Rockies Classics
Pierre Bernier
I’ve been blessed to have had so many amazing ski partners over the years…some ski-lebrities and some super low profile. They’re all part of who I am now from the experiences and emotions we’ve shared together. One of the ‘low profile’ partners with whom I cut my teeth in the Rockies with is Pierre Bernier.
When I spent my first winter in Golden, B.C. in 2000, Pierre was already there shredding the Dogtooths, Rogers Pass and the Rockies. Him and D’arcy McRae were my first friends there. Our connection never faded and when I returned to Golden in the fall of 2004, we ended up living a few doors down the street from each other and continued a wonderful partnership in the mountains.
Pierre was a budding heli-pilot and so whenever he had his weeks off work he was back home and fully stoked, ready to climb and shred. He loved to climb ice, slog in on big approaches, ski the steeps and do winter camping adventures…and along with sharing musical tastes, worldviews and mountain sensibilities, all we had were good times.
Ice-climbing was always good mental, physical and skills training for getting after ski projects. One of the niftier climbs we ever did together (along with Jon Walsh of course) was French Reality…
Easy access off the Trans-Canada Highway hits were always a good call for day missions…like the classic Pope’s couloir…
Rogers Pass was also part of our highway access scenarios. We had a sweet full moon fungal enhanced Jupiter traverse one fine evening…
Skiing routes that had mandatory icefalls in them were a shared fetish. I wish I had pictures of all the crazy scenarios we ended up in pursuing that. One memorable endeavour stands out…the Cirque of the Unskiables. Just south of Saskatchewan Crossing on the west side of the Icefields Parkway is a magnificent cirque of 3 tasty couloirs, that require a good slog up to them from the parking spot. If you do make your way up underneath them you’ll then realize that all 3 have an icefall at the bottom making them ‘unskiable’.
Pierre and I tried and failed a couple times having to retreat in darkness from dealing with the ice climbing. I returned a third time with Cody Lank and we finally managed to ski the leftmost line from the top…
Eventually, Cody and Pierre returned years later to finish the job and nail the original main line.
Traipsing in far from the highway for more remote goodies brought rewards for such efforts. The Ice River is a good ways back there in Yoho National Park and on a glorious mission with the most foot pain I’ve ever had, Pierre, Aaron Enns and I were able to ski the west face of the South Goodsir from well up high…
Pierre of course got busier and busier in his profession as a heli-pilot and I of course moved away to La Grave, but near the end of our era togther we did have a last hurrah.
On a last minute opportunity to hop in a pick-up flight out to the Clemenceau Glacier we availed ourselves to a 17 day Clemenceau-Colombia ski safari. We were packed for 10 days but when we landed, Johnny Sims and his clients left us another 7 days of supplies. People usually do this traverse back to the Icefields Parkway in 3 days (I’d done that several years previously as well) and end up walking by a lot of goodies. Needless to say we got in a bunch of skiing doing the extended version and scored a plethora of first descents.
Our prize had to be the premiere of Mt King Edward via it’s beautiful South East Face.
That second part of the trip saw the later stages of April turn spring-like up on the high glaciers which turned out perfect for not only Edward but also for the direct line on the South Face of Mt Colombia.
Pierre made it over for my wedding in 2009 and we haven’t been able to reconnect in person since. I know he’s flying high somewhere over the mountains he loves so much.
Thanks Pierre.