Cat skiing & avalanche safety
We’re going to slow the pace and bump up the snow safety as we ride 3–5 laps in the snowcat. With the snowcat doing the hard uphill part, everyone will reach – and effortlessly return to – epic powder runs ready for more avalanche discussions and scenarios. Packs, shovels, probes and beacons supplied.
The tour price excludes 6 % Idaho state tax; online and direct reservations incure a 6 % booking fee.
After booking, you may request to change your reservation time or date outside of 21 days, though we assess an administrative fee of $100 for each change. Please visit Policies for our full cancellation policy.
- Give us a ring on the phone: +1 (208) 263-6959.
- Send your booking to reservations@selkirkpowder.com.
- Use our contact form.
Lodging
We’ve gathered together a few options for accommodations in the Coolin area.
Travel insurance
We’ve found a policy to consider that suits our nature-reliant adventures.
This tour serves as a first transition from the blur of resort-base tours to whet your appetite for the more conscious, slower of adventure found in human-powered backcountry touring. After the 45 min cat-bump, you can expect a boot-pack of about 200 ft (60 m) of vertical to reach prime terrain. We’ll start from there for each, usually totaling 3–5 runs in the day. We supply your avlanche safety equipment; you bring a tastey lunch.
- how to prepare for a day in the backcountry
- how to set up your touring equipment
- how to use avalanche safety gear
(If you don’t have any avalanche gear, you can rent it from us.)
Take your time learning, making short accents, and dropping in for some fresh powder runs! The goal is to create a low-demand, no-pressure environment for small groups to learn and experience what touring in the backcountry is all about and to how to keep safe.
Customizable
We offer this tour as an “introduction” in whatever sense that means for you and your group. If you have snowshoes and not a touring set-up, we can arrange it If you are less about making turns and just want a low-back experience deep in the mountains of winter, we can get you there. We’d love to hear what you are dreaming-up, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
The Selkirks, a sub-range of the Columbia Mountain system, span from Sandpoint to Revelstoke and are probably the most famous ski range in North America. Parked laterally to the Pacific jet stream, the Selkirk Range defines orographic lift. To say the snowpack is deep is an understatement. Accumulation really starts to develop in November–December, and all the way through April–May, we’re consistently blanketed with fresh powder snow.
Familiar terrain
Even though the permit we hold is new, this is familiar skiing terrain for Ken and his heli team. Ken began surveying and skiing the Priest Lake–based Atlasta–Casey area way back in 2002–2003 along with Selkirk Powder co-founder Chip Kamin as they mapped the entire Middle Fork East River drainage before setting SPC’s original operations site on the west side of Schweitzer Basin. One of the pictures in the gallery is Ken on top of Mount Casey. The run created that day was dubbed “Casey Jones”: Take the dead snags heading for the shoulder, veer slightly rider’s right towards Chicopee Creek, and it’s 1½ mi and 2,025 vertical ft and to the pick-up. Altasta–Casey then became one of four polygons in our heli skiing permit in 2016. At the bottom of Chicopee and Race Creeks, we spent considerable time improving exits and landing zones after skiing incredibly fun powder descents.
This zone is way more diverse than our Schweitzer set-up and features three distinct aspects at higher elevations, many more steep, north shots, and some very impressive rock features. Take a gander at the gallery above; the pics and the maps will orient you and our new batch of run names is bound to excite you! Lots of updates will be dropping over the next 8 months – please revisit here often.
We‘re sure this new zone is really going to be something for everyone’s backcountry FOMO / bucket list. So, open your calendars, call the buds, and start making plans for your flights to Spokane, your Coolin-based accommodations, and booking days for some snowcat-ing, skinning, and riding the next big Selkirk Powder zone.
| Meet Selkirk’s staff and guides at the Eastside Road uphill departure point. While ascending, guests will undergo a backcountry safety briefing including completion of an AM Tour form, group experience analysis, and route selection. | |
| Arrive at the drop zone in a heated cabin with accoutrements. After the first drop, it’s up to the guide(s) and guests to make their way to remaining ski routes. | |
| pm | Last snowcat ascent. |
| pm | Snowcat descends to return to the Eastside Road departure point. |
FAQs
Individuals and small groups that occupy fewer than 10 seats must be adequately experienced to tour and ride in uncontrolled, ungroomed, or unimproved slopes upwards of 40° safely and confidently. Private tour rates are discounted for groups of 10 or more paying on one single tab. Private groups may consist of novice riders and guides who can or will become instructors as well as route overseers.