May 31, 2009, Exodus Peak

Give the awesome weather, I really couldn't stay at home. After some last minute planning, Rich and I decided to head out for a day trip to Exodus on the southwest corner of the Pemberton Icefield (Coast Mnts, BC). The terrain is not very steep, but the distance is fairly long (1850m elevation gain, 13km one way).

We left Vancouver at 4am on Sunday, and after a the long drive (first to Squamish, then the endless Squamish River Road and Squamish Main) we finally hit the Carnival Creek bridge on Squamish Branch 400/422. Here we were stopped by some boulders and a slump blocking the road. Left the car at 6.50am, and decided to hike up the new Branch 428.

Walking up the logging road:


From the second switchback (~1050m elevation) we bushwhacked along the ridge to reach continuous snow around 1250m. From here we walked a bit longer to make sure we wouldn't have to take our skis off all the time, but not too much later, we put our skis to work. From here things were pretty straight forward.

Skinning up the upper part of the Carnival-Dipper ridge. Callaghan, Ring and Cayley in background:


We continued following the ridge until a bump above the glacier at around 9am. Here we dropped down the steep NE facing slopes. After 10m of side slipping on the steep and solidly frozen slope I figured the slope was steep enough to warrant taking of my skins. At the same time I thought, "better not fall, otherwise I'll cheese grate myself" as I wasn't wearing a long sleeve shirt or gloves. Perhaps I shouldn't have had those thoughts... For some reason I figured that making a turn would be a good idea, but clearly it wasn't, as I lost my edge for a couple of seconds and tried to arrest myself with my hand. Painful scraping ensued. Lessons learned: don't ski off icy slopes that drop off so steep that you can't see the bottom, but look around for better alternatives first. If you do, wear full body protection, or at least long sleeves and gloves...

From the glacier the long slog to Exodus awaited us. Halfway the snow started to get pretty soft, and nearing the end we punched through the snow quite a bit.

Nearing the base of the SW ridge, Ashlu-Elaho Divide in the background:


Got to the top around noon, and enjoyed the amazing views in all directions: Tantalus, Ashlu-Elaho, Mt.Albert, Tinniswood, Elaho, Manatee Icefield, Meager Group, Pemberton Icefield (Overseer), Sampson, Ring Peak, Callaghan, Cayley, Wedge, Whistler/Blackcomb, Castle Towers, Squamish-Cheakamus Divide, Garibaldi. See photos for details ;-) Definitely one of the peaks with the most expansive and impressive views I've been on.

Views from the summit towards Sun Peak, Mt. Albert and Tinniswood:


Due to the slushiness of the snow we decided against skiing down the SE face, so we took the same way down (SW ridge). Just before heading off, we skied up the second summit with the (phallus shaped) radio tower, just to make sure that we hadn't missed the highest point.

Skiing down was not too bad, but we had to push quite a bit on the flat glacier. Put on skins on for the climb back up the bump above the glacier. This time we chose a much mellower route on the small NW ridge coming off the bump. Reached the top a bit after 1pm, and skinned on for 500m to cover some undulating terrain to reach a high point from which we could ski down to the Dipper-Carnival ridge. Took almost an hour break in the sun; hydrating, drying sweaty clothes and stretching our sore muscles.

Slushy turns near the top of Exodus:


View back to Exodus near the top of the bump above the glacier:


From here the ski down was fast (30mins), followed by a short bushwhack down (45mins) and a final slog out on the logging roads (30mins). We reached the car around 4.15pm, after a 10 1/2hr day. The long drive home still in front of us.