We checked out the skiing at Highwood Pass on November 11, 2024, heading to the lower slopes of Pocaterra Ridge. We weren’t sure if there would be enough snow yet to make any turns but we decided to go find out.
But first, we drove a little further up the highway, past Highwood Pass, to see a slope we skied a couple of years ago.
The slope, on a ridge between Mist Mountain and Storm Mountain, had no snow on this day. What a shame.
We drove back to the Highwood.
Our route is the pink line recorded on the map below using GaiaGPS. We started at the upper right side and skinned up the trail about 2.5 km to the lower slopes.
Trip Report
We put on our skis at the parking lot but there wasn’t a ton of snow.
We hoped for more up the valley.
Starting out across the meadows. The snow is sparse.
At the far end of the meadows, the trail goes up into the forest.
The winter uptrack follows the summer hiking trail.
It goes up over a shoulder of Highwood Ridge. Then the trail emerges at the base of a bowl.
The slopes at the back of the bowl are skiable when there is more snow. Not today.
On the left side of the bowl, two frozen waterfalls sometimes form.
A few years ago, we climbed the left side. If it was a first ascent, we called it “Lefty Wins”. It would be WI2 or WI3. This year, the right side looks more climbable but the approach is steep and with so little snow, we aren’t sure it will be do-able.
After crossing below the base of the bowl, the trail enters the forest to continue up the valley.
Still not a lot of snow here compared with prior years.
Throught the forest, the trail comes to a small lake.
In the distance, Pocaterra Ridge has thin coverage. In past years, we have skied the lower slopes on the left side.
We gained the lower slopes after crossing a meadow cut by a creek. We had to remove our skis to cross the creek. Didn’t want to risk getting the skins wet and having the snow stick to them.
Thin cover on these lower slopes made me decide to turn around here. No good turns this day. More snow needed.
Although we didn’t really get to ski, we were glad we went out and checked the conditions. This valley is beautiful, any time of year. There needs to be at least 50 cm of snow at the Highwood Pass weather station (viewable at the Avalanche Canada website) for this area to be skiable.
Return to the main backcountry skiing page.
Have you skied at Pocaterra? What did you think?
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