March 29th-30th
Nelson Fretenburg, Finn Nieland, Alain Zhiyanov, Leon Chen, Elias Bowman, Alex Levy, Xander Hudyma Yu, Ed Riley, Tristan Russell, Erik Reimers
On the beautiful traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish Nation and Lil’wat Nation.
As the weather models updated, we began planning the skiing portion of this year’s “Mother of Ski Mountaineering” trip. The snowpack had just experienced its first major warm-up of the season, triggering a widespread natural avalanche cycle across the region. Luckily for us, the weather called for an overnight freeze to return during our planned weekend at Burton Hut with bluebird skies forecasted for Sunday. With an early alpine start from camp, we could aim to take advantage of a colder, more stable snowpack before the temperatures spiked again in the afternoon, ensuring safer conditions for our ascent.
A few different objectives were mapped out for the trip with the Sphinx Pass area looking like a reasonable choice for a day with considerable avalanche hazard. This route kept us on terrain that stayed below 30 degrees, with no overhead hazard and minimal sun exposure until later in the day. One perk of ski mountaineering is that you can still have an exciting and challenging day climbing or completing a glacier traverse, without the need to always ski the steep slopes.
Left: Map of the Sphinx Bay area with ski accent options shown in blue and potential crevasse hazards noted in black. Right: The long(ish) walk from the Rubble Creek trailhead to the snowline begins (p. Finn).
As is often the case in BC, the trip began as a hike in ski boots for the first hour before we could begin skinning. We eventually crossed Garibaldi Lake and got our first views of the Sphinx Glacier beyond Burton Hut. We then spent the remainder of the first day reviewing our glacier travel skills, practicing booting with crampons, and rappelling on skinny ropes.
While we worked on our mountaineering skills, a separate, unrelated group of VOCers had hauled up an entire barbecue—along with an assortment of other outrageous gear—and were cooking up a storm of juicy burgers and sizzling bacon (trip report coming soon?). The smell was unlike anything we had ever experienced in the backcountry, making our thoughts turn to how we could sneak a few bites from their feast. After enjoying some generously offered burgers and good company with the other group, we retreated to our tents with a 4am wake-up call ahead of us. By now, the skies had completely cleared and the temperatures had dropped getting us mega stoked for the day to come.
Left: Crossing Garibaldi Lake to reach Sphinx Bay with the Sphinx Glacier presenting itself through the clouds (p. Finn). Middle: Practicing our crevasse rescue hauling systems (p. Finn). Right: Getting comfortable using boot crampons for climbing (p. Nelson). Bottom: Simul-rappelling off a snow bollard towards the smell of burgers with the sun setting over Garibaldi Lake (p. Erik).
After a usual amount of morning faffing around, we took off towards the glacier by headlamp. With perfect visibility and minimal crevasse hazard on our route we made the call to remain unroped while on the glacier (as is common in the coast mountains). As we crested the top of the Sphinx Glacier, we set our sights on a picturesque group of rocky spires near Deception Peak.
Top: A cold morning spent travelling over to the Sphinx Glacier by headlamp (p. Alex). Middle: Alain looking photogenic as ever as the first sunrays of the day hit the glaciers of the Ashlu-Elaho Divide in the distance (p. Alex). Bottom: Planning our route across the glaciated terrain (p. Alex).
Continuing on up the glacier, we eventually reached the highpoint. Leaving our skis at the base, we carefully navigated a steep and chossy face using crampons and ice axe in order to summit the most aesthetic of the spires. The unnamed spire was unofficially named “BBQ peak” by Nelson in honour of the VOC’s master chiefs of Ivan Fediaev et al. From the peak, panoramic 360° views surrounded us, getting us stoked for future adventures to come.
Middle: Making our way to “BBQ peak” (marked with an arrow) as we enjoy the sun hitting our faces for the first time of the day (p. Ed). Middle top: Starting the scramble up the rock spire (p. Alex). Middle bottom: Mandatory summit selfie with the always impressive Nch’ḵay̓ (Mount Garibaldi) towering behind us (p. Erik). Bottom: Making our way back down to the skis.
After down-climbing the spire, we refueled and basked in the sunshine. The descent was (mostly) magnificent—dreamy dry powder that eventually gave way to breakable crust at lower elevations—bringing us back to the hut right on schedule. We packed up slowly, feeling accomplished for the day. With the sun high in the sky, we began the long trek back to the cars marking the end of a memorable VOC “Mother of Ski Mountaineering” trip for 2025.
Top: Spectacular views from our snack spot with Castle Towers and Mount Carr behind us (p. Erik).
Bottom: Dreamy powder skiing down the first pitch of the glacier (p. Ed).
VOC food delivery always at your service. Hope to make it up to bbq peak next season!