Related: Forever Young Couloir: Skiing The Earth’s Crack

Report from January 10, 2022

We started our day pretty late (as always) due to some gnarly highway conditions. If it wasn’t for the black ice, the compact snow would get you. We gathered our gear and headed up the railroad grade to the abandoned Glacier House. Only the foundations are left intact, now buried under a meter of snow. A distance later, we veered east on the Great Glacier Trail, leading us to the convoluted moraines below Lookout Col (2150m) and Glacier Crest (2251m). The snow gauge indicated a snow height of 195cm at 1300m. Unreal for this time of the year!

We stopped for a water break right below the moraines. In the winter months, the snow-laden terrain becomes riddled with large pillow lines and narrow canyons. An ascent to the looker’s left is possible but risky given the terrain traps and serious overhead hazard from the Perley Rock NW slope. The better approach is to climb the center-right of the landscape along the more gentle moraines, allowing a rather direct linkup with the toe of the Illecillewaet Glacier.

And so, we ascended the complex terrain as planned following an almost perfect uptrack, obviously forged by a ski guide – all the corners were dug out to make kick-turns easier. Eventually, the imposing glacier appeared over the moraines.

At 1980m, we stopped for a snack and roped up for the upcoming glacier travel. The first third of the ascent up the glaciated terrain is riddled with large crevasses, now bridged over by our thick snowpack. Most opt-out of roping up that portion. After three close calls in 2021, I don’t take the chance anymore. After all, the process takes less than 5 minutes.

As soon as we crossed the sketchy section bordered by humungous crevasses on both sides, we ditched the rope to speed up our travel. While a storm was forecasted for 4 PM, the rolling cloud cover indicated an earlier arrival. This was a sad moment. After hours spent in the shadow of the mountains, we had lost our source of Vitamin D. Damn! Doing the Ravens with low visibility would be “sub-optimal” to say the least. Fortunately, there was a brief break in the clouds, but only for a moment.

When you think you’re almost at the top, you’re definitely not – the Illecillewaet Neve (icefield) goes on forever. At least, the views from this perch are absolutely stunning. After another 3km of easy touring on the gentle, wind-swept grade, we arrived at the high point of our traverse (2540m), nestled between a glaciated ramp and a rocky ridge. In a classic Rogers Pass fashion, the storm moved right above us, with raging winds and snow falling sideways. All of a sudden, the light became as flat as it gets. We were moving inside a ping-pong ball.

After we’d found shelter behind a large wind lip, we quickly sorted our gear for the descent. I led the way heading generally NW across the rocky ridge, feeling the snow at every turn. The trick here is to stick to the ridge until the west slope of the Ravens fans out. We purposefully avoided the N-NW slope descending into the Lookout Bowl or any of the NW gullies. At this time, those would be heavily wind-loaded and offer no definition posing a serious avalanche and navigational hazard. As the ridge veered to the west, we stayed away from the northern edge to avoid large cornices.

After difficult skiing through the rocky, icy, wind-swept ridge, the west slope finally opened up below. It was visibly cross-loaded by the prevailing SW winds. With limited visibility and questionable snow stability, we conservatively choose a path down sparse trees, anchoring down the snowpack. The upper half of the run offered wind-packed snow, frighteningly cracking right at our skis. The shooting cracks indicated the presence of wind slabs, a serious avalanche hazard that must be managed properly. I carved my way through the sparse trees, skiing a long diagonal to dodge any potential slides. We stayed away from a big funnel to the skier’s left, an obvious terrain trap.

After a few strategic ski-cuts to test the lower, powdery half of the slope, we determined it was safe to open up the throttle. We skied down some ridiculously deep powder, more than I’ve seen in years. It was incredibly good.

We finished our run on the Asulkan Trail, stoked to have skied another classic line. Looking back, we realized the slope extended much further north than we thought. The looker’s left option would offer the most direct, continuous descent from the ridge. After discussing future plans, we slogged back to the parking lot, pushing and side-stepping for ages. I vowed to come back to ski the other options when the upper slope is in better condition.

Route Info

7-8 h	1390m	13.9 km	1200-2540 m

The post The Ravens: A Burly Line For A Burly Storm appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: Afton Southeast Couloir, Rogers Pass: High Exposure

Report from November 22, 2020

We met up with our crew formed by Georges, Renaud, Jay, Kaitlin, and I – a big group with even bigger ambitions. After sorting out our gear and performing a standard transceiver check at the trailhead, we started the long stroll on the Meeting of The Waters Trail, where the Asulkan Brook empties out into the Illecillewaet River, both fed by glaciers. After crossing far more dog walkers than backcountry skiers or splitboarders, we veered left on the Asulkan Valley Trail, making sure to follow the correct sequence. A wrong turn there would take you up an entirely different valley.

As we crossed a narrow footbridge, my jaw-dropped. The Asulkan Brook was carving a path through giant white pillows while all we could hear was the soothing sound of water running past us. True serenity! I stood there taking in the Asulkan’s beauty while Jay was whacking away at the snow piling up on the bridge as if he was about to drop a sick line. What a curious soul!

The reality of touring in the Asulkan is that the approach takes forever. It’s always a slog, in or out of this valley, since the trail follows the quasi-flat Asulkan Brook for more than 8km inland. Fortunately, Glacier Crest is much closer than the Asulkan Glacier. We veered left at the next fork, right after the footbridge 2.5km from the parking lot, to ascend the Glacier Crest Trail.

We followed the trail up the steep shoulder of Glacier Crest at a brisk pace. The summer trail had been cut into the treed slope at an easy grade, making it much more manageable ski touring. We glided effortlessly through the machine-made switchbacks all the way up to treeline elevation.

As we emerged out of the thick forest, the Sir Donald mountain range came into view. Woah! After having my head stuck in clouds for the last week, this was a sight for sore eyes. Treasured memories of summer mountaineering missions up Uto and Eagle Peak surged back through my mind.

We set our crosshair on the Glacier Crest ridge running north to south, aiming to gain it as soon as possible. We opted to gain the high ground versus traveling on the gently sloping bench to the north: the latter was exposed to much overhead hazard from the narrow ridge. I’ve seen it many times before, where an avalanche would bury an uptrack placed on the bench.

I looked back once we had gained the ridge. Behind us, I spotted the Rogers Massif just as the thin, lingering clouds parted and basked the range in a golden hue. How stunning! I could see the Swiss Couloir and the Rogers South Face, imposing features even at a distance.

We moved along the elongated ridge until a short, narrow step stopped us in our track. With a sudden drop on my left and a questionable slope on my right, I felt rather exposed. We strapped our skis to our packs and booted up the section. Only then, could we see our final objective, the summit of Glacier Crest, only 500m away.

I attempted to scope out the terrain to my left, looking for the entrance to the east bowl as I hurried along the flattened ridge. After much back and forth between terrain photos and our current view, I located the entrance. A quick glance into the slope revealed our predicament. The east bowl of Glacier Crest is a high commitment line when considering the incline, the features, and the terrain traps below. It’s perched above cliffs and pillows that usually disappear under a deeper snowpack. While snowfall has been copious of late, it wasn’t what I would call “deep”. Peering further down the bowl, our line would take us through a long 35-degree planar slope overlooking those cliffs and topped by a rolling convexity, perfect for skiing and more than ideal for avalanches. We had one shot but we couldn’t mess it up.

With little to no information about the stability of the alpine snowpack in the Asulkan, we decided on digging a full snow profile on a similar east-facing slope, just lee of the summit. We performed compression, extended compression, and propagation saw tests to get a feel for what was lurking beneath the surface. Even with our optimistic results, we were cautious. A profile 2m away from where we dug might have completely different results. We debated whether to engage or not for 15 minutes but finally decided to do it as the clouds rolled in. Just our luck! No more visibility! Jay, a brave soul, volunteered for the uneventful ski-cut which also meant he got to drop first.

The skiing was incredible, except for the uber-flat light which made it impossible to read the terrain. Quite a dizzying endeavor. There was no way of knowing whether the slope went up or down, what veered left from right. Still, I’ll take some soft powder with a nice supportive base any day of the week.

We pressed on, almost blind, through the complex terrain, billy-goating our way down a giant pillow field. The visibility didn`t stop our party from tricking off some fluffy pillows. So much fun!

We then followed the valley bottom along the Great Glacier Trail, an icy bobsleigh track in the winter, perfect for an exit. With a little patience, Kaitlin, Jay, and I made it back safe and sound to the Illecillewaet parking lot. It took Georges and Renaud 15 minutes to join us after they took the “freeride” route involving a creek bed and brutal alders. I was exhilarated once I realized this was my 2020 season’s first true alpine high.

Route Info

5-6 h	1050 m	10 km	1200-2250 m

The post Glacier Crest East Bowl: Season’s First Alpine High appeared first on The Uptrack.