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Terrain

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.

Expansive backcountry skiing terrain

Returning to

Atlasta–Casey

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.

Map of new backcountry cat skiing operations at Atlasta–Casey, facing west
Map of new backcountry cat skiing operations at Atlasta–Casey, facing north
Map of new backcountry cat skiing operations at Atlasta–Casey, facing south

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.