Monthly Archives: August 2025

This summer, three Nelson men accomplished a world first by running, scrambling and bush-bashing the entire length of British Columbia’s Valhalla Provincial Park, from south to north, in under 24 hours. That’s about 52 kilometres over six mountain passes – in … Continue reading →

Earl Whipple mentioned it as a way to access the south end of the traverse of the Valhallas. This route never occurred to me and seems like a complicated way to get there. I have never heard of anyone doing … Continue reading →

This high-level traverse served as the access to Drinnon/Gwillim before the trail up Hoder Creek was developed, and Bannock Burn gave the only access to the south Valhallas. When the coin was flipped from 1980 to 1989, and Bannock Burn … Continue reading →

This high-level traverse served as the access to Drinnon/Gwillim before the trail up Hoder Creek was developed, and Bannock Burn FSR was the only access to the south Valhallas. When the coin was flipped from 1980 to 1989, and Bannock … Continue reading →

A route exists from the south at Hodr Creek and Drinnon/Gwillim lakes that continues north along the spine of the Valhallas. Several exit routes exist to the east down to Slocan Lake. The exits to the west are out of … Continue reading →

TRAVERSE of the VALHALLAS by SKI – Mulvey Basin to Shannon Creek The Valhalla traverse is the ultimate West Kootenay traverse. Remote and committing, this rewarding ski traverse through Valhalla Provincial Park is a guided tour offered by Summit Mountain … Continue reading →

END THE PHONE-BASED CHILDHOOD NOW  The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development. By Jonathan Haidt Photographs by Maggie Shannon March 13, 2024 Something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the early 2010s. By now … Continue reading →

INSECTS Where the Trans Canada Highway penetrates the Selkirk Mountains, at Glacier, tourists now wander the trails barelegged and otherwise unprotected, little suspecting that Glacier was once teeming with mosquitoes. In 1955, Whipple alit from the train and was attacked … Continue reading →

Photographer Douglas Noblet likes to suffer. In 2016, the Nelson, British Columbia native helped organize a team of skiers, including Steve Senecal from Nelson, BC, and Mark Grist, Nick Matwyk, and Lena Rowat from Vancouver, to ski traverse the Selkirk … Continue reading →

THE MOST AMBITIOUS SKI TRAVERSE EVER March 22, 2016 KOOTENAY MOUNTAIN CULTURE magazine  When four ski mountaineers decided to travel 2,015 kilometres of the Coast Mountain Range, from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Skagway, Alaska, they knew the massive undertaking would … Continue reading →