Northern British Columbia. Burnie Glacier Chalet week trip

[LeeLau]

Southern BC melted down as winter became spring really quickly as temps went from - 10 to + 10 in less than a week. Waxing skis for glacier temps while the garden melts out in mid March is a tad surreal









We'd booked a trip up north to the Smithers area with my buddy Tom Wolfe who runs Sawback Alpine and knows the glaciers of the Howson Range and the Burnie Glacier Chalet.

[LeeLau]

Knowing that Air Canada has a nasty habit of losing gear heading north we flew in to Smithers in plenty of time to check out the new Smithers Brewing location. Door to door from city to Smithers in 3 hours. Half the time of driving to Revy

Also marveled at spring corn ripening on the Katlyn Face and the 5000' run.

We stayed at the Aspen hotel which provides a massive breakfast.

[LeeLau]

First day we fly in so its a half day to check out a lay of the land. Clouded over so greenhouse effect made for schmoo down low as there was no met freeze

[LeeLau]

Second day we get a cold clear night and -3 @ the lodge at 1000m valley bottom making for a good freeze.

Off we go to the toe of Pass Peak and the Solitaire Glaciers for a full day shake-down. We start off with the whole group together then split later in the day







Dropping off the various E and SE aspects we worked

[LeeLau]

Another few laps off the Solitaires then quickly back down the moraine. But not quick enough to get ahead of the spring slop.

Will need an earlier start tomorrow as the forecast is for more clear and cool

[LeeLau]

Up to Middle Solitaire for a long continuous run and a view to the Telkwa Glacier.

A lap back up to the Middle Solitaire glacier then back down all the way to the lower moraines and onto the Burnie Glacier proper hitting corn

[Buster Highmen]

++++!

[Angle Parking]

Nice!!!! Thanks for the pics.

[swissiphic]

Beauty!

Hey Lee, was there any pow on the high shaded pitches/couloirs? Things are pretty nuked around Stewart; just pockets of soft on non solar slopes even at our highest landings at 2500+/- meters. Flip side is the corn cycle is unprecedented for my time based in Stewart...really amazing.

[LeeLau]

Beauty!

Hey Lee, was there any pow on the high shaded pitches/couloirs? Things are pretty nuked around Stewart; just pockets of soft on non solar slopes even at our highest landings at 2500+/- meters. Flip side is the corn cycle is unprecedented for my time based in Stewart...really amazing.

On our last day up high ( last week Thursday) it was still light dry powder on Northerly slopes from 2400m to about 1800m. As expected lower angled skied better. Higher angled skied chalky and firm but with the shin/knee deep powder sluffing. Stability was good. Hazard was markedly higher on solar aspects imo.

However just like your recent Cambria area pics snowfall totals are way down so picking the way through these massive glaciers was of key importance

[LeeLau]

Today the temps set up for what looked like a warm one so off we went to check out different aspects on Tom George Mtn.

Tom George is only approx 900m above the hut, However because there's literally almost no flat approach we ended up with the most vertical of the week with a little over 1600m gained even when the heat of the day forced early retirement at the crack of beer (two) o'clock.

We skied NE then N then SW faces working different aspects for surprising low density snow then corn.


Some N then S faces then early back to hut

[garyfromterrace]

There's a trip down memory lane for me. Thanks for posting Lee, nice work!

[LeeLau]

Finally we had a decent melt-freeze crust with enough cold clear weather overnight to take a chance on breaking out to the Loft Glacier.

There are no less than four massive serac'ed blue-ice glaciers close to the Chalet (Burnie, Loft, Sandpiper, Telkwa) and two smaller sub-glaciers.

We had already dallied on some of the glaciers but today managed to get to Loft Peak in plenty of time to take in the view of the Shakespeare group to its south and the massive broken Sandpiper. Then low density snow down Loft's N face followed by timing the corn cycle down Ptarmigan then to top it all off - the mighty quadruple overhead blower of the Ptarmigan Surprise

[LeeLau]

Today was supposed to be a warm day with minimal overnight refreeze and possible precip in the wee hours. Precip did not materialize which was fortunate as it would likely have come down in liquid form.

However it was a good day to hit up the sunny slopes and time corn cycles. We did that by working from S, SE then E facing getting nice snow all day and working angles to perfection. We then finished with the exceptionally photogenic Burnie Glacier where, once again, views were above average

[zion zig zag]

Nice photos, Lee!

[aragon]

Amazing pictures, looks like a great trip!

[LeeLau]

We got high and stayed high. High enough and cold enough that I finally had to pull out the down for the morning winds on the gargantuan Telkwa Glacier.

Our route had a very big terrain feel giving us views clear all the way SW to the Atna Group (~4200m asl) and W towards Terrace and Oscar Peak.

We did a couple of laps on the Telkwa Glacier then over to the Burnie Glacier where we took in views. Some hotlaps on the Loft Glacier including the S facing Primaloft couloir got us some spring corn to mix in with the low density N faces.

[LeeLau]

A final NNE lap down the Loft Glacier to get the last taste of glacier pow and the icing on the cake was the wonderful Ptarmigan Surprise to finish off a fine week at Burnie

[::: :::]

Looks awesome!

[danmelon]

great photos! thanks for sharing!

[LeeLau]

great photos! thanks for sharing!

We had some Quebeckers on our trip. They said it was the most mind-blowing terrain they have ever seen. Good people.

[t.odd]

good shit, lee

[Angle Parking]

Today's pic's are f*cked up dude!!!!! Wow

[LeeLau]

We all agreed we were exceptionally lucky with weather. Only one day (the first) had greenhouse effect preventing a melt-freeze overnight. In a glaciated area with views as superb as this I personally will take good travel and views and moderate to good snow every time - as I get my fair share of pow.

Some more pics from Paul who was on the trip from the Telkwa and Burnie Glaciers

[danmelon]

We had some Quebeckers on our trip. They said it was the most mind-blowing terrain they have ever seen. Good people.

Ah nice! When I saw the TR title I wondered if maybe you had crossed path with my pal Lucky Luc, He's a Shames local from QC who get's around up there.

Been up to Terrace/Smithers once before, sadly not for skiing. Such a wild part of Canada.