

Easy skiing in light snow. It does not get much better than this! Click here for more!

Except for our first day, clear skies or high overcast provided good light and visibility. Chatter Creek provided great powder skiing from about 9800 ft to about 7000 ft. The snow was consistently soft and very skiable. Serious rain crust existed below 7000 ft, although this is being covered. Click here for more recent photos from Chatter Creek.