Quick spring trip with Grahame
Cypress Peak
Great ski tour and scramble on the Squamish-Cheakamus Divide.
Pelion Mountain
A favorite late spring ski ascent.
Mamquam Mountain
Fast day trip traversing across the summit of Mamquam Mountain.
Tricouni Peak
Classic spring tour. Managed to ski off the summit.
Curtain Glacier
Classic Spearhead Traverse variant with Ziff.
Cowboy Ridge
Warm day touring behind Whistler.
Garibaldi Neve Traverse & Mount Garibaldi
Beautiful weather for a tour across the Neve with a quick side trip of the summit of Garibaldi. Garibaldi is one long lake to ski across!
Fissile Peak: Northwest Face & Banana Chute
Excellent conditions in the Whistler Backcountry.
Blackcomb Backcountry: Vista & Decker
Another Blackcomb backcountry outing linking Vista Bowl and Decker Mountain.
Phalanx Mountain
Classic tour in the Blackcomb backcountry.
Blackcomb Backcountry: Charlie Chandler
Celebrating Ziff’s birthday with a tour into the back 9. First time to the summit of Charlie Chandler.
Blackcomb Backcountry: Spearhead Glacier
Touring around The Spearhead.
Cayoosh Mountain: Lazy Boy
Duffey powder.
Musical Bumps
Touring out to Oboe with Pascal.
Mount Cook
Exploring a basin below Mount Cook.
Blackcomb Backcountry: Tremor & Decker
Excellent day with a strong crew in the Blackcomb backcountry skiing Tremor Mountain & Decker Mountain.
Cowboy Ridge
Skiing Oboe and Cowboy Ridge during munchkin ski lessons.
Musical Bumps
Great skiing on Oboe.
Caspar Creek
Tree skiing in a quiet corner of the Duffey.
Cassiope Peak
Last trip of 2017.
Cowboy Ridge
Perfect day of touring.
Flute
Birthday ski off Whistler
Black Tusk
Good day of skiing on the Black Tusk accessed from Helm Creek
Metaldome
Still a bit early in the season but good views made it worthwhile.
Metaldome
Not my most successful outing. Too early perhaps?
Icecap Peak
Many of the great spring touring in the South Coast utilizes the vast resource road network throughout the area. These access routes change dramatically from year to year as new roads are built and old roads succumb to erosion. Social media and online web sources are an excellent way to get information on the current…
Tantalus Traverse
Words by Stephen Ziff, Images by Matt Gunn (Lea Zhecheva’s poetic trip report can be found here) The texting begins on Tuesday. Unlike this past stormy winter, the forecast is actually great for the weekend and Matt mentions one of our unfinished goals for the season: the Tantalus traverse. We think about a three-day trip, but…
Wedge Mountain: North Arete
Great overnight trip with Dan up the North Arete and down the classic couloir.
Iago Northwest Face
After three attempts we found good conditions on the face. Patience pays off…
Spearhead Traverse
Headed out with thoughts of steep skiing. Conditions didn’t pan out for the steeps but it was an excellent day for the traverse.
Van Horlick Touring
Another great day of touring with a good crew. We took advantage of the plowed Van Horlick Road but chose a route that provided access to a summit with minimal exposure to avalanche terrain. Good times!
Watersprite Lake: Watersprite Lake Hut
Wilf and I had a great trip up to Watersprite Lake. Day one found us skiing four lines, three in the south basin and one in the north basin. Day two ambitions changed when we stepped out of the hut to find Wilf’s binding missing a toe pin, homeward bound! Watersprite Cabin Crossing Watersprite Lake…
Sea to Sky Gondola: Couloirs
Ziff’s birthday turned out well. We spent the day in the Squamish backcountry skiing couloirs and chutes. Ziff getting his first taste of Sea to Sky Gondola touring. Ziff preparing to ski a couloir on the northeast flank of Ledge Mounting. Northeast Ledge Mountain flank couloir. Heading up into the Nai-Ledgeling east couloir (curving out of site to…
Paul Ridge Munchkin Ski
Fantastic outing with my munhkin for a first foray into ski touring. Total success, looking forward to more.
Tszil Mountain, Mount Taylor & Heart Strings
Great times in the Duffey! Below Tszil. En route to the Tszil summit. Past Taylor, headed for Heart Strings. Ross enjoys first tracks down Heart Strings. Ryan on Heart Strings Ross on Heart Strings
Journeyman Lodge Touring
Great trip to Callaghan Country for a night at Journeyman Lodge. We managed to get some excellent touring and spent the evenings relaxing in comfort. Looking forward to more time at the lodge! Preparing for a sled ride into the lodge. Journeyman Lodge, our accommodations for the night. Starting off with a tour up Journeyman…
Anif Peak
Great day out in the Squamish backcountry. There’s some great skiing at Anif Peak. Mike and I ascended the yellow route and skied two laps identified in blue. There’s a lengthy logging road approach to get to this point which we shortened dramatically using a sled. Anif is accessed off the Mamquam Forest Service Road via the…
Spearhead Traverse
We set out with ambitions of steep skiing but didn’t find the conditions we were looking for. Spearhead day trip was the consolation prize. Hard to beat!
Watersprite Lake
Great day touring in the Watersprite Lake area