Ski Photos from the Rocky Mountains

The lower reaches of the skiable terrain on Chatter Creek's Vertebrae Glacier. The Vertebrae gladier is one of the highest and largest regularly skied glaciers in North America.

Snowcat skiers descend a sweet slope beneath a spectacular rock face. This John Dougall photograph captures the essence of snowcat skiing: a combination of spectacular scenery , great powder skiing, small ski groups and and big slopes.

Scroll down to see some prior "photos of the week" from some of our Chatter News Weblogs about snowcat skiing at Chatter Creek. For even more powder skiing photos and great mountain scenery from Chatter Creek, check out the links at the top of this page or in the right hand column.

Chatter Creek photographer, John Dougall catches veteran mountain guide Herb Bleuer as he passes a Chatter Creek snowcat. Herb is entering his second year with Chatter Creek. Refer to our "Winter Staff" Weblog to learn a bit about Herb's colourful past as a backcountry guide, heli-ski operator and ski instructor.

Tsar Peak (3424 m) rises behind the Sullivan Fault in this photo by Robert of ESO, taken from Chatter Creek's Vertebrae glacier.

A group of cat skiers slide off across the top of the Vertebrae Glacier on their way to steeper terrain. Mt. Columbia rises on the horizon in the upper right of the photo. The elevation at this point is about 9600 ft. The height of Mt Columbia is 12,293 ft. This panorama gives a better look at the view from the Vertebrae glacier, which offers some of the best machine-accessible glacier skiing in North America. Photo credit to Svante Jonsson.

Tree Skiing at Chatter Creek. When the weather closes in and a storm is delivering the next 20 to 30 cm of light powder snow, cat skiers head for the trees where the snow is lightest and most consistent and the visibility is best. Chatter Creek offers a great variety of tree skiing on East Ridge, Lodge Ridge and Megahooped,as well as in Staff Trees, the Bermuda Triangle, SX3 and SX2, to name just a few tree skiing areas.

The view to the south from the Keyhole and the top of Vertebrae Glacier. Megahooped trees are far below, as is Lodge Ridge, at center right. In the distance, the trees of the Bermuda Triangle are apparent on the eastern slope of the Kitchen Range of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Above the trees, the Clamshell can be seen on the right, the Table in the center and parts of MCO on the left. To the left of the Table, and just left of center, RUZM bowl faces us, in shadow. Just right of RUZM, the sun glints off the slope of South Park, on the south side of the large peak in the center of the photo. In the forground, and far below, the Road to Vertebrae glacier marks our route to this vantage point. Click the image to enlarge it.

Scroll down for a collection of ski photos that have been "photos of the week" in the Cat Skiing Articles Ski Weblog. "Cat Skiing Articles" mixes photography and text to relate just about everything there is to know about cat skiing.

A "9.8" for this classic "garage sale". The joys of powder skiing include pretty soft landings when one "trips". We love this shot! We've all augered in, but rarely with such style and grace! However, there's a similar sequence among our collection of ski photography by John Dougall.