Wedgemount Lake Rethel Couloir

November 14, 2025

After scoring some soft turns on the Mt Athabasca after climbing the Silverhorn in September, I was hungry for scoring more powder in the great white north! The first time I attempted the Rethel Couloir was after the first big snowfall in October. Despite high snow totals, what I can only assume is an unfavorable wind direction led to the couloir looking awfully sad (see below). Heavy snow from mid-october to early november provided some decent low angle turns, but a persistent fog, heavy snow totals, and lack of partners kept me from the good stuff. Finally, on November 14 conditions looked marginally okay. ;D. There was a huge dump of snow, however the rain line was just below Wedgemount lake. Heavy accumulation seemed likely from 7000 feet, but overall managable (According to Whistler Cameras). By the grace of the facebook gods, I was put in touch with Charly, a Vancouverite who was as crazy as I am about scoring early-season turns.

Wedgemount Lake is already almost a 1200 meter day from the car (About as big as days get in Colorado!) Combine this with the 600 meter rethel couloir, you are in for a big day. If you are curious about the line, see my Caltopo. The approach is essentially a stairstepper the entire way. For the first 300m, it is a steep, albeit well-groomed trail, but beyond that it is a rooty, river-filled staircase. The couloir, looking much more filled-in this time, was a sight for sore eyes.

To get to the couloir before the lake is frozen, you must take a slightly circuitous trip over the moraine and across the creek. Along the way we were rewarded with a gorgeous view of the line in the fog.

The creek crossing ended up being easy enough. Charly threw his splitty on the shoulders and walked across right way; I decided to a-frame! There were quite a few loose rocks so I commend his resolve! From here there was a bit of a facety boulderfield that presented mild annoyance. Once past, there was about 100 meters of decent skinning before it became worth it to boot.

The snow ranged from crusty at the bottom, to hot pow in the middle (more-so moist sluff), to soft powder or exposed ice at the top (usually both depending on where you were in the couloir!)

The skiing was actually pretty good! At least for those of us with two edges... The top 3rd of the line was 45-50 degrees. The center of the line had been sluffed, leaving some sticky, slightly-slabby powder on the edges. It was icy and predictable in the middle which made for some good steep turns. The middle 3rd was the best, filled in by all our sluff it provided a consistent, moist hot-pow type of condition. We had to ski some refrozen debris to access the last third, where the snow had completely refrozen into a spring-like condition. Smooth, consistent, fast turns reminded me of why I love skiing so much!

From there, we skied back to the faceted boulders, crossed the creek, skinned the moraine, then skied one last time. Down from the lake to the consistent treeline we skied icy moguls, dodged baby trees, and hopped over creeks. We threw on our trail runners and hiked down to the car. It ended up as a 12 hour day, with 800 meters of skiing and 1000. Pretty good enough! The stoke was reset and I was very happy I could make up for all of the "misses". Now I am focused on the next decent! Cold snow cannot come soon enough!