April 3-4, 2004, Spearhead Traverse

Mt. Fitzsimmons, Overlord, Mt. Fissle and their glaciated cloaks.  Singing Pass is just out of the photo to the right.

with Dan Perrakis, Phil Higuera, John Mauro

Almost exactly three years ago, my brother and I skied from the lifts at Whistler out to the top of Mt. Fissle, down the north face and back.  We relaxed on the summit for some time, staring at snow covered mountains as far as the eye can see.  I was struck by the skin tracks and tiny people making their way every which way, over broad cols and down large glaciers.  We traced with our eyes every possible ski route - by golly, it looks like one could ski from horizon to horizon without ever leaving the alpine!  Having been weaned on a steady diet of typically steep and clever Cascadian terrain, the Coast Range was quite a shock.  The mountains are made for ski touring.  I began to think of skis as much more than something to use to make turns, but rather as tools to cover distance efficiently.  John Baldwin's Exploring the Coast Range on Skis became an inspiration.  The Spearhead Traverse was placed near the top of the wish list.

An early start from Seattle, a gondola, and two quad chairs later we found ourselves at the base of the Blackcomb Glacier T-bar.  Another party also planning to do the Spearhead was patiently waiting for the lift to open, while a group from the VOC decided to skin the short distance to the top.  Within a few minutes the ski patrol gave the green light and we were quickly at the ski area boundary.  A short climb to East Col gave the first views of the traverse.  We consulted the map, determined which of the many skin tracks was the correct one, and set off.  The route crosses a few glaciers and makes a long climb to the Tremor-Shudder col.  From here, we crossed the aptly named Platform Glacier, a sizeable piece of ice perched on a flat platform high above cliffs plunging down to Fitzsimmons Creek.  The next col afforded a descending traverse across two glaciers to the Macbeth-Naden Col.  This is about the half way point of the trip.  We debated camping here, but the clouds to our west had been gradually thickening all day until they were now blotting out the sun.  We wanted to cover some more ground to minimize any potential difficult navigation on Sunday should the weather worsen, so we skied down the Macbeth Glacier and climbed the Iago Glacier to the next high col.  Here we found an abandoned camp complete with 4 ft high tent walls and decided to stop.  A little work widened one enough for our megamid.  By sunset, the clouds were flirting with the top of Overlord and we became increasingly concerned about a potential white out as we still had several more glaciers and high cols to navigate through before Singing Pass.

Fortunately, the worst of the weather passed through overnight and by morning few clouds remained to our west, while the clouds to our east were sleeping soundly in the low valleys.  A tiny numbin near camp provided grand views of glaciers from horizon to horizon.  We sat on top for some time, photographing, eating breakfast, enjoying the sunshine and dreaming of a lifetime of exploring.

Sadly, the time came to move on.  We packed up, descended to the Benvolio glacier and climbed to the high col between Overload and Benvolio.  A short detour took us to the summit of Overload.  By this time, the clouds had been woken by the sun and had risen into large puffy cumulus.  Fortunately, the light wind kept them confined to the valleys; tiny holes gave glimpses of glaciers far away adding mystery to the unfamiliar landscape.  A spiral descent of Overload, a shallow climb and a long descent took us to Russet Lake and Singing Pass.  We continued over the musical bumps and down to Whistler.  The town of Whistler evidently likes to set up stages and host parties at the bottom of the lifts on sunny spring weekends.  Sunday was no exception.  The apres ski crowd that had gathered was a jolting shock after seeing few people the entire weekend.

This tour has a distinct European feel. It starts at the edge of a town and provides instant access to the alpine via a huge lift system.  Skin tracks split every which way near the ski area boundaries, although in the center there was only one track.  The route is entirely on glaciers except for the section from Singing Pass to Whistler.  It is incredibly scenic;  the middle section is spectacular.  Few of the slopes are steep and it is accessible to solid intermediate skiers comfortable skiing with a full pack.  It felt a little rushed in two days, and three would be about perfect to take in more peaks and do some yo-yo skiing on the many fine slopes.