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Tuesday, April 18, 2024
Slhanay Peak - Slhanay Peak Trail, April 2023
With the sudden onset of warm Spring weather starting in April, we hung up the boards for the season and traded-in our snow boots for hiking kicks. Nobody was in the mood for a long drive, big vert or suffering up something obscure out in the back of beyond just yet, and Pepper was coming, so I had to dig deep for a venue suitable for all. Slhanay Peak in Squamish fit the bill perfectly with a pleasant loop hike, great views of Stawamus Chief and Squamish Valley, and low enough to remain below the isothermal snow line. It is considerably lesser traveled than the Chief with its three summits, so if you desire some solitude on your hike, this be the one. That said, I find the Chief to be much more interesting, both in terms of variety (i.e. via ferrata) and views, but if you've already been up it a number of times as I have then Slhanay makes for a good alternative.
We parked at a small pullout on the Mamquam FSR about 1.5 km from where we turned off Hwy 99. The trail is easy to follow, albeit steep at times, requiring one to clamber up boulders and roots. We gained the forested ridge in short order and followed a pretty moss-lined trail to the NE towards our peak, making a short detour to a bluff with a fantastic view overlooking the Squamish Valley. Backtracked to the main Slhanay Trail and followed that on up to the summit proper. Note that there are multiple trails through here, so an offline map or GPX would be useful. The summit is somewhat treed with partially obstructed views, but what more can you ask for from a summit barely over 2000 feet? We followed a different trail for a portion of our return to make another viewpoint, this time with a bench and up-close views of the Olesen Creek Valley on the Chief's backside. Cold refreshments were calling, so hurried back down to the car and off to our usual Squamish watering hole to complete the day!
Back out to the Musical Bumbs, this time for some Cowboy Ridge action. Up n' over Flute, taking a direct descent to the next saddle this time, before ascending Oboe. Down again now to the Oboe-Cowboy Ridge (CR) saddle before the final ascent to CR. All this is a very well traveled area in the Whistler slackcountry with a mix of groups ranging from day-trippers to those travelling to and from the Kees & Claire Hut out by Russet Lake. Great views from CR "summit" towards Fissile Peak with several parties making their way up towards the various chutes on its N - NW Face. I've ridden down from CR several times previously to and from other adventures in the area, but never via the steeper and more interesting slopes at skiers right. I've eyed this zone a number of times over the years from Flute and such and have long desired to leave my own tracks down it! The choicest pitch there is a "known producer" so stable conditions are must. That said, it does get skied all winter long. Anyway, a fine steep run with great snow when I did it and a perfect closeout to the ski season for me, the only bummer being the longish commute back to the lifts!
Spearhead Glacier - plus Husume Coulior, March 2023
Minor variation to a tour we've done countless times before. Up below Blackcomb's East Col to Spearhead's east shoulder, taking the skier's right chute down onto Spearhead Glacier. Conditions this winter have been cold and dry, plus combined with glacial recession I'm sure and we found the chute was surprisingly icier and steeper than expected. Dropped-in blind off the shoulder and was committed right out the gate. Slide-for-life conditions managing a semi-controlled sideslip until past the cliffs before realising that I couldn't stop myself and straight-lined it the rest of the way, coming to a stop in powder below. Agata managed to pick her way down with greater care and control - next time I'm bringing axe and crampons or just taking the south-side traverse over to the lower notch.
Enjoyable run down Spearhead Glacier as always, all crevasses well filled-in. Re-skinned at the flats eyeing a lap down the eastern lobe of the glacier. Fun, mellow run down from the ridge for our second lap, and it was time to high tail it for Husume Couloir. Usual steep skinning followed by a short bit of booting to attain the col. Now in the shade, and thoroughly skied out, the couloir was mostly refrozen mank, and once again steeper than I remembered it. Still aesthetic as always and made it back down to Glacier Road in no time. Then straight to the Dublin Gate where Jackie greeted us with our usual shot of Jameson whiskey and pint of Harp!
Silverdaisy Mountain - via Cayuse Flats, March 2023
Completely encircled by Skagit Valley and Manning Provincial Parks, but not part of either, the roughly 57 square kilometer area within which Silverdaisy Mountain is located is a virtual BC Parks no-mans land. Within this relatively small parcel of land can be found a collection of peaks such as Hatchethead, Claimstake, Brice, Eastpoint, Porcupine and of course the most frequently visited of the lot, Silverdaisy. Its popularity as a winter objective stems from the fact that a good, albeit long forest road starting from Hwy 3 can be followed to the ~5900ft Claimstake-Silverdaisy Saddle, a mere 1.6 kilometers from the summit. The terrain is also relatively sheltered from avalanches, adding to its appeal as a "safe" outing when conditions elsewhere are hazardous. Unfortunately, this also means that as a ski-touring destination, a trip to Silverdaisy isn't very exciting, although the East Face of neighboring Claimstake apparently offers a fine, steep run.
Content with simply tagging Silverdaisy on yet another solo outing, I found myself skinning-up at the highway pullout hopeful for bucking the car prowling trend the Cayuse Flats Trailhead has become notorious for. Crossed the bridge over the Skagit River and then a long, boring skin some 10 kilometers up Smitheram Creek Valley to the saddle. Sinking through the previous tracks for much of the way and dragging heavy clumps of snow globbed onto the bottom of my skins, it was an exhausting slog getting to this point. I stopped repeatedly to rid my skins of the snow and ice, but minutes later they'd glob back up again. Ugh! A short but steep pitch up to the South Ridge followed by more of the same laborious skinning to the summit. Decent views, particularly of distant Silvertip and Hozomeen as well as Claimstake and Eastpoint much closer in. Toured back from the top to the steep bit above the saddle before switching to ride mode and enjoying a quick descent mostly adjacent to my up track. A large cutblock area before the long FSR valley section offered the best riding IMO. Snow conditions had firmed up slightly now, allowing for a continuous descent back to the bridge with only one short stretch where I had to walk. What a relief! Back to the truck, where low and behold all the windows and doors were intact. Best part of the day for sure!
Chose this as my next split-touring venue off the Duffey. The peak with its distinctive chutes is easily spotted from the highway and had captured my imagination from the very first time I gazed up at them. Access is by way of Steep Creek FSR which also services approaches to Steep and Darkside. The FSR leads most of the way to Blowdown's west-facing basin and makes the descent very much a "road shot", with just a short bit of skinning on the return interrupting what would otherwise be a continuous ride from summit to the highway. Like with my other tours in the area, I postponed this trip for late winter as it takes a while for the terrain out here to fill in. I would not be disappointed by that decision, but seriously considered not stepping out of the car that morning as the temps were hovering around -25C! But it's a "dry cold" I kept repeating to myself as I strapped-in and shouldered my pack.
Up the FSR, then took a left at the Steep-Blowdown fork eventually reaching a cutblock area with my first good views of the line I intended to ride down. Just one set of older tracks here to follow but ended up making my own way across the cutblock proper. Travel here was slow, tedious, and exhausting. More wallowing now up the west-facing basin, in deep cold powder, breaking trail the whole way. At some point a helicopter buzzed by overhead and dropped a couple guys off at the summit. There's a Gazex exploder up there along with some other equipment that probably needed servicing. While I didn't see them at the time, these two skied down to a weather station hidden in the trees down near my up route. I think they were a bit surprised to see me, breathing heavily and moving slowly as I was! Said hello and kept plodding up towards the ridge crest above. Shortly thereafter the heli returned to pluck the two off the mountain and I was alone once again.
More skinning misery gaining the ridge, after which it was mostly smooth sailing to the summit. Outstanding views in all directions, particularly of Duffey Lake way down below. Other notables include views up Blowdown Valley towards Blowdown Pass, Gott and Gotcha, west towards Rohr and Marriott, Steep and Darkside to the south and of course the Joffre Group to the WSW. Sweaty and freezing up there, so I didn't linger for long, assembled the board and started down. Chose the more conservative of the two main chutes (skiers left) being that I was solo, despite the LOW avalanche rating. Unbelievable cold smoke pow down from the ridge back into the basin - faster is better, you know, just in case! The excitement was over with much to quickly as always, and unfortunately, I was far too spent to go back up for another lap! Steep looks appealing, and with the great access I might have to come nab that one next!
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