Morrisey Backcountry Trails
All the trails on Mount Morrisey can be linked up, but practically speaking, they fall into two groups. All of the Upper Trails are best accessed by taking the Morrisey Chair to the top and cross-country skiing across the top of the mountain,following the Holy Cow Trail. The lower trails can be accessed by skiing up to McGillivray Lake.
From the top of Mount Morrisey, follow Holy Cow as it winds across the plateau. There are fine views of Tod Mountain.
At the junction to the Viewpoint Trail, take either route, but the second turn is shorter. There is a backcountry sign at the junction (but no map nor a trail name)(at N50 51.512 W119 53.811). Follow this double track as it aims south. You will have a view of Easter Lake below you to the east. As the trail drops, watch for flagging tape winding into the trees on your left. Hopfeully someone will have skied in advance to set a trail for you. Follow the single track as it emerges onto the lake. Ski across Easter Lake.
If you beyond Easter Lake, the trail winds through the woods for a few hundred metres on a single track. It climbs a bit and the going is slow and a bit of challenge until it is skied in. When I did this trail, one skier had ventured a short ways so it was still very loose, deep snow. He had turned around (I met him on the trail). Beyond his track, it was unskied bottomless powder. The narrow track emerged to a double track and a long downhill shown as a dotted line on the map.
It joins a wide double track that continues downhill to the southeast.
After a long ski without much in the way of trail marking, at last there was a trail sign for a side trail.
This short leg is all single track. A large trail sign stands in the middle of the clearing. I looked at the sign, but there was no “you are here” marker, but I correctly interpreted it and headed up one trail. Martin Trail is shown as one way and that is because it is all uphill from this point, but it had been skied and the Fisher trail hadn’t. I would recommend Fisher Trail as the next leg. Finally after a steep up, then narrow track down, the trails emerge at a crossing for Bruins Romp. The way to the right is a kilometre of downhill. Lots of fun in the powder, but avoid this one if it is icy. It emerges onto Holy Cow where the skier can work his/her way down to Great Gray and back to the parking area.
This 12km route took me 3.5 hours in untracked snow, but once skied in should be much quicker. It was slow-going and the uphills made me wish I had brought my skins. Wax is not very helpful in deep powder. I emerged onto Cow Poke at last light and skied down the tracked trails in the dark. Next time (soon), I will leave more time and bring my skins. There is a lot of terrain here and many more options to explore.