Sir Donald To Macdonald Traverse: Glaciers & Couloirs

The Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse is an amazing route that takes you through some of Rogers Pass’ seldom-travelled glaciers, couloirs and cols. The route circumnavigates most of the Sir Donald Range, notably Uto Peak, Eagle Peak, Avalanche Mt and Mt Macdonald, delivering striking vistas. Apart from its 20km length and 2400m vertical gain, it’s an advanced ski-mountaineering objective requiring rope work (belays, rappels) on at least two occasions – much more if you decided to rope up for the glacier traverses. Since climbs are performed on south aspects and descents, on the north, it’s the perfect traverse for a warm spring day where solar aspects are heating up and sheltered aspects arbour excellent, dry snow. How convenient! All in all, the traverse is a LONG day, but one that’s well worth the effort.

Route Summary

Starting at the Illecillewaet parking lot, follow the gentle grade of the Sir Donald Trail along the winding Illecillewaet River.
Ascend to the Sir Donald-Uto Col (2550m).
Ski the steep roll on the north face of the col leading to the gentle incline of the Uto Glacier.
Traverse a high col (2365m), an unnamed notch along the east ridge of Uto Peak.
Ski a couloir (45-50°, 2m choke) that dumps you on the Eagle Glacier.
Ascend the Eagle and Avalanche Glaciers.
Climb the NE ridge of Avalanche Mt to the high point of 2705m. Enjoy the stunning views from your alpine perch.
Ski the Avalanche North Glacier, cutting high along the east slope of the Avalanche NW Ridge/NRC Col (2370m)
Ascend the SE face of Mt Macdonald towards either the Banana or Herdman Couloir. We choose the Banana Couloir.
Rappel 10m into the Banana Couloir (40-45°, 3m choke) and revel in the sweet, dry powder stacked in its guts.
Ski the rolling moraines of Crossover Bowl and tour back to your vehicle, parked at the Hermit parking lot

This route is located within a Winter Restricted Area (WRA) governed by the Winter Permit System of Glacier National Park. Check the WRA status before travelling through it.

WRA STATUS

PERMIT SYSTEM

ski tourer ascending the avalanche glacier on the sir donald to macdonald traverse — Freddy, ascending the Avalanche Glacier on the Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse. How vast! Photo: The Uptrack

Report from March 9, 2021

Freddy and I started our day at the Illecillewaet parking lot. It was 9 AM, quite the late start for such a long traverse. The weather, stability and snowpack were absolutely perfect – nice and warm in the sun, cold and preserved snow in the shadow. With days getting longer by the minute, we believed we could fit the Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse, although we might finish with the headlamps lighting our way down. We followed the Sir Donald trail (a refrozen mess at this time of the year) which led us up the imposing Vauxv Valley common to Uto Peak and Mt Sir Donald. We climbed the Vaux Moraine, a relic of past glaciations.

ski tourer heading up the sir donald valley — Freddy, ascending the rolling terrain of the Vaux Moraines. Mt Sir Donald in the background. Photo: The Uptrack

With our difficult time constraint, Freddy “the Machine” sped up the biggest moraine. I’ll be honest, I was totally out of breath. We gained a vast bench where the Sir Donald Campground lies, buried under meters of Selkirk snow. The Sir Donald-Uto Col (2550m) rose above our heads, revealing the exposed traverse we would soon perform. I reminisced about my previous scramble up the Uto SW Ridge. I truly had a blast completing this classic mountaineering route with Freddy, a few summers ago.

view of the sir donald uto col from the south with overlay — The Sir Donald-Uto Col, a milestone on the Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse. Photo: The Uptrack

We ascended the SW slope of Mt Sir Donald, battered by strong winds and glazed by the spring sun, losing our edge a few too many times. Frustrated with the lack of traction, we opted to boot across the slope, through a shallow snowpack completely faceted by the cold alpine temps. Boy! Our post-holing was absolutely glorious – sarcasm intended. We swam through the sugar snow, our crampons painfully scraping against the smooth quartzite. From there, we traversed a thin band of snow, rock and ice above a sizable cliff band – no falling here. By noon, we were standing on the Sir Donald-Uto Col with half of our elevation gain completed. That was a push!

skier mountaineer climbing towards the sir donald uto col — Freddy, in post-holing hell a few hundred meters from the Sir Donald-Uto Col. Photo: The Uptrack

Earlier on we had watched a party of two back-track from the col. The cause was now very much apparent: they had triggered an isolated wind slab on the north aspect, starting right below a large cornice stuck to the NW ridge of Mt Sir Donald. Freaked out, they must have turned back. Their loss, our win! Since the resulting size 1 avalanche had already washed out the slope, neutralizing the hazard, we deemed it safe to ski the bed surface of mostly right-side-up snow as indicated by our probing. Still, we kept in mind the fact that we would likely find more of those isolated pockets of wind slabs, scattered on north-facing slopes. We skied the rolling slope, north of the col, and traversed the Uto Glacier, a relatively flat blanket of ice.

view of the sir donald uto col from the north with uto glacier below — The descent from the Sir Donald-Uto Col. Slab avalanche debris halfway down the slope (not visible sadly). Photo: The Uptrack

Shrouded in the shadow of Mt Sir Donald, the glaciated valley was bitterly cold. We toured up the south slope spanning from the east ridge of Uto Peak to gain an obvious col (2365m). This is a faster, but riskier alternative to circumnavigating the ridge. At the col, we peered down the north couloir below. We were warned that it was a serious line with serious consequences. The upper funnel must have been 45-50° which I suspected sheltered wind slabs. It spun into a 2m choke, peppered with rock and ice, then opened up into a large avalanche fan – an hourglass-shaped couloir. To safely control the slope, I built an anchor around a nearby horn and belayed Freddy while he ski-cut the upper funnel. He released a small slab, nothing of consequence. Due to the narrow choke, sluff was our mortal enemy here. We carefully jump-turned down the line, side-stepping down the choke and letting our sluff fly through the choke. I felt the jolt reverberating through my knees as I hit a couple of hidden rocks beneath. Spicy is the word of the game!

view of couloir between uto and eagle glacier with overlay — The couloir on the Uto East Ridge. Low-key, spicy! Photo: The Uptrack

We pressed onwards, ascending the Eagle Glacier. By now, the crevasses were completely filled in; we measured a snowpack depth of more than 320cm, longer than what I could gauge with my probe. We decided against roping up to speed up our ascent. We sped across the Eagle Glacier which eventually turned into the Avalanche Glacier. We were both so stoked to explore the remote confines of the park: with new terrain comes infinite possibilities! In the distance, we could see two guys completing the Golden-Rogers Traverse, currently on my to-do list.

view of avalanche glacier on the sir donald to macdonald traverse — The Eagle/Avalanche Glacier. So vast! Photo: The Uptrack

We eventually stepped out of the shadow cast by Eagle Peak, into the warm sunlight. Ultimate comfort! We climbed a wide col to the NE ridge of Avalanche Mt, keeping our distance from the delicate cornices clinging to the massive 500m headwall to the north. We pushed on up the NE ridge and gained the top of the Avalanche North Glacier, granting us stunning close-ups of the Avalanche massif’s heavily-rimed peaks. By that point, we were halfway across the Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse.

group of skiers pointing at some peak on the avalanche north glacier 1 — Freddy and the Golden-Rogers crew, looking at the views. Photo: The Uptrack

man skiing on the avalanche north glacier with avalanche mt in the distance — Freddy and the Golden-Rogers crew, looking at the views. Photo: The Uptrack

We skied down the Avalanche North Glacier, covered in the most idyllic of blower snow. We stuck to the high ground along the Avalanche NW Ridge to avoid the crevasse fields and seracs to the east. We glided past the NRC Col (2370m) towards which our fellow ski tourers veered off. After an incredible powder run, we arrived at base Mt Macdonald. Looking back, we scrutinized the dangerously glaciated east flank of the Avalanche North Glacier. Gnarly!

view of avalanche north glacier with overlay — The Avalanche North Glacier. Watch out for the steep flank. Photo: The Uptrack

As the clouds rolled in, we toured up the steep, south slope of Mt Macdonald towards the Banana Couloir. The official route recommends skiing the Herdman Couloir, a mellower option, but the way up wasn’t as straightforward. We would have to either boot up a narrow chute, exposing ourselves to the overhead hazard or scramble across the Macdonald SW ridge, none of which made sense given the conditions. So, we beelined for the Banana Couloir, a prized line in both of our books.

view of the se face of mt macdonald with entrance to banana and herdmann couloir — The south face of the Macdonald SW ridge with the two alternative entrances. Photo: The Uptrack

After an exposed, 200m ascent, we gained the entrance of the Banana Couloir. A nest of old cordelette strung around a nearby horn indicated the obvious: a 10m rappel was required to safely enter the couloir. Fair enough, we had brought the rope for a reason. We set up a quick super-munter and rappelled into the line at dusk, landing in soft powder. That was going to be an epic shred!

view from the top of banana couloir with crossover bowl below — View from the top of the Banana Couloir. Pretty epic, right? Photo: The Uptrack

skier rappeling into the banana couloir from the macdonald sw ridge 1 — View from the top of the Banana Couloir. Pretty epic, right? Photo: The Uptrack

Just like that, we had struck gold. The couloir had been loaded by the trade winds, stacked with bottomless powder. Even better, it wasn’t slabby at all. However, we paid a heavy price: our sluff was difficult to manage. We could barely link two turns, having to stop to let the snow run its course. Still, it was an unbelievable descent in a couloir that’s rarely skied. We landed in the Crossover Bowl under a faint glimmer of light. We turned on our headlamps and skied the right side of the valley, the bottom of which we reached by 6:30 PM. As buzzed as we were exhausted, we dragged our tired legs back to the Hermit parking lot by 7 PM. The sense of achievement – and relief – was positively overwhelming. The Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse: another one for the books!