Feb 5, 2019, Spearhead Traverse C2C
2/5/19
1553
2
TLDR: 16:40 on-sight C2C CCW via Singing Pass. 31 miles, 13,500 vert. awesome. Incredible snow, broke trail for at least 15 of the 31 miles. Very cold, air temp between 0 and 15 from start to finish.
I wanted to do this on-sight and C2C for the first attempt to really make it a challenging experience, neither of us had even skied any of the terrain in/around Whistler. My buddy Nick was able to get off work early on Monday because of the snow, giving us the opportunity to get a little farther north. The light winds and bitter cold made it a perfect objective with the line-up of circumstances.
I did some quick research and made some calls to get some of the Singing Pass beta, and boom we were off by 530pm. Arrived, parked, and asleep by 1030pm.
We started at 5am, about an hour later than we wanted, but some delays and the poor driving conditions put us in Whistler a little later than we hoped.
We made fast progress to Singing Pass, getting there around 8am. We following a skin track briefly and then went our own way and didn't see another sign of human activity until the Trorey Glacier.
We were moving fast until the area around Oberlord-Benvolio-Fitzsimmons where at around noon and we had to make the decision on turning back based on time, or pressing on. Nick had to work, I didn't, but Nick could sleep in the van on way back; the weather was awesome: we decided to keep going knowing we would have some portion of complex travel in the dark.
We continued to move as efficiently as we could, reaching Pattison skiing a ridiculous weakness onto the Trorey Glacier with the very last amount of usable light.
On the Trorey Glacier we found our first skin track and it led us up to the Decker-Trorey Col, and we followed loose signs of ski and skin tracks along our route to Blackcomb Peak. By this time, the wind had picked up and we opted to escape into the Lakeside Bowl instead of skiing the Blackcomb Glacier exit.
We skied through the resort, ending up at the base at around 940pm.
Misc Notes:
C2C in 16:40 seems both fast and slow, I'm sure the longer days and faster travel conditions in more spring like conditions make it go faster. Having some idea on where to go probably helps too, both in previous experience and in physical tracks/evidence.
The CCW vs CW debate. We went UP a lot of good stuff, so perhaps the CW is a better option? Or is CW better because the gondola gets you higher for the start?
Layering. It was COLD. In the skin track to Singing Pass I had a 200 weight LS shirt, and didn't sweat at tall. Once the sun cam up, I layered a Patagonia Sun Shirt ON TOP of the 200 weight LS and it worked really well. For extra wind or insulation I added/removed another light vest. Once it got dark and the pace slowed, all the layers got put on and basically stayed on until back at the parking lot.
Hydration. We each drank about 2.5 liters the whole time. Not a lot. Tough to carry enough water without it freezing, and the thermoses are heavy. Stopping to brew takes time, and time was obviously important - we chose to skip brewing until after sunset in order to maximize use of the daylight. Neither of us cramped, and both had our ups and downs. I'm not sure how much faster we would have been had we been better hydrated.
All of my chewy snacks were frozen solid, you had to pre-heat them in a pocket (not very effective, too cold) or leave them in your mouth until they softened up.
Glacier travel gear. We brought it, used a rope once to belay a short sketchy slope, but other than that no obvious reason to bring it? What do people normally do? Boot crampons? We brought them just in case for some insurance - perhaps more necessary in spring conditions?
C2C options other than Singing Pass?
Pictures soon
I wanted to do this on-sight and C2C for the first attempt to really make it a challenging experience, neither of us had even skied any of the terrain in/around Whistler. My buddy Nick was able to get off work early on Monday because of the snow, giving us the opportunity to get a little farther north. The light winds and bitter cold made it a perfect objective with the line-up of circumstances.
I did some quick research and made some calls to get some of the Singing Pass beta, and boom we were off by 530pm. Arrived, parked, and asleep by 1030pm.
We started at 5am, about an hour later than we wanted, but some delays and the poor driving conditions put us in Whistler a little later than we hoped.
We made fast progress to Singing Pass, getting there around 8am. We following a skin track briefly and then went our own way and didn't see another sign of human activity until the Trorey Glacier.
We were moving fast until the area around Oberlord-Benvolio-Fitzsimmons where at around noon and we had to make the decision on turning back based on time, or pressing on. Nick had to work, I didn't, but Nick could sleep in the van on way back; the weather was awesome: we decided to keep going knowing we would have some portion of complex travel in the dark.
We continued to move as efficiently as we could, reaching Pattison skiing a ridiculous weakness onto the Trorey Glacier with the very last amount of usable light.
On the Trorey Glacier we found our first skin track and it led us up to the Decker-Trorey Col, and we followed loose signs of ski and skin tracks along our route to Blackcomb Peak. By this time, the wind had picked up and we opted to escape into the Lakeside Bowl instead of skiing the Blackcomb Glacier exit.
We skied through the resort, ending up at the base at around 940pm.
Misc Notes:
C2C in 16:40 seems both fast and slow, I'm sure the longer days and faster travel conditions in more spring like conditions make it go faster. Having some idea on where to go probably helps too, both in previous experience and in physical tracks/evidence.
The CCW vs CW debate. We went UP a lot of good stuff, so perhaps the CW is a better option? Or is CW better because the gondola gets you higher for the start?
Layering. It was COLD. In the skin track to Singing Pass I had a 200 weight LS shirt, and didn't sweat at tall. Once the sun cam up, I layered a Patagonia Sun Shirt ON TOP of the 200 weight LS and it worked really well. For extra wind or insulation I added/removed another light vest. Once it got dark and the pace slowed, all the layers got put on and basically stayed on until back at the parking lot.
Hydration. We each drank about 2.5 liters the whole time. Not a lot. Tough to carry enough water without it freezing, and the thermoses are heavy. Stopping to brew takes time, and time was obviously important - we chose to skip brewing until after sunset in order to maximize use of the daylight. Neither of us cramped, and both had our ups and downs. I'm not sure how much faster we would have been had we been better hydrated.
All of my chewy snacks were frozen solid, you had to pre-heat them in a pocket (not very effective, too cold) or leave them in your mouth until they softened up.
Glacier travel gear. We brought it, used a rope once to belay a short sketchy slope, but other than that no obvious reason to bring it? What do people normally do? Boot crampons? We brought them just in case for some insurance - perhaps more necessary in spring conditions?
C2C options other than Singing Pass?
Pictures soon
Very nice, strong first tour there :)
Impressive. I think most go CW and buy a single ride ticket to take the lifts up Blackcomb to start. Then you can ski down Singing Pass trail. You then have the option of skiing Fissile Peak at the end, which is glorious. Downside is you have to wait for the lifts to open, preventing an early start. I was with a snowboarder and Singing Pass sucks on a snowboard. So we opted to hike all the way back to Flute bowl where you can ski down the groomers after the lifts are closed. Also, going CW there is sometimes a short rappel/cliff jump to get from Overlord to Whirlwind/Fissile. This part could be tough going CCW depending on conditions.
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