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: Cougar Creek East, Rogers Pass: A Break In The Storm

Report from March 11, 2021

After claiming two epic routes over the last two days, the Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse and the STS Couloir, I was properly zonked but not enough to pass on skiing Cougar Creek West, an advanced ski-mountaineering line accessed from the Loop Book parking lot. In the last week of clear, calm weather, the sun had baked the southern slopes, causing several wet loose avalanches while the shadow of northern aspects had preserved blower snow. The snowpack showed some all-time stability by then. This was our chance to ski this uber-exposed alpine line. And so, we toured along the Loop Brook, past the Elephant Trunk and quickly gained the base of the Bonney Moraines.

We continued past the moraines towards Ross Pass, only to veer off right in Ross Peak’s direction. We crossed the Loop Brook, bridged over by some delicate pillows, and ascended the SE face through sparse trees and an open slide path. The steep, alpine SE face laid above our heads, a considerable overhead hazard now baked by the blazing sun. Unaccustomed to the spring warmth, we were sweating bullets in the 3C temperature. Our bodies were clearly acclimatized to the cold winter days and had a difficult time venting off the heat.

Since the surface was already wet by the time we reached an elevation of 1700-1800m, an indication of a rapidly warming snowpack, we debated the pros and cons of crossing such an open terrain feature. Taking a closer look at the amphitheatre of couloirs, we noticed that all of them had already run in the past 48 hours and the nearby cliffs weren’t shedding. We were so close to pulling the plug on the whole mission. While the risk was deemed great, we committed to the climb by 11 AM, knowing that the SE aspect had already seen the brunt of the sun – it would only get colder as the sun ran its course.

Since we were getting bogged down by the heavy goop, sticking to the base of our climbing skins, we opted for a bootpack up the left slide path (not the Ross Peak SE couloir), which seemingly widened into a large alpine funnel at the ridge. We climbed an auxiliary chute to the right in order to avoid the hazard of the main slide path – if something were to release up there, it would barrel down the main path. As snowballs were pinwheeling down a nearby cliff onto our helmet, we laid an efficient track up the dense avalanche debris.

At 2100m, we hurried across the main path, covered in re-frozen chunks of ice after a recent avalanche had ripped through the feature. I had to constantly knock the snow accumulating under my crampons to shed some weight. We eventually reached a bench that split into two gullies We employed the left option as it was sheltered from the steaming SW face to our right, overhead. We transitioned back to skis, drained by the long, trying bootpack, and moved up the steep, narrowing gully. We must have used 40 switchbacks to gain the Green/Ross ridge. It was ridiculous! A friend who headed for Mt Green a day later commented on the aesthetics of my uptrack. After more than 2 hours, we reached the entrance of Cougar Creek West out of the enduring solar hazard.

At our final elevation of 2390m, we scoped out the entrance. Fortunately, the elongated cornice hanging on the lee of the ridge (above our planned descent) smoothed into a gentle roll to the east. Easy! We didn’t need to cut the cornice or rappel down. Freddy put a first ski-cut on the 30° slope, traversing hard-right under the cornices. Nothing would budge, except some minor sluff. I heard his hooting and hollering as he completed a few turns. BLOWER!

We moved quickly, minimizing our time spent under the dense snow/ice formation that might break at any time. A portion of the cornice was still in the sun, weakened by the warming snow. Freddy led the way, cutting above the narrowing couloir and sending some sluff downslope to provide some terrain definition.

We skied down the couloir that narrowed into a 4m choke. The snow was all-time, providing absolutely no resistance. We charged down the feature with a few short-radius turns and launched into an alpine bowl. Simply amazing! After catching our breath and recognizing our stoked energy, we pressed on through a complex system of gullies that required careful navigation. We played the micro-aspects to avoid a nasty sun crust that had formed below 1600m.

At the bottom of the run, we looked back at our work. What a line! I scrutinized our satisfyingly symmetric turns below the gullies. Our skin was basking in the soft afternoon sun, warming our tired souls. Another one for the books. A party glided past us: they were coming back from skiing the north face of Mt Green, a Rogers Pass classic. We followed an icy uptrack next to the CP rail, heading back to the Loop Brook parking lot where our vehicle was patiently waiting for us.

Route Info

7-8 h	1395m	9.5 km	1100-2390 m

The post Cougar Creek West, Rogers Pass: One For The Books appeared first on The Uptrack.