We woke up to a cloudy morning with occasional light snow on the Weart Glacier. We were fortunate to still have decent visibility, however. After a long-ish morning of melting snow, we continued descending the glacier, all donning party hats in honor of Kevin's 30th birthday. I'm sure we looked ridiculous! At about 2000 meters, we turned north and made our way up through mellow terrain to a col south of the Mystery Glacier. Will and I took a slightly lower route than the rest of our posse which made a gradual high traverse and then rejoined us well below the saddle.
From the saddle, we had a truly memorable descent down the Mystery Glacier. The route finding around the crevasses was somewhat challenging, but the skiing was truly phenomenal. Jerry and Kevin led us down the perfect line. I was a little nervous because it was hard to see what was below due to rollovers, and it was nice to have some fearless leaders to suss things out. However, as I told the boys, I didn't think I was meant to die wearing a bright pink monkey party hat, so I was pretty sure I'd be ok! Seriously, it wasn't that bad though.... Conditions were optimal.
After descending the glacier for about 200 meters, we put skins on and climbed up to a minor ridge to the east. Once on the ridge, we debated our options. Our ultimate goal was a saddle on Hibachi Ridge, which we thought we could identify in the distance. However, we were unsure how to get there most efficiently. We seemed to have two options: descending to the east where we could make our way up a series of ramps, or continuing along the ridge skirting either to the left or right of a rocky high point. We wanted to avoid losing elevation if at all possible, and our maps didn't show any obstacles along the ridge, so we elected to stay high and skin to the left around the high point.
To make a long story short, that route didn't pan out, so we had to retrace our steps and descend below the ridge. Though we probably wasted an hour, you don't know 'til you go, and our miscalculation only added to our adventure. Plus, we could definitely blame it on the 100 foot contours.... Darn Canadian maps!
From the col, we descended another small glacier, once again in stellar powder. Another big thanks goes to Jerry for investigating the route.... Steep glaciers with rollovers are tricky!
Our long day ended with one last climb up to a saddle near Mt. Currie, followed by a 900 meter run down to the head of Gravell Creek, our exit route to Pemberton. The snow left a little to be desired (lots of wind affect and breakable crust.... survival skiing), and we were all exhausted. On the bright side, we found running water in camp.... No melting snow tonight! Add some birthday pudding Oreo cookies and the warmth of 30 candles, and we're all feeling pretty good. Permberton tomorrow!
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