Kim Clark shreds alpine powder in the inexhaustible playground of the Continental Divide at the head of Forbes Creek. The pass at right is the access from our camp in Mons Creek. The peak at left is Valenciennes Mountain. The cornice in the center is extremely interesting and described in the report and photos.
Trip Report
Personnel: Katie Larson, Kim Clark, Ben McShan, Stan Wagon (Colorado), Guide Pierre Hungr (Revelstoke)
Summary:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 4/15-17, 2015: Drive up with night in Great Falls, Montana, and then shop and pack in Golden, British Columbia. Saturday 4/18: Fly in by helicopter. Beacon drill. 850 feet. Sunday 4/19: Huge loop around Valenciennes. 4600 feet. Clear all day. One 2000-foot run. Mon 4/20: Skiing at head of Forbes Creek. Powder. Clear all day. 53100 feet. Powder. Tues 4/21: To valley between Zillebeke and Arras, 4000 feet. Clear all day. One 2700-foot run. Powder. Wed 4/22: Storm day. Start with some rain, but then only snow. 800 feet. Thursday 4/23. Back to same valley as 4/21 by different entrance. Skied different basin. 4200 feet. One 2200-foot run. Light snow, some sun. Evening: Incoming text from the brother of my wife, Joan, on the satellite text device indicating a family emergency. There was a helicopter evacuation of the group in the dying light. Joan had had emergency surgery and Katie and I drove to Denver with brief rest in Canmore.
Details:
4/15 Katie and I drive in my Highlander. Ben and Kim drive from Denver in Ben’s truck. At 1 pm, 20 miles S of Buffalo, Wyoming, with Katie driving, our vehicle stalls and dies. Ben and Kim get gas in Buffalo and drive back. But that does not help. Ben calls his father who suggests a jump start. Nothing. Then he suggests disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. That works.
Were we too low on gas (I believe there was still 1+ gallons left)? Was the fast driving (85 mph) into a headwind with the roof box on a problem? We really don’t know, but the electronic control system needed a reboot and that worked. In fact, it can be done by pressing certain buttons.
Evening: O’Haire Motel and Sip ‘n Dip lounge in Great Falls, Montana. The mermaids were swimming.
Border: Long lines. Annoying. Ben’s car gets searched.
4/16: Finally arrive Golden. Weather is very good. No heli stress this year (for a change). Pierre is at Icefall Lodge and will come down in the first ride on Saturday. Internet at hotel is horrible and we rely on it for our phones, etc. Annoying. Jita’s has moved next door to its old location; flawless wireless there.
Friday 4/17: Shop, etc. Rain overnight, but it clears by Sat. morning.
Saturday 4/18: Helicopter into the camp proceeds with no problem. Two flights in a Long Ranger by Elbow River Helicopters. Setting up camp takes a while (especially digging out the space under the Megamid) and we spend the late afternoon climbing about 800 feet and doing a beacon/avalanche drill. Excellent powder skiing back to camp.
Sunday 4/19: Clear skies. We head S to the easy pass 1800 feet above camp. Saw wolverine tracks not too far from camp, and spent the day worrying if our food was secure. This pass is on the Continental Divide, so I suggest “Park Pass”. The other side has slopes with a northeast exposure that provide great powder skiing. We continue south to an easy slope above Bush Pass, and then start working back around Valenciennes. We kept descending on perfect corn and finally reached the bottom with a clear shot back up to a col that would lead directly to camp. The last part to the col was very steep and mushy and care was needed. To our left in this valley was a face with amazing flutings of snow and rock: “Andean Face”. The kick turns to the col were on steep terrain and Pierre shoveled them out a bit to make them easier for us. Finally we reached the top (calling it “Wolverine Col”) without incident and faced a clean 2000-foot powder shot back to camp. And there was no wolverine activity at camp. This was a tremendous loop crossing the Continental Divide twice, with fantastic views everywhere. 4600 feet climb. 8 hours. High point 9200 feet.
Monday 4/20: Clear skies. Back to Park Pass. On the way we saw a wolverine den: some discolored snow and lots of tracks below us. We did not investigate. As Pierre said: “We don’t want them visiting our house, so we shouldn’t visit theirs.” We were hoping to make a try on Valenciennes Mountain which has a nice snowy south face, but got stuck after some steep climbing up the E Ridge. We booted up to a big cornice and then got through a smaller part of it. The boot up was tough in parts where sugar snow made steps almost impossible. At the top we came to the back side of the cornice, which was remarkable in that the cornice had broken away from the ground, taking a lot of rock with it: so it presented just a rock face. None of us had seen such a thing before. Whether it comes down in the summer or stays for years we do not know. We walked to the top of a small bump before retracing. We put on skis to get through the cut part of the cornice, using a rope for a quick belay as this was exposed. Then the ski down from there was very steep and I sideslipped.
After that we went to the same general area as the previous day for a high quality, steep powder run that yielded excellent pictures since I stopped two switchbacks below the others. This was a long run, necessitating an 1800-foot climb back to Park Pass and camp. 5100 feet climb. 8.5 hours. High point = 9400 feet. This was the most vertical for me since knee replacement surgery in July 2014. My knee was sore, but generally fine.
Tuesday 4/21: Yet another clear warm day, so we went up to Wolverine Col, booting a short section in avalanche debris. Near the top we donned ski crampons and cut hard right to a notch that Pierre hoped would lead us through into the next north-facing valley west. It worked, but the initial 300-foot descent into the new valley was on steep icy snow, requiring all to sideslip. I was happy to have my whippet there. Then an easy climb to “Andean Col”, which was beside the face we saw on Sunday (and this was our high point of the week). From here to the trees was a 2700-foot run. Then a rising route around the ridge separating us from our camp valley worked, though it exposed us to some slopes that would slide when heated. We did get another 400-ft powder run before a very long descending traverse got us to easy ground above camp. 4100 feet climb. 7 hours. High point = 9600 feet.
Wednesday 4/22 Stormy day. Some rain. Then snow. We wandered up the slopes south of camp for 800 feet but then returned to camp. The sleepy afternoon was fine as three hard days did tire everyone out.
Thursday 4/23. We went back to the western valley using the exit route from Tuesday. Getting there was simple and then we climbed to a col via ski run #3, where #1 was what we did on Tuesday. We got easily to the col and tried for the summit to its west, but the final slope was cracking and steep so we did not make it, though we were very close. While standing at the high point my lower ski slipped down a foot or two. Not a big problem except my face lowered immediately onto the top of my whippet! This drew a little blood from my upper lip. Then a 2200-foot run down and a rush back to camp before the sun made the west-facing slopes dangerous. It was no problem. 4200 feet climb. 6.5 hours. High point = 9100 feet.
That evening a text came in from my wife’s brother indicating that my wife had emergency surgery. I really had to get out, and Pierre quickly found that Alpine Helicopters could come get us as the light waned. We all made it out, and Katie and I began the long drive. We were exhausted and took a rest night in Canmore. Then got to the hospital just west of Denver at 1:00 am on Saturday morning.
Friday 4/25: Drive all day. No car problems!
Saturday 4/26: One am: Arrive at St. Anthony’s Hospital, Denver. Joan had had emergency surgery on Tuesday, 4/21. It went well.
Added years later: She had a sigmoid volvulus, fixed by the emergency surgery. There were several other surgeries in the five years following (adhesions), but none since 2020, so it appears she has recovered from this life-threatening situation.
Photos
On the drive up we stayed at the O’Haire Motor Inn (Great Falls, Montana) and had dinner at the famous Sip ‘n Dip Lounge as the mermaids frolicked. Bizarre.The map of our runs (made by Pierre); the names are our informal names. The gray line is the Continental Divide and the Alberta[–British Columbia border and the border between Banff National Park (no helicopter landings) and the forest land of B.C. (helicopters and land just about anywhere).Our camp was in a nice sheltered location. The helicopter landed in the clearing slightly above camp, clear of the trees. This is in the north-facing valley forming the head of Mons Creek, just south of Icefall Lodge.The cook tent and pantry. Digging deeply under the megamid gave a nice large space for cooking and eating, though it provides little insulation. This photo is from the storm day, Wednesday.The team: Kim, Katie, Stan, Ben. Icefall (left), Kemmel, (left of center), Lyell peaks (right rear) behind. (Photo: P. Hungr)The initial southward climb from camp to Park Pass on the Continental Divide.A nice couloir that we never got to. It looked very much like Vitamin P at Icefall Lodge so we took the liberty of calling it Vitamin PH (after our guide), but it remains unskied.A view of the Lyell Icefield, peaks Lyell 3, 4, and 5 (right to left), and Icefall Icefall (the icefall for which Icefall Lodge, Brook, and Peak are named). In 2012 we were at the Lyell Hut on the small plateau between the two nunataks (rocks); from there we skied to near the summit of Lyell 5 (Christian), walked to the true summit, and then skied down the face and down to below the toe of the icefall, a 5000-foot run. The hut is just visible as a dot in this image, just right of the top of the lower nunatak. The bump left of Lyell 5 is known as Twilight Peak.Here is a closeup from the previous image that shows well the route from the Lyell Hut to the top of Lyell 5. Hut is at bottom left. The lovely slope at top right (left of Lyell 5 summit) is what we skied in 2012 on the Lyell traverse.Icefall (right) and Rostrum Peaks, with the Diamond Glacier under Icefall and the Tempest Glacier under Rostrum. This view shows the exposed and steep ski line that is occasionally done to the very top of Icefall Peak, from Icefall Lodge.Icefall (right) and Rostrum Peaks, with the Diamond Glacier under Icefall and the Tempest Glacier under Rostrum. This view shows the exposed and steep ski line that is occasionally done to the very top of Icefall Peak, from Icefall Lodge.The view down Forbes Creek with Nivervel Peak and Col at the right. We considered going through this col on our 2003 Mons-to-Mummery traverse, but went down Forbes Creek and around to Freshfield Lake instead. This view shows how our playground was nicely placed at the very head of Forbes Creek.This is near our low point as we circled Valenciennes Mountain. Pangman is the peak in the rear center. It was a big climb from here to the col leading to camp. I guess I need lessons in applying sunscreen. Photo: Pierre Hungr.Our route around Valenciennes took us on a final climb past a face that looked Andean. Later in the week we climbed to the prominent col just right of this face from the other side.The route back to camp on our first day was by the large col below (“Wolverine Col”), which was quite steep and mushy and somewhat dangerous to ascend. This was a committing loop on terrain we did not know and so very satisfying to complete; and it ended with a 2000-foot powder descent to camp.After the descent to camp, with the rock walls of the north ridge of Valenciennes Mountain. Photo by Pierre Hungr.The long descent (2000 ft) back to camp to end our day was exquisite. Two days later we ascended this slope and traversed right to the notch at the right edge of the photo.Happy hour after a big ski day.Day 2 began with a difficult climb to a bump above an interesting cornice. The final boot to the top was very steep and the spot where Katie is had a lot of sugar snow, causing me difficulty when my turn came. We were able to ski down this slope, the steepest of the week. (Photo: Kim Clark)The giant detached cornice atop this bump was, remarkably, lined with rock on its cut side. The next photo shows the rocky face of the cornice as we walk to the top of “Cornice Bump”. (Photo: Kim Clark)A view back to the cornice. First photo is by Pierre.A view back to the cornice.The views of the west side of Mt. Forbes were fantastic. Katie, David Nebel, and I climbed Forbes in 1999, via the north face (out of view to the left) with a finish on the snow ridge at left. The first ascent of this peak was by a southern route, probably visible in this image.Guide Pierre Hungr at the top of Cornice Bump. Valenciennes rises behind, but there was not an easy way across this ridge.After descending Cornice Bump in one long run, we ascended a clean slope farther south which offered yet another long powder descent. That was followed by the climb to Park Pass and a third long descent back to camp. The three runs gave us 5100 feet. The next four shots show this nice run at the top. The large cornice in the center is the cornice of Cornice Bump. Park Pass at right. First Pierre, then Kim, Katie, and Ben.Katie.Kim. I think this is my best ski photograph ever.Ben.Monday, our third straight day of blue skies and big routes, started with a climb up towards Wolverine Col (Sunday’s final descent), and a traverse before the col to a notch that leads to the next valley west. Here, and many other times on the trip, ski crampons were used.From the notch we could view Sunday’s tracks from Wolverine Col; Valenciennes behind.Katie deskins at the little notch. Zillebeke and Arras on the left. Our camp is down the slope that is right of Katie. Valenciennes is the rightmost peak. Our tracks from two days earlier are visible. At very far left is a peak with a distinctive basin on its right. We got into that basin two days later. Photo by Pierre Hungr.The other side of the notch showed Zillebeke Mountain and the long ski run (giant sunny slope) we were aiming for. But it also showed the steep 300-foot and icy descent we needed to get there. The diminutive bump in the center, with the cool basin on its north (right) side, was our objective a couple days later, but we did not quite get to the top; close.Pierre was very happy at this notch, which gives access to a gigantic valley with many superb runs. He had looked at this valley over eight years working at Icefall Lodge. Arras is the peak.On this steep, icy descent [LongDash] we all side-slipped the whole thing [LongDash] Kim found the whippet useful, as did I.The next shot was taken earlier in the winter from near Icefall Lodge by Pierre. At far left is the col right above our camp (“Wolverine Col”). Then right of center is a high col that we skied to and from on our first venture into this valley west of camp. We did not ski the col in center. On our last day we got to just below the white summit right of the col that is right of center. All the peaks in this image are unnamed! The one just left of center has the Andean face on its opposite side.Stan. Arras prominent in rear, left of center.At our high point this day we were on the small col right adjacent to the Andean Face we had passed on Sunday. The foreground peak is Pangman, the rear is Freshfield. The icefield on the right is the Campbell, and at far left is an edge of the large Freshfield Icefield. A few years later Katie, Pierre, and I make a camp to the right of the center of photo.Icefall at left, Kemmel in center, LaClytte at right.A portrait of Kemmel, which I have climbed twice on skis and once on foot from Icefall Lodge. The lodge is in the small clearing in the roughly triangular patch of trees below and right of Kemmel. Working right of Kemmel are Troll Pass and the Portal; the peak at the right edge is La Clytte with the Groove Tube ski run visible and also the east face and summit of La Clytte just barely visible.Beautiful descentOn our last ski day I left my camera behind (also the top pocket of my pack). The weight reduction made a difference in my speed! This image shows the two westerly ski basins in the Arras Basin. On Thursday we skied the rightmost. On Tuesday we skied a similar line out of frame left. We never skied the one to the left in the image. Now, after reaching the col in center we went up the ridge and into that cool little basin just below the rightmost summit, right up to the rocks under the summit. But there were some avalanche concerns on that right-hand ridge—the first such all week—so we did not get to that final ridge for the easy ascent to the summit. From the basin we skied to the col and then down for a 2200-foot run. (Photo: Kim Clark) Note the horizontal line at upper right that looks like an avalanche crown. But a glance at an earlier image shows that it is a crevasse.
