Mons to Mummery Ski Traverse (April 4–12, 2003)

Personnel: Stan Wagon (51), Katie Larson (38), Bob Portmann (40), Mike Anderson (38), and Rob Nachtwey (25).

This traverse is a small part of the gigantic Great Divide Ski Traverse. By choosing a small portion we allow ourselves layover days for some skiing en route. And because two of us had climbed Forbes, the idea of using this section, which is dominated by Mt. Forbes, was a natural one.

Thursday, April 3: The team gathers (after a very hard drive through snowstorms from Colorado to British Columbia for Katie and me). In the evening we saw a super slide show by Kari Medig on a 700-km ski traverse over Mt. Logan. This was nicely motivating.

Friday, April 4. We arrived at Don’s helicopter office at 7:30 but sat around until 2 pm wondering if we could fly that day. We made alternate plans (Kain Hut to International Basin Hut), but after flying Rich Marshall in to a spot north of our hoped-for landing, Don said we had a good chance, so we packed the A-Star and off we went. The heli flight was incredible. As he entered Icefall Brook, Don climbed steeply to gain the top of a huge cliff, and dropped us off 10 feet from the edge at 6600 feet. This was an amazing spot, since we could not descend that cliff, so we had no choice but to find a route to the Mons Icefield, which Don thought would be easy.

We carried our stuff 1300 feet higher to camp at 7900 feet, with all but Mike and me descending for a second small carry. Mike and I made camp and we settled in for three nights there (our weight reduction strategy).

Saturday: We head to the Mons and after a couple false starts found a very easy route to gain the gentle glacier and icefield. We then headed for the northeast face of Mons Peak. How nice to be back on this terrain that, several years ago in the summer, Katie and I were on when we climbed Forbes and wandered a bit on the Mons Icefield. We had zero visibility so returned to camp after skiing to 9000 feet up the Mons face. On the way back we investigated what appeared to be an ice cave in the glacier, but turned out to be an incredible 60-yard long tunnel through the glacier! The ice inside was smooth and cold; this was a very impressive feature, allowing us to see what the underside of a glacier looks like. We walked right through to the opposite side. I bonked a bit on return as the heavy gear feels unfamiliar after my winter spent mostly skating and light touring.

Sunday: We try to climb Mons and get to 10000 feet before it is too steep to ski. The ridge could be climbed, but we elected to ski down and had good visibility for the 2000′ descent. Total climb: 4040 feet. In the evening Mike (an emergency physician) used Katie’s Swiss Army Knife (tweezers and scissors) to remove seven stitches from Robbie’s eyebrow—a ski injury from a week earlier. This completes the loop nicely, as two years ago Mike inserted four stitches in the lip of one of our party at Fairy Meadows. Interestingly the tools in the knife were better for this than the tools in Mike’s comprehensive medical kit.

Monday: Time to pack up and start moving. Despite the rising barometer, there was low vis. all day. This would turn out to be the first of four consecutive travel days (five total), something new for us, as in the past two years we had more rest days or skis days. We estimate packs at 60 pounds (our packs on the later hut trip were over 50, and felt substantially lighter). We had good conditions as we went around Mons and through a large saddle onto the West Glacier of Forbes. Winds were high, so we set up camp early at 8650 feet as we could not negotiate the rappel off the West Glacier without a full day in front of us. I used the satellite phone that evening to call Joan, who then reported our position to Don McTighe. We saw no tracks or camps, as would be the case for the whole traverse. In part this is because of the generally unstable snowpack over the year, which has apparently discouraged ski traverses. In any case, it added nicely to the wilderness feel of the trip. The whole trip was a little colder than expected; that was not a big problem, though Mike had no down parka and was a little cold throughout. We are now a little concerned about fuel use as we went over budget for the days at the first camp.

Tuesday: A hairball day! We pack, go to the high col exiting the glacier and take a look at the rappel facing us. This is quite intimidating, as looking down on steep descents tends to be. Mike was very concerned about the danger of avalanche and the no-retreat nature of this spot. The details are that there is first a steep 200′ snow slope funneling into a couloir that has two rap stations (pitons; can be done on one rappel, but two needed for rope recovery). I thought that Chic Scott used a pack-lowering method (WRONG: he lowered people with packs on their back!), so that is what we planned to do. Katie and Bob booted down the snow, which seemed stable (there were high winds of the previous day, but this was the windward side, so much safer). They found the anchor and set up the slings and came back up. After further discussion—retreat was not really an option: what if the satellite phone failed?—we started the job of descent. Robbie carried Mike’s pack on the steep snow section, and there were no problems there, though it was steep and, for me, a slow and careful descent with the pack on and ice ax in hand.

I rapped first to the intermediate station, which had a good piton. I made a mistake here as I did not look for other pitons. There turned out to be four more buried under the snow a little lower. Mike then rapped to the bottom on one rope. No problem, except that he reported an arch just below me that would be a big problem for pack lowering. One pack then came down to me, and of course as I lowered it, it got stuck at the arch. I rapped down to it and anchored myself with a prusik on the rappel line and freed the pack. Katie came to the intermediate station. With four of us at different places, we eventually got three packs down to the bottom. It took a long time. Then Robbie rapped the full length with his pack—no problem—and Bob did the same. We should have all rapped with packs! The whole thing took 6.5 hours, but we did things safely (except for the anchors I missed). The last drop was hard on the packs with attached skis, but nothing was damaged or lost.

Then a great ski down to camp in the trees (one of my skis came off on the hardpack and went for a short ride). It looked to be warm, but the wind changed overnight and we woke to high winds coming into camp on the side we did not build wind walls. In any case we felt really good that evening, having negotiated a difficult stretch that had potential for mishap. I had not eaten or drunk anything all day from breakfast to dinner, but there was a lot of standing around, so it was not a problem. In general, the hydration is going very well for me, and also the food is excellent and plentiful. Katie has sufficient energy for a hard day of skiing, and then cooking management during the evening.

Wednesday: We stayed in camp all morning, as the wind tore at our tents. Robbie and I went out to build new walls at 10:30, and found that the wind had died down nicely. So we packed and moved, leaving at 12:30. We had a nasty bit of tree-bashing to Forbes Creek, but no problem. From here, the standard route goes upstream and through Niverville Col. But that col is steep and the climb is on the leeward side, so the high winds of the preceding days made us wary of avalanche danger. Climax Col might be similar and avalanched on me 13 years ago. We could not spend time to go up and look at it, so we continued downstream on the safe and long route. We started down a great meadow, but soon ended up bushwhacking on the left bank. Parts of this were very difficult (reminiscent of Glacier Creek nearby, which we bushwhacked in summer), and it was quite long (five miles in Forbes Creek). We thought we could cut the corner into Freshfield Creek and crossed on a snow bridge (whew: I was not looking forward to walking through the lively creek). Then we climbed and traversed, but we were never quite where we wanted to be. Soon it was 8:30 pm and there was no flat spot in sight. We had to make camp on a 30-35 degree slope that was locally free of trees.

None of us had done this before, but a bit of shoveling and we soon had a super platform set up. It turned out to be quite a cozy and warm camp! There was some discussion of the terrain ahead and the need for a plan in case any of it is impassable, but we agreed that, on the information we had, it looked like a reasonable risk. Certainly we did not want to spend any more time in the low-elevation trees than was absolutely necessary.

Thursday: We broke camp quickly and had more nasty bushwhacking (though some was easy) to turn the corner. We were not as high as we thought, and we finally hit the meadows indicating Freshfield Lake at 1:15. What a thrill to see that opening after 24 hours in the thick trees! And the weather was perfect. The lake itself is two miles long, and we crossed it in 30 minutes (some) or 45 minutes (rest). The views of Mt. Freshfield were very striking from this straight-on approach. The glacier comes right down to the 5400-foot lake. Incidentally, the snow for all our tree work was fine—as firm as one could expect. Had it all been mushy it would have been much more exhausting than it was. It was quite hard enough, with Robbie reporting that one section was the worst five minutes of skiing of his life!

We headed up the easy glacier and onto the Freshfield Icefield. Haze came in as we noted the “Halo of Doom” around the sun. Sure enough, by late afternoon visibility was low, as usual. We really hammered up the hill, with Bob leading us roped up, and we got to about 8100 feet for a camp, near Nanga Parbat. Once again we cooked and ate by headlamp, but that was no problem, and really quite sociable. This was our coldest camp but we built monstrous wind walls all around. Of course, there was no wind. 3230 feet of climb this day, our largest with packs, but really not that bad.

Friday: A rest day as four of us tried to climb Nanga Parbat, but low vis made for a short day. Robbie and Bob took a second try, but got only a little farther. Skiing, as always, was great as far as snow conditions went: deep and stable powder. The few hours of rest in the afternoon were welcome.

Saturday, April 12: The normal route of the Great Divide Traverse here goes over the Lambe shoulder. That looked quite scary with its southern exposure, and we were pleased that that was not on our itinerary. While we did see some solar avy activity, overall the avy activity was very low, and we were never on unstable slopes. We climbed to the Helmer–Gilgit Col for our descent to the Mummery. We had heard that this col was quite steep on the south side, which it was, though only for about 200 feet. Bob buried two skis as an anchor and Robbie, a professional ski patroller, went out on the rope to ski-cut the top. It was fine. He unroped and dropped, and the rest of us followed without incident. This was the best weather day of the trip and we relaxed at the bottom. The view of Mummery and its glacier and icefalls was most impressive. I had first seen these in 1997 on the heli ride into Mistaya Lodge, and was excited to see them again, from close up. Four of us headed uphill for a little snow summit (10000 feet) that provided great views, a cornice jump off the top for Robbie, and a fine ski down for all.

We then used the phone to check in with Don, and headed down to the prime pickup point just off the glacier at 7300′. This descent was very pleasant, and we were at the site at 2:40. After some fussing with the satellite phone (Katie broke, then repaired, it!) we settled in to wait for Don.

Aside: Fuel consumption was a constant concern in case we had to spend a day or longer at the pickup. Don had said it was a weatherproof pickup, but of course that is not 100% true. We went in with five 33-ounce bottles (165 ounces) which was a little less than 1/2 cup per person per day (9 days = 180, 10 days = 200 ounces). But the pickup was on schedule and we finished with 2/3 bottle left over. We should have taken another small bottle. Ten days at a half cup per person per day would be 6 bottles.

Katie and I built a snowman as we waited. Finally at 5:30 we heard the familiar thunka-thunka-thunka and tried to spot the machine. It came in at a funny angle, quite near Mummery! Robbie and I were on the driver’s side with the skis and the others were on the other side. We two packed our skis and gear into the rack and I was surprised to see Scott come out of the machine to check on us. He did not fly helicopters! What was going on? As I got in, I saw Don and another passenger along for the ride. Huh? How could so many people fit into an A-Star? Well, mine is not to reason why, just to get in and fasten my seat belt. This turned out to be the large Bell 212, not the expected A-Star! The latter was on a medical evacuation trip to Calgary and was unavailable, and Don elected to use the big machine to get us. And he charged us only for the smaller, because “you are such a good and loyal customer over many years”. Nice! Total heli cost for the full trip was US$250 per person. Total in-and-out flying time was 0.7 hours in and 0.3 hours out.

He took a very scenic route out, along the north side of Mt. Mummery. Then the usual fun at the hangar, packing gear in the warm weather and settling up with Don. What a great feeling!

Bottom line: This was our third (unguided) ski traverse in a row, and much harder than last year’s quite-easy one in good weather. We were a strong party, but still had some adventure as the large terrain and cold weather of the Rockies were new to us. And a heli pickup (as opposed to a lodge exit) adds some stress.

Irony: At dinner with Tom Raudaschl after the trip we learned that the previous week saw unseasonably warm and rainy weather in the Purcells. Rain at Bobbie Burns Lodge curtailed the skiing. Yet we had cold weather and almost constant snowfall. The two places are not so far apart, and show the difficulty of weather prediction. Had we gone on our Plan B (Kain Hut to International Basin, say) we might have had a miserable week.