Bill Jennings: Snow cat skiing can be experience of a skiing lifetime

It’s been a great season for fresh tracks. But every new snowfall is fleeting. First chair gets you clean lines for an hour, maybe two, as you compete with like-minded peers for untracked snow.

With snow cat skiing, the main attraction is first tracks all day long, with lunch too. It’s the next best thing to riding a chopper, at a price just short of outrageous to make sense for the average powder hound with a decent job.

We’re in the midst of one of the greatest snow cat seasons of all time. And you don’t have to be a freeriding ripper to join the fun. A day on a snow cat can be the perfect introduction to the backcountry for aspiring intermediates.

Around these parts, deciding where to go could be the hardest decision about the experience. Expect to pay a little more than $400 per day. Packages with lodging and meals cost a lot more. Some operations are just a day trip away. Others are more remote, and more intense.

Washington, a state full of great skiing, has only one snow cat operation: Cascade Powder Guides, located approximately 75 miles east of Seattle off Highway 2 near Stevens Pass Ski Area. Outside Magazine rates it as a top snow cat experience in the lower 48. Their focus is on quality. Only roughly 20 trips per season are scheduled in a 1,500-acre preserve. Planning ahead is a must. As of earlier this week, only two days had spots available for the remainder of the season.

For convenience, Selkirk Powder Co. offers the easiest access. From a home base on the summit ridge at Schweitzer, Selkirk Powder takes customers into more than 4,000 acres of terrain spanning the west-facing bowls on the backside of the ski area. Close proximity and a resort location with full amenities make this a good splurge based on the latest storm forecast.

Just across the border at Red Mountain Resort near Nelson, B.C., Big Red Cats runs one of the biggest snow cat operations in the world. Typically four snow cats per day prowl terrain spread out over eight peaks and 20,000 acres. A large number of seats offer plenty of available trips throughout the season. Big Red Cats has a strict policy of arranging trips according to ability, which makes this a good backcountry initiation for intermediates.

Before you show up, certified guides have selected the itinerary based on an evaluation of current conditions and the dynamics of your group. The day begins with a safety briefing and everyone is issued an avalanche beacon, probe and shovel. Drills include how to wear your avalanche beacon, how to home in on a person buried in snow, how to use your probe and how to dig out a victim as quickly as possible.

Your lead guide always stays ahead of the group. Tail guides bring up the rear to help people who may have fallen in snow sometimes deep enough to make getting out nearly impossible on one’s own. To get in as many runs as possible, guides have a system of checkpoints with continuous radio contact among each other and the cat to keep the group moving together safely and efficiently.

During the descent, it’s easy to be tempted by an unauthorized line caught from the corner of your eye. But having a team of experts looking after you is not a license to be careless. Safety policies and direction from the guides are intended to encourage good backcountry decision-making, not the opposite.

There are no ski patrollers standing by to package you in a toboggan and take you off the mountain. Should you get hurt or lost, you ruin the day for yourself and everyone riding in the cat with you. But if you play by the rules, you’ll learn a lot and have one of the best days on snow of your entire life.