Related: The Ravens: A Burly Line For A Burly Storm, Lookout Col: The Scenic Way To The Ravens

Report from December 3, 2024

Jye and I rolled into the Illecillewaet parking lot around 7:30 AM, with a few cars strewn across the flat area. The owners were staying at the Asulkan Cabin since more folks avoid the Illecillewaet and Asulkan Valleys this early in the ski touring season. We glided along the Asulkan Trail and veered left onto the Great Glacier Trail.

Within an hour, we arrive at the Illecillewaet Moraines, a convoluted arrangement of gullies, pillows and narrow shoulders leading up to the glacial toe. The early season conditions were on display here. We scrambled over alders and followed an uber-steep uptrack to the toe at 2040m. There was no convenient way to get up there – it was an act of brute force!

With much effort, we made it to the toe of the Illecillewaet Glacier. It’s always more of a slog than I remember but it’s all worth it. To our right, we could see the Glacier Crest E face and the dogleg couloir, in good shape for early December. We decided to traverse east under the toe since the “standard” uptrack seemed very crevassed. This route would allow us to establish new ways onto the glacier.

Jye, fit as ever, broke trail for most of the ascent. We navigated the successive benches under the toe and eventually spotted a possible way through the glacier bound by two gnarly-looking crevasse fields. We roped up for the ascent – 12-15m apart with multiple stopper knots across the stretch of rope. We took all the safety precautions since we’d be crossing multiple crevasse bridges with little information about the depth and density of the snowpack.

We probed a snowpack depth ranging from 160cm in scoured areas to 250cm in wind-loaded zones with about 100cm of hard snow above ground. While those aren’t ideal crevasse bridging conditions, it’s good enough for travelling roped up and probing for big holes. We were through the crevasse field and onto the Illecillewaet Neve, the nearly flat top of the glacier.

We set a track up the rest of the glacier to the Ravens Ridge, circumnavigating around Lookout Bowl. We reached the ridge by noon. The views of the Asulkan and Youngs Glacier were amazing incredible and quite insightful. The 7 Steps of Paradise run was not in great shape. Rocks peppered the last two rolls above the valley bottom. We could also see the Asulkan Cabin in the distance, granting you access to this beautiful alpine terrain.

We transitioned for the descent. Due to an alpine temperature inversion, the light winds and mild temperatures were quite comfortable, even at 2540m where we stood. We poked around the leeward side of the ridge, on the hunt for reactive wind slabs. The mellow terrain would allow us to assess the wind slab hazard in the steeper sections. We found no signs of reactivity, only some old wind-affected surfaces that made skiing variable and challenging.

We followed the loaded slope and found a way across the rocky ridge onto the west aspect. Navigated by satellite imagery, we located the first entrance to the Lookout North Couloir. Peering into the void, we could see the whole line below us. While thin and rocky, there was a way clear descent route. We opted for the first and more serious line since the wind slab hazard was non-existent. Instead, we found 20-30cm of faceted snow.

Jye led the first half of the descent as I was taking photos. The couloir had previously avalanched and offered variable hard snow as well as blower powder. The skiing was challenging, resulting in slower-than-expected progress. Fortunately, we didn’t hit any rocks! We skied one at a time to manage our sluff and exposure.

Midway down the couloir, I took the lead and was met with variable conditions – the run had slid not so long ago. We railed some turns down the exit fan and exited into Lookout Bowl. The snow was exceptional, 40-50cm of low-density, faceted blower.

After celebrating the awesome run, we glided into the bowl’s gut and traversed back to the Ravens’ west slope. It’s worth transitioning for the uphill to make that move. Another lap of blower powder later, we connected with the Asulkan Valley Trail which we followed to the parking lot. It was a slog but we made it.

Route Info

7-9 h	1410 m	16 km	1200-2540 m

The post Lookout North Couloir: A Nifty Loop Joining Two Valleys appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: Ross Peak Southeast Couloir: Steeps and Bare Ice

Report from March 12, 2021

George, Freddy, Renaud and I arrived at the NRC (Mortar) parking lot at a reasonable 7:30 AM. With an all-time weather window and excellent snowpack stability, this was the perfect opportunity to claim yet another BIG line. After four days of non-stop action, I was properly exhausted but this was too good to pass. So, we toured up the NRC Gully, in the shadow of the Macdonald West Shoulder, an uber-popular ski touring area. The high cloud cover kept the well-trodden uptrack cold, icy, and very slippery which made our ascent tricky. Fortunately, as we arrived at the base of the NRC Bowl, the snow quality improved. After all, it never sees the sun, hence never experienced any spring freeze-thaw cycle, the bane of an established uptrack.

We passed a party of two that was racing us to the Avalanche NW Couloir. Fortunately for us (and sadly for them), one of the guys succumbed to some terrible foot pain; the party turned back. Ski boot pain is a terrible predicament. We pressed on towards the steep slope below NRC Col. Freddy activated his turbocharger, steaming ahead on an existing uptrack. The climb weaved through cliffs exposing us to the overhead slope, typically battered by the harsh alpine winds. With our window of good stability, we deemed it safe. Otherwise, I’d rather head up the Macdonald West Shoulder and perform a high traverse towards the col. Really, if stability was so-so, I wouldn’t attempt the couloir in the first place.

By 10 AM, we gained the NRC Col under cool, blowing winds. After assessing the cornice hazard, we cut across the east flank which linked us with the base of the Avalanche North Glacier, a moderately-crevassed sheet of ice and snow. We ascended the glacier to the climber’s right in order to avoid the crevasse fields and giant seracs to our left.

It was now mid-March. Our fat, alpine snowpack of more than 320cm of snow had filled in most of the crevasses. Since the wind slabs from the steep, lee slope under which ascended posed a bigger hazard, we did not rope up for glacier travel. The climb was steep and sustained, gaining vertical at a breakneck pace, especially when trying to keep up with Freddy. I was wrecked from four days of difficult missions but I pushed through. My mental fortitude was being tested.

After much effort, we gained the upper, flatter part of the glacier, out of harm’s way. The Avalanche NW Couloir could be seen in the distance, rising high in the sky. Impressive but scary line! We all knew what we were getting ourselves into. I lead the group towards a ramp that connected with the couloir’s midsection. The bergschrund, open in summer, was completely filled in. We couldn’t tell the crevasse from the surrounding slope. In the early season, this would be a different story. As an extra precaution, I probed a few times in the vicinity to verify what I couldn’t see.

After strapping our skis to our packs and grabbing our crampons and ice axe, we proceeded up the 45-55° slope to a small col (2812m) between the twin peaks of Avalanche Mt. The bootpack was rather short, roughly 100m of vertical gain. However, it was super steep to the point where my buried ice axe was keeping me from falling backwards. That’s how you know it’s steep. Fortunately, the snow was wind-packed which provided us with a firm base to kick in.

It took us less than 30 minutes to reach the small col, barely wide enough to have all four of us transition side-by-side. For the first time since we departed from the NRC parking lot, the sun poked out of the clouds and illuminated the Avalanche Glacier and the Illecillewaet Valley. My jaw dropped in awe. I’d never seen the Sir Donald range from this angle. Such a beauty! I thought about the Sir Donald to Macdonald Traverse I had completed three days prior. Our route took us through the glaciers surrounding Avalanche Mt. After a short break, we transitioned for the descent and skied down the couloir. My butt was literally scrapping against the steep upper section of the slope. Spicy! Luckily, the snow held an edge, making our jump turns a little smoother.

We all gathered on a sheltered bench, just above the bergschrund. After catching our breath, we skied down the second half of the couloir, the true “Vent Shaft”. While the snow had been tossed up by previous skiers, the 4m-wide choke was in pretty good shape, even after all the sluff had torn through. Spires of rimed snow plastered the side of the couloir resulting in a rather striking sight.

We burst out of the couloir, racing down the open expanse of the Kors/Thomas Bowl. The SW slope had only begun to warm up and still contained some blower powder. We worked the micro-features to maximize our time spent on preserved snow and traversed under the Avalanche SW Ridge towards the Avalanche Crest run.

Avalanche Crest is one of my favourite Rogers Pass runs. By noon, it had been baked by the spring sun for an hour, transforming its usual blower snow into slushy corn. We all revelled in the heat after the cold, blustery walk up the north aspects. We traversed across the slope and skied down the skier’s left slide path, jumping over glide cracks. Within minutes, we had reached the rumbling motors of the Trans-Canada Highway. After a post-holing walk along the plowed snow bank, we arrived at the Illecillewaet parking lot, where cold beers were waiting for us. We were stoked to have checked off another line on our bucket list.

Route Info

6-7 h	1500m	8.6 km	1200-2810 m

The post Avalanche NW Couloir: The Definition of Steep appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: Jade Pass Trail, Mt Revelstoke: Keeping It Local

Report from August 17, 2020

Day 1: Mt Revelstoke to Woolsey Glacier

Our day started at the Mt Revelstoke parking lot next to Balsam Lake. Kaitlin, Freddy, and I bolted past Miller Lake and up towards Jade Pass, skirting around tourists walking at a leisurely pace. They must have been wondering what we were up to with our loaded packs. We gained the pass in no time at all, roughly 90 minutes. Our point of view granted us a wonderful sight of Upper and Lower Jade Lakes. The hike to this point is described in detail in my previous trip report, Mt Revelstoke Hiking: Keeping It Local.

After a short water break, we headed north towards Mt Williamson. I was debating whether we should climb the peak or not. We opted to come back another time for the summit. Navigating 4th-class terrain is no simple task with a heavy pack. We bypassed the peak through a rocky bench to the west and climbed up a northwest-facing gully.

Moments later, we found ourselves on top of the long, broken ridge spanning north of Mt Williamson. The views from here were spectacular. The Inverness Peaks loomed over the Clachnacudainn Drainage from across the valley. My eyes fixated on this bright blue alpine lake lying on the east flank of the ridge. This would be the first of many lakes encountered on our traverse from Mt Revelstoke to Sale Mountain.

Snapping back to reality, we scrambled over a series of small bumps through chossy rock, double-checking our handholds at every move. The ridge wasn’t particularly difficult with one short section of 4th-class rock but it certainly was endless. Up and down, we go!

Eventually, we gained the last of the series of summits, topped with two towering cairns. We weren’t quite sure what they marked but someone did put a lot of effort into building those towers. We looked at mountains beyond and planned our route. We choose to go up a scree slope between two distinct summits. For the lack of a better name, I’ll call it Twin Peaks Col.

The hike up the scree slope turned out to be quite the slog. Loose rocks, poor footholds, and difficult route finding made the ascent harder than it seemed from our previous vantage point. In the intense summer heat, beads of sweat was running down our forehead. We eventually gained Twin Peaks Col.

Finally, we reached the col. From our vantage point, we could see the second third of the traverse from Twin Peak Col all the way to Mt St-Cyr. The terrain below seemed pretty easy to navigate with a few snow slopes followed by grassy and rocky terrain. I gazed in awe at the surrounding peaks of Mt Dickey, Mt St-Cyr, and Mt Coursier.

The downclimb from the col required a few 4th-class moves, followed by some controlled slippage on dirt and scree. We landed on a mellow snow slope peppered by goat and grizzly prints. We staggered our paths to avoid kicking the loose rocks on each other. We briskly traversed above the head of the Clachnacudainn Creek and followed a goat trail through shrubs, wildflowers, and rock slabs.

As we hiked higher and higher towards the head of the Coursier/Gordon Pass, the views got progressively more glorious. I caught my breath for a second and looked back. So lush! The Claichnacudainn Valley extended beneath my feet all the way to the Trans-Canada Highway. That’s a sight very few humans have seen.

It took no more than 95 minutes to gain the Coursier/Gordon Col from Twin Peaks Col. After more than 10 kilometers of scrambling over chossy rock and scree, we finally stepped onto glacier ice at the head of the Gordon Glacier. I’ve always preferred snow travel over rock scrambling. It’s easier on the legs and, in most cases, more direct. Plus, who doesn’t like to boot ski?

We proceeded down the Gordon Glacier all the way to the southern end of its alpine lake, glissading when possible to speed things up. On our right, we spotted a sizable rockfall, originating from the top of Mt Coursier. The debris had fallen to the bottom of the glacial cirque, a reminder of the constant rockfall hazard when traveling in the alpine.

We scrambled wet slabs glistening in the dim sunlight to a rocky bench – not ideal climbing conditions with loaded packs. We climbed this section as carefully as we could, not really trusting our footing on the wet, mossy slabs. It was either that or a sketchy scree slope. After a tough scramble and some fallen rocks nearly sending me into oblivion, we crossed the Coursier/West Woolsey Pass situated at the upper west boundary of the Woolsey Glacier. At this point, we decided to set up our bivy right below the glaciated slopes of Mt Coursier. The sunset was surreal, only to be obscured by the shadowy mass of Mt Dickey, lying on its course.

Day 2: West Woolsey to Sale Mountain

From our perch, we woke up to a valley shrouded in fog. What a sight! We sped through breakfast and headed down the Woolsey Glacier towards the Latvian Col. There’s no better warmup than a fast glissade down snowy slopes.

We picked our way through the snowfield, avoiding patches of blue ice. To save weight, we didn’t bring any glacier gear. We took a moment to fill our water bottles at a nearby alpine lake. We looked up at Mount St-Cyr across the valley and planned our route. We aimed to gain the Latvian Col, an obvious U-shaped feature.

We did short work of the climb, involving scrambling over stable boulders and traversing soft snow slopes. From our height, the view of the Clachnacudainn Icefield terminated by Margareth Lake were absolutely stunning.

We pressed on the north side of the col, scouting our route in the process. Sadly, the alpine section of the Mt Revelstoke to Sale Mountain Traverse was nearing its end but we still had ways to go, precisely 5 km of bushwhacking through wildflowers and dense shrubs in the typical Selkirk sub-alpine.

We first headed skier’s left of the col towards a seemingly gentle snow slope and wet slabs. It turns out, the slabs ended abruptly into a cliff above an exposed glacial tongue. We doubled-back and aimed for the snow patches, skier’s right of the col. This way was much safer but still exposed, requiring a slight bit of 4th-class downclimbing on a set of overlapping ledges. There was an easier, albeit longer option further to the right that would take us through a gentle scree slope. I hate scree, as many do!

We walked along the contour of another alpine lake. This must have been our 6th at this point. My body could barely thermo-regulate in the heat. I took the opportunity to dunk my head in the freezing water. It worked.

Our path took us down a steady descent towards the sub-alpine of the St-Cyr drainage. Our scramble terminated at a steep, grassy slope blanketed with vibrant wildflowers, and hidden grizzly tracks. The over-saturated landscape was gloriously stunning to the point that it seemed like it had gone through a bad photoshop edit.

Looking back, the Latvian Col was staring at us. Even further, our bivy site below Mt Coursier seemed like a distant memory. It’s amazing how far a set of legs can take you… humans are resilient machines.

We followed the obvious ridge leading to Sale Mountain. So many ups and downs. In retrospect, I would recommend setting a trail through the burnt hills on the southern side of the ridge until gaining the ridge is absolutely necessary. This path would avoid an exposed downclimb through chossy rocks.

The remainder of the traverse was a simple hike following a faint trail. In the heat, it seemed eternal. 15 hours later spanning two days, we arrived at the Sale Mountain parking lot where we found Kaitlin’s SUV still in one piece. We drove down the Sale Mountain FSR in okay shape, dreaming of cold water and hot food.

Note: This trip was performed successfully using Ben Wilkey’s beta on Revelstoke Trails. Thanks Ben!

Photos

Route Info

15-18 h	2160 m	22.2 km	1730-2480 m

The post Mt Revelstoke To Sale Mountain Traverse: Off The Beaten Path appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: McCrae Backcountry Skiing: Wanderlust on Snow

Report from October 15, 2019

As we predicted, we arrived at the McCrae Lake Recreation Site trailhead with snow up to our shins and thick overhead clouds. With a stomach far too full from the previous night’s Thanksgiving meal, we began our ascent on skis up the trail at precisely 9 AM.

We eventually made it to the alpine meadows where the snowpack was getting deeper and deeper. The temperature was hovering around the freezing point, the winds were calm. Boy, were we stoked!

As the clouds parted, we swerved hiker’s right to climb the steeper northwest ridge. As soon as we stepped out of the forest’s safety, the winds picked up. Hurricane-force gusts almost blew us off the ridge’s crest. Man, I missed winter!

As we hurried up the ridge, we noticed a stiff wind slab facing northwest, following the prevailing wind’s direction. We kept this hazard in mind since we were about to ski a similar aspect. After 2.5 hours of touring, we reached the top of the glacier. What a spectacular view! I never get used to it.

Iannick and I were so excited that we skipped lunch in favour of powder turns while the visibility was decent, a rare occurrence on McCrae. The glacier was covered with 20 cm of sublime, dry champagne powder with a solid underlying base.

Knowing the area by heart, Iannick pointed out the crevasse to avoid. After all, it is October: the snowpack is shallow and the crevasse systems are either exposed or thinly covered.

Related: The Early Season Snowpack: How It Affects Your Winter

The first lap was amazing, far better than I expected for this early in the season. It goes without saying: the glacier delivered.

Without hesitation, we toured up the glacier in search of more snow. Iannick the Wise controlled his urge to bolt up the slope and started methodically probing the snow with his pole every few meters or so. He was searching for the hidden danger. Halfway up, Iannick was visibly agitated. He had unknowingly stumbled across the edge of a crevasse and poked a gaping hole through the snow. Looking past, all I saw was a black hole of misery and death. A little shaken, we pressed on for a second lap.

Yet again, the snow was pure gold. We headed for a small hill we named “Moon Landing” for its desolate moon-like terrain. We crushed a few turns down a thinly covered couloir and regrouped at our original uptrack. After some gnarly survival skiing, we returned to our ride at 2 PM. And so began my 2019-2020 ski season… on October 15.

Route Info

5-6 h	820 m	10.5 km	1770-2415 m

The post McCrae Glacier: Season’s First Powder Turns appeared first on The Uptrack.