Regions: BC Coast / Greater Wedge / Castle Towers Park: Garibaldi Provincial Park JavaMap . ZoomMap . Automap . Radius Search May 11, 2006   (8 days) Calculated Length: 70 km Participants: Doug Brown, Betsy Waddington, Sandra McGuinness, Captain Bivouac (Robin Tivy) Difficulty: 4: Steep slopes, complex terrain, glacier crossings. Equipment: Ski touring and glacier travel equipment Abstract: North to south traverse starting from Diamond Head to Whistler. Ski ascent of Mount Sir Richard. Value: 46

Access Level: 1 = Any Car   Drive up the Diamond Head Road

Trip Report: The first decision you have to make when skiing the McBride Range traverse is whether to travel north to south, or visa versa. Traveling north to south pretty much means donating cash to Intrawest for a ride up the chairs on either Blackcomb or Whistler Mountains. In my mind, Intrawest ranks only slightly lower on the list of evil world powers than Bush and Cheney, so I was loathe to pay $40 for a one way ride up Whistler Mountain. First decision made. The second decision is whether to come in via Garibaldi Lake or from Diamond Head. Another easy choice, from Diamond Head you can probably be guaranteed of skiing, whereas the plod up the Garibaldi Lake trail with skis on your pack can be pretty dispiriting.

Day 1: Diamond Head to Upper Ring Creek

There is no point detailing the route to the Garibaldi Neve, which is standard fare in the Coast Mountains. We took the summer route to the Elfin Shelter and set up camp in a rain and graupel storm about 150 metres below the Garibaldi Glacier in upper Ring Creek. The route below the Gargoyles and down into Ring Creek could qualify as the first traverse of terror, as, by the time we got there, the snow was sloppy and isothermic and wet slides from above seemed a real possibility. We walked down the moraine at the end one at a time for fear of setting a slide off had we tried to ski this short but steep slope.

Day 2: Across the Neve to Glacier Pikes

The previous nights storm was still going in the morning, but by about 10.30 am a sucker hole enticed us out and we got away in about an hour, soon finding the sucker hole had slammed shut. Nevertheless, we had enough breaks in the storm to navigate our way across the Neve and out to a campsite in the pass west of Glacier Pikes. We had a wonderful sunset with views out to Garibaldi Lake and the sun flaming through a window on the southwest side of The Table.

Day 3: Sphinx and Gray Passes to Crosscut Ridge

In the morning the sun was out and we tootled around Glacier Pikes to the Sentinel Glacier and skied up to Sphinx Pass. A hot, but straight-forward climb. All in all, we dropped about 150 metres to contour around the Sphinx Glacier but it is possible you could stay higher. Traversing the northwest facing slopes around the Sphinx made me somewhat uneasy as the previous days storm snow was loaded onto an old sun-crust and the slope is definitely steep enough to slide (minor terror traverse only). We climbed right up to the ridge on which the blocky turrets of The Bookworms stick out of the snow and traversed more steep slopes across to the southeast ridge of Mount Carr. We stuck to the ridge that runs down into Gray Pass but found we had to climb back up a short section when we got to a steep roll-over with a large crevasse below. We were able to pass this on skiers left (north) on gentle slopes and then got back on the ridge, and, with only one short rock band to ski through, finally got down to Gray Pass. A three kilometre contouring climb to the Mount Luxor – Crosscut Ridge col follows. I initially started contouring too low and found myself on steep slopes of isothermic snow above a big run-out (easily avoidable terror traverse), switchbacking higher we found benchy terrain that was easy to safely cross. There were wet slides running off Crosscut Ridge but they weren’t triggering anything deeper in the snowpack so we spaced out a bit and stayed below the lowest debris for the climb up to the Luxor-Crosscut col. Hardly rates as a terror traverse. We camped in spectacular surroundings just below Crosscut Ridge on the glacier on its south side. This area is reminiscent of the Bugaboos or the Waddington Range with granite towers sticking out of the snow.

Day 4: Crosscut Ridge to the Forger Glacier

Next morning was clear again and there had been a decent freeze. We skied around the south side of Hour Peak and found ourselves looking at the ridge that runs northeast above Drop Pass. I became convinced that the route lay about 300 metres below contouring around the most southerly peak on the ridge and wagered all my Bivouac dollars with Robin on that being the correct route. However, the others convinced me to ski down to the col on the north side of Hour Peak and once there, even I realized that the route lay over or around this most southerly summit. Going directly over the peak was distinctly unappealing and would involve kicking steps up a very steep and hard snow-slope with a cornice above. At the base of a rock buttress on the ridge we met a party of two who had just skied around the west side of the summit (described in Baldwin’s book), so we decided to take that route.

This was the first real terror traverse as the snow on the west side was unconsolidated and scored with deep runnels from avalanches triggered by cornice collapses from overhead. Doug and I had ski crampons, but even we had to walk as the runnels were scoured so hard and bounded on each side by frozen avalanche debris that we couldn’t get more than a centimetre of crampon into the snow. So, we tiptoed our way across the slope, huge cornices above and a long steep run-out to the Isoceles Glacier below.

Back on the ridge we were happy to get our skis back on and to ski easily over the next bump on the ridge until we were above the appropriately named Drop Pass (the slopes on either side really do drop into the pass). Descending into Drop Pass we had to work our way north (skiers left) to avoid steep (cliff) slopes and glide cracks below. As with all the descents on this trip, the slope started out fine, but then rolled away out of sight making descents fiddly as we worked our way back and forth to find a route through numerous obstacles.

On the east side of Drop Pass we followed a ridge up to about 2000 metres and then skied up a bowl to the 6500 foot contour on the map where we judged the upcoming traverse to be least steep. A four kilometre contour around the north side of the Forger Glacier followed, which, was mildly anxiety provoking as, even though the snow conditions were good, the run-out is huge. Crevasses were easy to avoid. At the end of the day we climbed 200 metres over a ridge on the Forger Glacier and skied down a gentle slope with breakable crust to set up camp on the upper Forger Glacier.

Day 5: Stuck at Wolverine Pass

We had a bit later start the next day as we wanted the snow to soften for the descent down to Wolverine Pass. We contoured across the remainder of the Forger Glacier and picked our way down to Wolverine Pass through steep slopes staying skiers left of the ridge that runs into Wolverine Pass (this ridge could be an alternate descent route). Out of Wolverine Pass the initial slope was too steep to ski so we boot-packed up it and with skis back on, climbed to the 6500 foot contour where a steep traverse below the Gatekeeper leads to gentler slopes that can be climbed to the ridge east of the Gatekeeper. We were nervous of this slope as, of course, it has a big run-out, faces due south and the snow was very sloppy.

We started one of those, “we’ll just go out and have a look” routines that almost inevitably seem to lead you out onto dangerous slopes. One at a time we inched our way across to a safe location under a rock band, and, just as I was about to inch out further into the traverse a wet slide ran down 5 metres in front of my skis. A better sign couldn’t be had, so one by one we crossed back over to safe terrain and made an early camp. Both Betsy and I had very sore feet so an afternoon of out of the boots was well appreciated. That evening, building cirrus and a big sun-dog spurred us into constructing some mediocre walls around the tents, but the night was so warm that by morning (which was clear again) they had sublimated to small mounds.

Day 6: Wolverine Pass to Diavolo Creek

After a much too warm night we started the next terror traverse early. Back out at our island of safety we saw five or six large wet slides had washed down the traverse route some running right to the valley 500 metres below. Already the snow was soft and sloppy but at least the sun was not on the upper slopes and we all made it across to gentle terrain where a steady climb got us to the ridge east of the Gatekeeper.

We climbed up about 130 metres and then contoured (again!) across the Ubyssey Glacier to the col northeast of Mount Sir Richard. We dumped packs here and in a warm wind skied right to the top of Mount Sir Richard where we had the most stupendous views. Way to the south we could see Mount Baker. Judge Howay and Robie Reid were prominent and the Misty Icefield with its evocatively named Rain Door Pass and Thunderclap Glacier made up the foreground. Looking north we could also pick out Detour Ridge and our route for the next day up to the Benvolio-Fitzsimmons Col.

The 1100 metre run down the McBride Glacier was mostly a slush-fest but we did hit the odd patch of corn snow where the skiing actually became fun. At the base of the McBride Glacier we scooted out into a fantastic valley and the headwaters of the Cheakamus River. After six days of snow and ice the bright green of the yellow cedar trees was incredible. I really enjoyed the ski down this valley, notwithstanding the huge slide paths on either side of the valley. About 3 km downstream we tried to contour through forest to cross the forested ridge that separates Diavolo Creek and the Cheakamus River but ran into steep, bluffy terrain and had to descend to the river again. About half a kilometre downstream the slope up over the ridge was gentle and we climbed about 100 metres to crest it and then coasted down to camp by the Diavolo Creek.

Day 7: Diavolo Creek to Singing Pass

After another clear warm night we started the long climb to the Benvolio-Fitzsimmons col. We wound our way up Detour Ridge and opted to climb right over the final summit and to scramble/bootpack down the other side. It may be possible to scramble around the south side of Detour Ridge about 10 metres below the very top on a small rocky ledge. I ate too much for lunch at the top of Detour Ridge and was sluggish skiing up the Diavolo Glacier but finally caught up to Doug and broke trail up the final few hundred metres.

The traverse across the head of the Fitzsimmons Glacier to the north ridge of Overlord Mountain is technically easy but made terrifying by the huge cornices overhanging and falling off Mount Benvolio. I skied across just below the furthest reach of avalanche debris and thought “that would hurt” as I skied past blocks of cornice the size of a Hummer. Just before the north ridge of Overlord, there is some strange up-thrust of the glacier and a big chunk of glacial ice is pushed up and carved into two arcs with a perfect gateway between them. The next traverse, across to the northwest ridge of Overlord is also easy and only small chunks of cornice were peeling off here so we weren’t too terrified.

We easily found the gully (at about 2450 metres) down onto the Overlord Glacier and skied out to the flats spaced out as the beast above was growling (Robin’s words) and chunks of cornice and wet slides were coming off the ridge between Overlord and Refuse Pinnacle. On easy terrain now, we skied through the col between Whirlwind and Fissile Peaks and cruised down to camp at Singing Pass among the aggressive Whiskey Jacks.

Day 8: Culture Shock, Singing Pass to Whistler Village

Appropriately enough, Robin was chirruping away like a bird next morning singing a variety of songs from classic Julie Andrews “The Hills Are Alive” (not my favourite) to a version of “Killing me softly with her socks” for Doug who had been putting up with the stench of my foot rot and one pair of socks recycled each day in the small confines of our tent. It was stinking hot skiing up to Oboe Summit where Robin went through a whole set of songs strumming on his ski pole after I asked him whether or not he had played “air guitar” as a young lad. Doug videotaped the whole thing on our digital camera but none of the words are audible above my shrieks of laughter.

We wound our way into Flute Basin where we picked up a marked ski route leading to “Burnt Stew” trail and eventually down increasingly barren runs to the midway gondola station, where we jumped aboard with our big packs and were belched out 10 minutes later in the middle of Whistler village. From the wilds of the McBride Range to the middle of consumer-ville and our last terror traverse – wending our way past the over-priced shops swimming against the stream of the shopping obsessed horde to Robin’s beat up Subaru.

Associated Photo Essays
Benvolio Cornice Doug Brown
Castle Towers from the North Doug Brown
Mamquam from Drop Pass Doug Brown
Misty Icefield from South Side of Hour Peak Doug Brown
Mount Pitt to Wolverine Pass Doug Brown
Mountains and Ice: The Wonderful McBride Traverse Sandra McGuinness
Overlord Ski Gully Doug Brown
Sir Richard and the Upper Ubyssey Glacier Doug Brown
Skiing on the Forger Glacier Doug Brown
South Ridge of Sinister Peak Doug Brown
The Minute Hand - Northeast Side Doug Brown
The Sharkfin Doug Brown