April, 17, 2011,Joffre Group , BC - Canada

Day 1:

Kristin, Drew and I rendezvoused in Seattle for what we hoped would be an epic trip up to Whistler,  British Columbia.  Sunday morning we popped into a Whistler village gear shop and equipped Drew with a splitty.  Hence the title "Yet Another Bites the Dust"  :)  I believe this is victim # 3...As Drew was jones-in to purchase a splitboard after his first split tour of: Joffre Group, Pemberton Area, British Columbia.  I'm not sure if I like spreading the love for the sport or if I just like increasing my odds of finding partners to dig us out on any given weekend:)  The Joffre group is accessed via the Sea-to-Sky Highway, about 1 hour beyond Whistler or 20 minutes beyond Pemberton.  The iconic Anniversary Glacier sits between Joffre and Matier Peaks, and provides a rather safe ascent route to either Joffre's W couloirs or Matier's N face.  At the base of the glacier also sits a hut (Keith's Hut) that is rumored to sleep 15+ people.  So next year... hut trip for sure!

After a 2-3 hour approach, the skies started to clear, giving us a view of Anniversary glacier and encouraged a change of plans, which involved skiing Anniversary glacier as opposed to Vantage Pk.  So we started the the climb up Joffre's East ridge to gain access to the Anniversary glacier.  It was here during a lunch break that Drew poised the question..."Do you hear that"...and I answered "ya its a plane".  ERRR wrong it was a rather HUGE av, originating from Joffre's NE steep rocky face.  We scrambled for our cameras and tried to catch it on video (see video below). I was only able to catch the final runout. the whole basin then filled with a snow cloud.  The "jet roar" was preceded by a large bang.  Which leads me to think rockfall caused by the intense warming was the trigger for the slide, as there was no signs of stability in the snowpack itself.  The Anniversary Glacier's skiers right provides a long powder filled shot right down to its base, resulting in a ~ 3000' foot run.