Via Fernie Alpine Resort’s Whitepass chair and Lost Boys Pass. A fun slack-country objective that provides good skiing away from the crowds of the resort. As always, be fully prepared for a ski tour as search and rescues are not uncommon in this area.
Getting Started
Take Timber chair from the day lodge, then up Whitepass chair. Ski the groomer from the top of Whitepass into Timber Bowl and follow the run Falling Star, staying skier’s right until Lost Boys Pass (approx 49.4380, -115.1043). Alternatively, you can skip the $100 lift pass and skin up Mongolia Bowl if you prefer, shown as “M” in the above map.
Trip Report
From Whitepass chair, ski towards Lost Boys Pass, just below Mammoth Head shown above. The looker’s right ridge line off Mammoth Head’s SW is the route you will skin up.
The short trip from Falling Star to Lost Boys Pass is sure to spark debate as to whether skinning, bootpacking, or shimmying along is the most efficient method to reach this first waypoint. Once settled, strap into downhill mode and ski away from the resort into Lost Boys Pass for a ~150m ski descent.
Jenn getting some great early season turns down Lost Boys Pass, above. Trend skier’s left to reach lower-angle slopes off Mammoth Head’s West Face.
Skin up the aforementioned lower-angle slopes through nicely-spaced Balsams (and not-so-nicely-spaced early season willows). Aim for Mammoth Head’s SW ridge.
Great views once we reached the SW ridge! A decent little inversion on this day. Continue up the ridge towards the summit of Mammoth Head.
Summit photo!
From the summit, numerous ski descents are possible in all directions other than north and east, which are steep cliff faces over the resort. That being said, I’m sure someone has negotiated a route down the north or east face… Let me know in the comments if you have!
We chose to ski a 400m chute that leads from the SW ridge back down into Lost Boys Pass, which did not disappoint.
Once you have had enough of skiing powder (or bushwacking through early-season willows in our case), transition back into uphill mode and skin back to Lost Boys Pass and finish the day off with a lap or two at the resort.
Above is a snip of the Interactive Map showing our actual GPS tracks of Mammoth Head and Mongolia Bowl. Some options for ski descents are shown as red arrows. The purple contour shading typically indicates cliffs, so steer clear of those. The ski quality was noticeably better on the west-facing slopes and the snowpack was generally fatter compared to the south side of the ridge.
Stats
Times and distances are round-trip from the Falling Star ski run.
