Mount Pakenham-February 18, 2022

After 20 centimeters of fresh powder fell upon us, some friends and I decided to spend an evening night skiing at Mount Pakenham. Though the temperature was -20, the phenomenal snow conditions made for some amazing glade skiing. Due to my friends' ability to push me out of my comfort zone, I began skiing gladed runs much more frequently, and am much less terrified of the idea of zooming through and around trees. My newfound confidence can honestly be attributed to the glades at this hill! Pakenham is an interesting mountain when compared to others in the region due to it designating all off-bounds terrain as "glades". Most of the 10 marked glades are unmaintained, making for some terrain not for the faint of heart. I had always considered Pakenham to be a "beginners" or "boring" mountain, and in many ways (groomed runs for example) it can be stated that it is not the most interesting. However, the amount and variety of gladed terrain at Mount Pakenham really surprised my friends and I. With amazing snow coverage, we headed in. The following video still shots were taken on my helmet-mounted action camera, so apologies for the crooked or tilted shots:

Taken seconds before disaster after he finally decided to jump off the cliff! He was ok:) 

The pictures will never do the glades justice, but I encourage anyone who visits Mount Pakenham after a large snowfall to reasonably explore beyond their comfort zone and ski their gladed terrain. There are mellower sections with some clearing, as well as other sections (such as to the left of Snow Rider) involving steeper drops with tighter brush. We kept skiing until nightfall, where after viewing a beautiful sunset and interestingly-lit moon, explored other glades, on the mountain, as well as enjoying the beautiful carving condition on the groomed runs. 

Though extremely cold, we had a blast in the glades, even taking a few friends who had never tree-skied before through the easier parts. After skiing, we headed over to one friend's place for some snacks and hot drinks. All in all, it was a Friday evening well-spent. Never in a million years would I have thought that Mount Pakenham would have such awesome (even extreme) gladed runs/terrain! Come check it out!