Archive:Ski Traverse - April 2012
This page was setup to help manage the logistics of a ski traverse during the spring of 2012.
Participants: Sam, Piotr, Christian, Michal, Marius, Nora
Tentative dates: 17-24 April, 2012
Possible Plan (Piotr)
- day 1 - car faff + skin up Hurley to Railroad Pass, and ideally over to Semaphore Lakes to camp somewhere nice and not by the road
- day 2 - ski over Railroad group, down, up, and set up camp under Samson
- day 3 - climb Samson in the morning (optional if weather is not great) and continue on to big icefield with 8600 ft peak on it (see Baldwin pg 250)
- day 4 - climb the peak closer to the traverse route (see Baldwin pg 250, peak marked with triangle but no height or name) - optional early morning venture for the keen. Ski down and up other side of big valley to glacier under Icemaker/Guthrum etc. Seems like a lot of elevation loss + gain.
- day 5 - climb Icemaker and whatever else, relax. This day could offer us some leeway on the others.
- day 6 - Traverse some fairly complicated terrain to base of Athelstan - a photo on Baldwin confirms the idea the map conveys - tricky, but if the visibility is good then doable. If not then the exit via Salal Creek is possible. Champagne says he has a GPS.
- day 7 - Traverse round the N side of Athelstan, climb Athelstan via its standard ski ascent route [SE ridge] and ski down ridge to Pebble Creek, commence slog back to car.
- day 8 - complete slog back to car, car faff, and visit the Pony Espresso. It's 30 km from the Pebble Creek turnoff to the Hurley turnoff on the Lillooet FSR.
There are various exit options along this (North Creek, Pebble Creek, Salal Creek) and we can choose to climb or not climb a number of peaks depending on the weather, our speed, and our desires. We will find out as we start how much of a slog we have waiting for us at the end, so we can incorporate that knowledge into our plans. If it is indeed going to be a long slog back to the car we can skip out on, say, Samson, to still climb the more remote peaks towards the end of our traverse. Samson is mighty cool, but it is weekend accessible (well, for the determined). Icemaker would be awesome, Athelstan looks amazing. Allegedly you can see Waddington from it :-)
Gear
The plan is to go light in order to cover the distance, climb peaks and have a good time. It seems easier to manage gear using a Google Speadsheet:
{{#widget:Google Spreadsheet |key=0AiFp4AST27wsdC1vaUdQdk1oRVhkeENKeFJsb0ZobEE |width=100% |height=500 }}
Food Groups
- Food group 1
- Food group 2
- Food group 3