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.

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.