Steep Skiing - Wedge Mountain North Face

Wedge Mt. North Face - ascent line in green (notice the detour due to whiteout), descent in red. 

Climbing: 2500m

Time: 11hrs

Alexis and I took off after school on Tuesday to ski the North Face of Wedge Mt. near Whistler. We got a late start up the Wedgemount Lake Trail, leaving the car around 5:30pm. For the first hour of the trail we had to carry skis but after that we were able to start skinning. We got to the hut in near whiteout and heavy snowfall by 9pm. A quicksnack and we were off to bed.

Alexis crossing Wedge Creek, starting up the trail to the hut.

The next morning we woke up expecting more clouds and lots of snow. Both of us were ready to ski back down to the car but when I opened the hut door we were shocked to see a bluebird day and a full view of our intended line. We jumped into gear, had a quick oatmeal breakfast, packed our bags and took off across the lake and up the glacier.

Frozen Wedgemount Lake, Wedge Glacier, and Wedge Mountain taken from the door of the hut.

The skin up the glacier was uneventful but we noticed clouds building in the valley below. We had to detour around some big seracs in the icefall and after cresting one, found ourselves enveloped in clouds and snow.

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Alexis skinning up the glacier before the clouds roll in.

We were too far from the rock walls to get any sense of direction and found ourselves wandering somewhat aimlessley around big seracs and even bigger slots in the ice. We decided to sit tight and eat something hoping for a break in the clouds to orient ourselves. I said I would sit as long as I could stay warm as I had chose not to carry a puffy jacket. Just as we started to rip our skins and bail from the climb the clouds parted slightly and we could make out a shadow of the glacier. We stated cruising up again and found the rock walls of the North Face. A bit of backtracking along the face took us to our intended line.

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Skiing around seracs in the Wedge Glacier icefall. (It is hard to take pictures of snow and ice in a whiteout); Alexis dropping into the North Face; Looking up from the base of the North Face on the Wedge Glacier. 

We made good time booting up the face and found the summit ridge well guarded by a huge cornice. A traverse left across glare ice seemed uninviting and tunneling through it seemd equally unpleasant. We dug out a small cave under the least intimidating spot and switched to skis there. We took turns dropping onto the face and skied blower powder all the way down to the lake. 

The ski (and walk) down the trail was hard but we made it back to the car. In the future, I will make sure to do the Wedgemount Trail wither in mid-winter when it can be skied entirely or in sumemr when it can be done in running shoes. I've had enough postholing in ski boots for a while.

Gear: No pro needed, just carried glacier rope and harnesses.

Steep Skiing -NW Face of Mt. Matier

Sarah and I had plans for a two day traverse this weekend but got a bit scared off by the weather forecast. Instead, we decided to take advantage of Saturday (the more optimistic looking day) and try to get in some steep skiing along the Duffy Lake Road.

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We left the car at 8:30 am and skinned up Cerise Creek and onto the Anniversary Glacier between Joffre and Matier. Several hours later found us at the base of the NW Face. We skinned as high as possible and then transitioned to bootpacking on a steep slope. Stopping at a sheltered rock just below the summit, we dug out a platform and switched back to skis.

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Our run down the face was excellent with a nice layer of powder over firm snow. We continued down the entire length of the glacier and hit spring conditions partway down. The transition from powder to slush was quick with about 200 meters of scary crust. Below that, the rest of the skiing and the way out was on nice spring snow. 

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All in all, we skied 9hrs car-to-car, well over 1500m of vertical, and now we have the rest of the weekend to catch up on work and relax in Squamish.

Steep Skiing - Joffre Twisting Couloir

Alexis and I had our minds set on a big/fast day Saturday and planned to ski the Joffre Couloir on the North Face of Mt. Joffre on the Duffy Lake Road. 

(Couloirs left to right: Joffre, Central, Twisting)

We left Squamish at 5am and had left the parking lot with our skis on by 7am. We cruised along the Cerise Creek trail as quick as we could and were approaching the base of the North Face by 9am. Fog was coming in and out and we only had a few glimpses of the peak to confirm where we were headed. 

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(Skinning in through whiteout)

As we came to the glacier, we found ourselves following fresh tracks from the morning. As we worked our way up to the face, we saw a party of three gearing up below the Twisting Couloir. When we overtook them, we found out they had camped overnight in the parking lot and started at 4am. 

Looking up the Joffre Couloir, we could see the rockband was not totally filled in with snow. We also discovered that I had left the majority of our gear in the car. Equipped with one snow picket and one ice screw, we changed plans to the Twisting Couloir.

The bergshrund (a big crevasse) was fairly well bridged over but we put the rope on anyway and dragged ourselves up it. The party behind us was already running into difficulty 

(Another climber struggling to cross the bergshrund - notice the rope tangled around his feet, ice tool tethers, and pickets. Also notice the pickets pointing foreward. In this orientation they jam into the snow on every step. Finally, he is the last guy on the rope just starting the third pitch. Why does he have half their pickets? The leader should have all the gear. We passed this group as quick as we could.)

The couloir itself was easy climbing in steep, deep snow. No belaying was necessary. We came out onto the upper snowfield and worked our way up and across until the cornice at the top that we skirted around without too much difficulty. We cruised up to tag the summit and then got ready to ski down.

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(Alexis below the bergshrund; Climbing the couloir; Alexis coming over the cornice on the ridge; Bigger cornice above the route; Alexis wiped out)

The hardest part of the ski was jumping off the ridge crest to the snowfield. The snowfield itself was easy skiing in good snow. Still steep and a fall would have meant a ride off the 400m North Face so we took it slow. As the couloir steepens and narrows the snow got harder and we made fewer turns, slipping our way down. We took turns jumping over the bergshrund and started carving big turns in the sunny spring snow of the glacier. The ride out to the car was uncomfortable but we made it. 

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(Alexis coming off the upper snowfield; Looking down the narrow/steep section of the couloir to the glacier below; Alexis making a jump turn in the couloir; Me about to ski the last section; Alexis jumping the bergshrund)

Stats according to my watch:

Duration: 6hr. 58min.

Calories burned: 3778

Avg HR: 141bpm

Avg HR on route: 174bpm

Vertical Ascent: 1628 meters

 

Spring Ski Weekend

Spring has arrived to the Coast Range and as the weather calms down, we got out for a few days in the sun.

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Sarah and I spent a morning ripping around Blackcomb on the goomed runs and after lunch decided we needed to find something a bit more interesting. We toured out of the resort and made our way to the Husume Couloir. The enterance requires a short bootpack.

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This is a fun, steep, out of bounds run that sees a fair bit of traffic but is well shaded from the sun. With other slopes afected by melt-freeze from the sun, our run was still nice powder. The middle photo is three quarters of the way down the run as it widens out and eases off in angle.

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The next day, I met up with Paul G and we toured out of Whistler to Fissile Peak. We beat the crowds and were the first ones to boot up the peak. We had out eyes on a steep chute down the north face with the hopes of finding powder. The climb up is a bit of a slog with a long steep bootpack on scree (very loose and slippery rock - vertical gravel almost) but we were rewarded with a perfect untracked powder line.

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We took turns jumping into the chute and I lucked out snapping a picture of Paul mid-air.

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Saddle chute drops off the foreground ridge from just below the summit. We were both pretty happy and headed back into Whistler for a late lunch and I got home to enjoy the sun on my deck.

Steep Skiing - Mt. Fissile Saddle Chute

 Alexis and I took the morning to ski a moderately steep line on Mt. Fissile. Fissile is the first of the larger peaks of the Spearhead Range beyond the Musical Bumps.

The Saddle Chute starts just off the summit from the NW ridge. A fast ski from the lifts on Whistler brought us to the base of the mountain and after a short bootpack we tagged the summit and made our way to the entrance.

Feeling fairly confident in the stability and seeing no tracks in the line we decided to go for it. I dropped in first and found good snow despite the lack of powder elswhere during the day. Sadly none of my descent photos turned out.

We dropped all the way to the bottom of the run and skinned back up to Cowboy Ridge. From there we careened down the Singing Pass trail to Whistler Village and headed back to Squamish. All in all a pretty solid ski, with almost 1300m of elevation gain.