Regions: BC Coast / Greater Wedge / Castle Towers Park: Garibaldi Provincial Park JavaMap . ZoomMap . Automap . Radius Search May 10, 2003   (2 days) Calculated Length: 32 km Participants: Paul Baker, Keith Thompson Difficulty: 3: Glacier crossing, possible crevasse hazards and whiteout travel. Equipment: Ski touring and camping equipment, avalanche equipment Abstract: A fine ski tour across the Garibaldi Neve, under near perfect conditions, to end the season. Value: 38

Access Level: 1 = Any Car   Access via Diamond Head Road.

Trip Report: Going into this trip, I was batting zero for two on the Neve over the last three years. For Keith it was something like zero for six over fifteen years. He had been living in Toronto for part of that time, so having moved back to BC last year, he was hoping to get the monkey off his back.

Our latest attempt had been a month earlier when we were shut down by poor visibility on the Bishop Glacier, and had retreated to the hut at Elfin Lakes. I later discovered that the track we had been following that day (until it disappeared into the murk of blowing snow and clouds) belonged to James Floyer, who had been doing the traverse solo. His excellent trip report makes interesting reading.

This time, the forecast was for three days of high pressure, which we felt put the odds in our favour. We left Whistler early Saturday morning, dropped off a vehicle at the Garibaldi Lake trailhead, and continued on to the Diamond Head parking lot. While getting geared up we were accosted by one of the local partridges. Judging from the array of colourful tail feathers on display, he was either trying to scare us out of his territory, or hoping that we might be able to a direct him to a potential mate. Feigning intimidation, we started up the road to Elfin Lakes at 8AM, leaving the feathery Romeo to rule his kingdom in peace.

Since the road was completely bare of snow, we had to hike for about 30 minutes before we could put on our skis. We made good time to Red Heather Meadows, and moving onto Paul Ridge, we were treated to a fine view of Atwell Peak. Snow conditions were excellent, so we followed the summer route on the north side of the ridge. By 11:30 we were at the Elfin Lakes hut, where we stopped to eat and re-hydrate.

Next up was to traverse below The Gargoyles and to get across Ring Creek. Due to the heat of the day, the slopes below The Gargoyles were somewhat soft, and Keith set off one small sluff as we dropped down towards the creek. From the safety of the moraine, we looked back to see a wet and dirty stream of snow oozing down one of the avalanche chutes we had recently crossed. Obviously, travelling through this area is best done early in the day.

We started looking for an easy way to get down to Ring Creek, and found that the traverse across the face of the moraine (which we had used on the last trip) was no longer an option. To the south, a short distance down the creek, we could see a snow bridge with a track going across it. This would briefly take us below some potential avalanche slopes, but the conditions looked acceptable. Moving quickly down the slope, we made a few switchbacks, and in short order we were across the creek. Knowing that we were now through the area with the most objective danger that we would encounter on the trip, we were in good spirits as we skied towards the Garibaldi Glacier.

Moving onto the Bishop Glacier, the dramatic east face of Garibaldi was revealed. This proved to be much more interesting to look at than the disorienting whiteout conditions that had prevailed on our previous attempt. Moving easily across the glacier, we worked our way up towards the high point of the traverse. Shortly after 5PM we crested the ridge, and skied down onto the North Pitt Glacier, where we set up our camp for the night.

We ate a leisurely dinner, and then spent some time with the map and compass identifying numerous peaks to the east. For both of us, it was our first visit to this area of Garibaldi Park, so it was fun to match what we were seeing with familiar names from the guidebooks. Mt. Luxor, Crosscut Ridge, Isosceles Peak and many others were all laid out before us. I plan to ski the McBride Range Traverse in the future, and seeing some of the terrain that it passes through was inspiring, if not a little intimidating.

We were up at 5:30 on Sunday, with the intention of climbing Mt. Garibaldi. We ate breakfast, stashed our excess gear and started skiing towards the NE face of Garibaldi. Our plan was to ski as far up the face as possible, and then climb to the NW ridge. Once on the ridge, the guidebook promised a "short scramble" to the summit. While climbing the face we heard some shouting, and looked down to see a party of two passing by our campsite and waving to us. They were the only people we saw all weekend.

When we got to the western end of the ridge, we decided that traversing to the summit would be a more challenging "scramble" than we were willing to attempt. Later review of other guidebooks, and some trip reports on this website, made it clear that we should have ascended the centre of the face, directly towards the summit, instead of trying to traverse the ridge. So, despite being less than 400' from the summit, we decided to descend. Before leaving we took a few moments to enjoy the view from our lofty perch.

Not summitting was a bit of a letdown, but descending meant that we would be able to get our first real turns of the trip. The snow had corned up nicely, and having light packs kept things fun. It only took about 15 minutes to descend what it had taken us almost two hours to ski up, and we were back at camp by 11:30.

We had lunch, loaded up our packs and skied towards The Sharkfin. The crevasses in this area were easy to see, and since the snow bridges were in good shape, we didn't bother roping up. We were soon down on the Warren Glacier, and began the gradual climb to the col west of Glacier Pikes. At the col, we noticed a snowmobile track that looked to be a few days old. A bit out of place inside the Park, but not unexpected given our proximity to the snowmobiling Mecca of Brohm Ridge.

We took one last look at Garibaldi (the arrow shows our high point), and started our descent to the Sentinel Glacier. By now it was mid-afternoon, and the lower we descended, the sloppier and heavier the snow became. Making telemark turns in these conditions, while wearing a heavy pack, quickly proves that going downhill isn't always the easy (or fun) part of ski touring. Keith was on AT gear, so he didn't seem to be working nearly as hard as I was. The fact that he's a much better skier may have also had something to do with it.

Passing by the glaciology huts, we were soon standing at the edge of Sentinel Bay. Crossing Garibaldi Lake had been a bit of a concern when we started the trip. It was nearly mid-May, and the guidebook had indicated that this was pretty much the latest that you could expect to still find the lake passable. While climbing Garibaldi, we had been able to see that the lake was still covered in ice, so at that point we were confident it wouldn't be a problem.

As might be expected, skiing across a lake is not the most stimulating activity. However, it became more interesting as we started to encounter pockets of slush on top of the ice. Initially, these were easily avoided, but the further north we went, the larger they became, until we were forced to start crossing them. This wasn't so bad, as most of them were shallow, but eventually we both ended up with icy water leaking into our boots. To add to the experience, we could see some rather dark looking clouds coming down from the north. In fact, we were soon treated to the audio-visual spectacle of a thunderstorm rolling over Black Tusk. So much for the forecasted three days of high pressure.

We were just over a kilometre from the Battleship Islands, and could see that nearly the entire northern end of the lake was covered in slush. Soaked feet and a cold rain were making things miserable, so we picked what appeared to be the best path through the mess, put our heads down, and headed for shore. Taking refuge in one of the picnic shelters, we dumped the water out of our boots, put on dry socks and had a bite to eat.

The respite was brief, as it was now almost 6PM and we wanted to get to the parking lot before dark. So, leaving the comfort of the shelter, we stepped out into the rain and started the last leg of our trip. The Garibaldi Lake trail was in good shape, but required constant vigilance to prevent any nasty mishaps while navigating the switchbacks. Eventually we got to the point where there was more dirt than snow, which meant that the skis had to come off. The drawback to late season ski trips is that they often start, and end, with your skis on your back.

After hiking for the better part of two hours, we reached the parking lot at 8:30 PM, 36.5 hours after starting our journey the day before. In short order we had our gear loaded into Keith's car, were changed into dry clothes and going to pick up my vehicle.

This was an excellent trip, which for the most part had perfect weather and fantastic travelling conditions. We saw some awesome terrain, nearly bagged a peak, and as any good trip to the mountains should, it left us full of ideas for what to do next season. Two thumbs up!