Getting there is half the fun

Garibaldi Neve Traverse

To cap off an unproductive reading break I went with the VOC to ski the Garibaldi Neve for 4 days. The ski traverse is over 45 km long up over high alpine lakes and across massive glaciers in the mountains between Squamish and Whistler. It was definitely one of the best trips I've ever done!

We started Thursday at 6am, but after shuttling cars to the other end of the trail we didn't get started until 10am. Snow on the unplowed road meant that we had to start skiing almost 2km from the trailhead proper, which added almost an hour. To make things worse, most of the trail up to Garibaldi Lake had patchy icy snow, so we had to carry our skis for a few hours up the 36 switchbacks! This part of the trip almost ruined me and I was close to turning back because of my leg. After 3 hours of this we put the skis back on and skied through the trees above the barrier up the to lake. After 6 hours of hard work it was 4pm and a crazy minus 17C when we started the 4.5km lake crossing which took over 90 minutes. We reached the Burton Hut just as the sun finished setting.

Skiing through the trees up Rubble Creek Trail:


On the edge of Garibaldi Lake preparing for the COLD and WINDY crossing:


Skiing across Garibaldi lake:


We were rewarded with a good view of Black Tusk from the lake:


Cooking dinner inside the hut:


The small but cozy Burton hut on the edge of Sphinx Glacier, our home for 2 nights:


Friday was spent eating as much food as we could, burying the hut in snow for insulation, and contemplating whether we were going to attempt the crossing the next day. High winds Friday were giving us second thoughts about our strength and condition of our blistered feet. Friday night we somehow contaminated all of our pots and drinking bottles with kerosene, despite the fact that all our stoves use naphtha. It was a little frustrating melting snow 3 to 4 times to finally get a relatively kerosene free litre of water each.

We also went for a ski for a few ours up Sphinx Glacier. A few people made it all the way up to Deception Col, but Angela, Greta and I opted to turn around with Roland. This is a picture of Angela skiing down from the col:


Despite our best efforts in waking up at 5am Saturday, the cold said otherwise. We finally left the hut closer to 8am and started crossing to one side of the lake in -19C temperatures! We climbed up that massive hill at the end of the lake, a scary combination of kicking steps and traversing on edges:


After a few hours of skiing we crested the col between the Glacier Pikes. Garibaldi lake is now a LONG ways down! Burton hut is around the corner in the top right of the lake:


We then were rewarded by a nice expansive downhill across Warren Glacier. A bit short though. We skied down from the col in the middle back of the picture, a lot farther than it looks:


Then it was back to climbing hard up through crevasses and seracs up onto the neve. As always the slope is a lot steeper than it looks. Those are seracs on the left!:

My nose picked a perfect time to start bleeding as I was standing on a steep slope above a crevasse, probably due to elevation/dryness, leaving a trail behind me. Fun!

At the high point of the traverse we ate lunch directly below the peak of Mount Garibaldi!


After 2 days of uphill it was finally time for some downhill down the glacier! All of the snow in this picture of on top of glacier! Unfortunately it wasn't the best skiing though as it was extremely wind battered and crusty, but fun nonetheless. We also ran into a party of 5 heading in the reverse direction to Burton hut.


A very nice pic of Mike on the glacier with Mt Garibaldi behind!:


The end of the glacier dropped off into Ring Creek, which meant some serious crevasse dodging. The wave looking pieces of snow are burried crevasses. Opal Cone is the giant mound to the left.


Once down in the depths of Ring Creek we found a snow bridge and had to kick steps to get out of the very steep valley sides. It was a little hair raising!:


Above Ring Creek was pretty sketch too. The sides were extremely steep gulleys over cliffs. Oker dropped his thermarest and had to go all the way down to get it. And I fell and almost slid down a gulley, damn scary.

In the trees above Ring Creek....VERY steep!:


But finally after 9 hours of skiing and bonking right before the last 20 minute uphill we made it to Elfin Hut!


Because of its proximity to Squamish and easy trail in (the trail we went down, not the one we came from) the hut was completely packed. The hut has 30 something beds and around 60 people were staying there Saturday night. We all ended up sleeping on the kitchen floor and getting a bad night's rest.

Kim, me and Greta sitting on the floor:


Sunday was a nice leisurely ski down through Red Heather meadows (only after 90 minutes of uphill/traverse) and then a treacherous bobsled run of a trail down to the parking lot, followed by a few hours of car shuttling to end the most awesome of trips!!

Waiting at the side of the road for our shuttler's to arrive:


What a wicked trip! I'm hooked!!

Posted by Evan at 9:31 PM