Guide To Ski Touring At Rogers Pass

Rogers Pass is home to the largest mobile avalanche control program. This means explosive artillery fire is regularly used on mountain slopes to protect highway and railway traffic from natural avalanches.

A winter permit is required for all users in the backcountry of Glacier National Park, including Winter Unrestricted Areas (new in 2026).

This program ensures that backcountry users don’t enter areas with active or future avalanche control operations. The system relies on 100% user compliance, making it critical for all visitors to understand and follow the rules.

Entering prohibited areas or closed areas leads to fines and permanent closures of areas for recreationalists.

TLDR: You need a winter permit to backcountry ski in Glacier National Park.

Rogers Pass sits high in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia and is easily accessed via the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1).

Most of the common ski tours start from one of the many parking lots along the highway, which are maintained by Parks Canada.

• 65 km east of Revelstoke (roughly a 45-minute drive)

• 80 km west of Golden (around 60 minutes)

Winter driving conditions can extend travel times, especially from the Revelstoke side, which sees heavier snowfall. Careful driving and equipping your vehicle with winter tires are key to safely navigating the icy roads.

The current status of Rogers Pass restricted areas are updated daily. All winter restricted areas and their associated parking lots close at midnight and remain closed until their status is updated at ~7 AM.

• Groups cannot arrive to restricted area parking lots before the map has been updated.

• Even if a zone is "open", backcountry terrain remains avalanche-prone

• Users are expected to exercise proper caution, carry appropriate gear, and obtain avalanche training and terrain awareness.

Skiing at Rogers Pass is simply phenomenal, and the main reason is the terrain. You'll tour through ancient forests, drop into sprawling alpine bowls, navigate sharp ridgelines, and cross massive, glaciated terrain.

One day you're snorkelling through bottomless powder; the next, you're bootpacking a knife-edge ridge and dropping into a steep couloir.

That said, most of the terrain is best suited for advanced and expert skiers or splitboarders with solid fitness. The routes are long, the climbs are big, and the descents can be serious.

Rogers Pass sits in an intercontinental belt, receiving large amounts of relatively dry snow, averaging 10 to 12 metres at treeline each season. It’s no exaggeration to say the ski conditions here rank among the best in Canada, if not the world.

But with great snow comes significant avalanche risk.

The area is known for both persistent instabilities, like buried surface hoar, crusts, and facets, and surface instabilities such as storm and wind slabs. Snowpack depth typically ranges from 200 to over 400 cm, depending on the season. By mid-December or January, the accumulating snowpack generally smooths out much of the terrain’s natural roughness, covering boulders, tree stumps, and small cliffs, making for more forgiving travel and better skiing.