Jan 26-27, 2010; Joffre Range, British Columbia
1/15/10
2398
3
The "bro den" was treated to excellent conditions for a reunion ski outing in British Columbia. After a day of lift-served powder skiing at surprisingly uncrowded Blackcomb, Drew, Cory, and myself headed farther north to stay in Pemberton before touring into the Joffre Range the next morning.
The cloudy sky over Pemberton on Tuesday morning gave way to sunshine as we drove over Cayoosh Pass enroute to the 'trailhead' at Cerise Creek.
Found a few inches of fresh dry snow overlying well-settled older powder, which seemed to have a generally good bond to a thin crust about a foot deep. Skied 3 different lines in the course of our 2-day outing near Joffre Peak and Vantage Peak. A good workout was had breaking trail up a steepish gladed slope to the top of a knob on Vantage Peak's north ridge. The north-facing bowl below the knob was tempting to drop into from near the top. While stability seemed good overall, we didn't feel quite that confident in jumping onto the slope as the only way in was on a wind-loaded convex roll with a large cliff in the fall-line below. Instead we continued to the top of the ridge and found an excellent alternative beyond offering gladed skiing and powder for ~1,500 vf, with some fun steep sections (without wind-loaded convex rolls).
Since our Vantage Peak tour was completed with ample daylight left, we decided to go for a 'bonus run' on the opposite side of the valley. Having spotted a short couloir above the Anniversary Glacier from the Vantage Peak tour, we headed up toward Joffre Peak for a closer inspection. Nice open-bowl skiing led us to the top of the short couloir which had been skied by others the day before. Did a couple ski cuts at the top of the chute, with only minor resulting sluff, then fun cranking tele-turns down the rest of the 40-ish degree pitch and faster turns on the mellower slopes below leading to a lateral moraine along the Anniversary Glacier. Back to the car with some daylight to spare for the long drive back to Seattle.
More photos posted here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/chriscass1/BlackcombMtnJan252010BackcountrySkiTouringInTheJoffreRangeJan2627th2010#
The cloudy sky over Pemberton on Tuesday morning gave way to sunshine as we drove over Cayoosh Pass enroute to the 'trailhead' at Cerise Creek.
Found a few inches of fresh dry snow overlying well-settled older powder, which seemed to have a generally good bond to a thin crust about a foot deep. Skied 3 different lines in the course of our 2-day outing near Joffre Peak and Vantage Peak. A good workout was had breaking trail up a steepish gladed slope to the top of a knob on Vantage Peak's north ridge. The north-facing bowl below the knob was tempting to drop into from near the top. While stability seemed good overall, we didn't feel quite that confident in jumping onto the slope as the only way in was on a wind-loaded convex roll with a large cliff in the fall-line below. Instead we continued to the top of the ridge and found an excellent alternative beyond offering gladed skiing and powder for ~1,500 vf, with some fun steep sections (without wind-loaded convex rolls).
Since our Vantage Peak tour was completed with ample daylight left, we decided to go for a 'bonus run' on the opposite side of the valley. Having spotted a short couloir above the Anniversary Glacier from the Vantage Peak tour, we headed up toward Joffre Peak for a closer inspection. Nice open-bowl skiing led us to the top of the short couloir which had been skied by others the day before. Did a couple ski cuts at the top of the chute, with only minor resulting sluff, then fun cranking tele-turns down the rest of the 40-ish degree pitch and faster turns on the mellower slopes below leading to a lateral moraine along the Anniversary Glacier. Back to the car with some daylight to spare for the long drive back to Seattle.
More photos posted here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/chriscass1/BlackcombMtnJan252010BackcountrySkiTouringInTheJoffreRangeJan2627th2010#
Awesome. Was the hut crowded?
No crowd at the hut. Had the place to ourselves for most of the evening, then were joined by a small group of friendly Whistler locals who toured to the hut by headlamp that night.
\Good call on midweek. Apparently weekend was a gongshow 40 ppl pissing every where but the pee tree at Keiths hut
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