Ian Fowler, 2016 Chad Vander Ham Scholarship Recipient
Ian Fowler on his Advanced Ski Guide Course in British Columbia. Photo: Andrew Councell
I was notified that I would be the 2016 Chad Vander Ham award recipient while in a small Colorado town camping with my family. To say I was excited was an understatement! I was honored to have been selected to keep the memory of Chad alive through the scholarships. The fact that my video was selected by a group of Chad’s friends made it even more special. I chose the Pemberton course because it was early in the season, a totally different snow pack from my regular Colorado snowpack and people talked highly of the venue.
Arriving in Seattle it was hammering with rain which meant the next 2 days we tried to train in suboptimal conditions. The poor weather continued for the first few days of the course, but eventually it would play into our favor by giving us a nice thick rain crust over 2 problematic buried surface hoar layers. Apart from doing the aspirant sled lower drill, beacon drill and a baseline profile, the first three days were spent inside as we watched rain falling in town. Margaret Wheeler and Andrew Councell did a good job filling the time with theory, presentations and some great guest speakers. A highlight was Dale Marcoux from Whistler Heli-ski and Avalanche Canada who did a great seasonal snowpack history.
Ray, Tod, and Andrew practice crevasse rescue. Photo: Ian Fowler
Finally, on day 4 and 5 we got things moving with 2 days at Blackcomb ski area. Crevasse rescue drills on a large cornice made for some great learning on how tricky things can become when dealing with wind, blowing snow, iced up ropes and overhanging lips. Day 5 was spent close to the ski area in the Blackcomb Peak area. The focus of this day was rope work and I got to enjoy short roping up Disease Ridge and then doing some belayed client skiing on the way down.
Day 6 dawned with weather telemetry telling us to expect 5 cm of fresh snow. Out we headed to the Armchair Glacier on Cayoosh Peak for some glacier travel training. It quickly became apparent that the weather stations were off by around 35 cm! The tough work of trail breaking meant we were not going to make the glacier, so we opted for the consolation of skiing through 40 cm of COLDSMOKE. Big smiles all round at the end of this day!
Ian, Andrew, Kurt, Brenton, and Parker work their way up the Matier Glacier.
Day 7 was the start of the Aspirant Exam and for me it was hard to switch from course mode to exam mode. Due to the weather, we only had 2 days mentored guiding prior to the exam, of which each candidate only had 2-3 hours of leading, and I was craving more. This day, we were dropped by a helicopter above Gravell Creek and enjoyed great skiing but with variable visibility. It was a good learning about guiding on-site, on the fly and also stepping up into the alpine with variable visibility and still give clients a great experience. Everyone was super psyched to get exposure to heli-skiing; something I want to do more of!
Day 8 and 9 were expedition days and we were very happy to be going into Keith’s Hut and not camping. People started the day slow after lots of late nights and early mornings. However, with the help of a yellow orb in the sky and looking up Anniversary Glacier we were soon firing on all cylinders. It was so nice to finally get on a glacier and Andrew did a great job of coaching us on glacier travel despite the exam environment. After a quick run on the Matier Glacier we headed back down Anniversary for probably the best run of the course – 900m (nearly 3000 ft) of knee deep blower powder all the way back to the hut. Day 9 started with a forecast of light to moderate winds. Our concerns of wind slabs were soon confirmed with shooting cracks and reactive pockets as we travelled up the ridge towards Vantage Peak. After looking at the NE face and ruling it out for instability we backtracked to a pretty nice plan B. After the ski, we packed up the hut and tried for another quick lap which unfortunately ended up being some of the worst skiing of the course through crusty thick trees. This day gave us a good lesson on the importance of time planning and how easy it is to lose time during the day.
Tod, Margaret, and Kurt work their way up Disease Ridge. Photo: Ian Fowler
I really enjoyed the course and learned a lot about ski guiding and myself. In Colorado, we spend a lot of the winter just avoiding anything steep so it was good to step out into bigger terrain. Some of the techniques we worked with skiing in flat light were useful and their application will be practiced in the future. I was also able to identify some of my ski heuristics and work on ways to remove those biases to offer clients a better experience.
This was one of the most supportive courses I have taken, and I must thank my co-candidates and instructors for creating a great learning environment and keeping the positive energy flowing. Also, a huge thanks to the AMGA for exposing us to a lot of different types of ski guiding, lift access, heli and touring. Finally, thanks to the Chad Vander Ham Nice Fund for making this course possible for me!
