| Author |
Topic |
|
964 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2012 : 11:22 AM
|
Late May powder skiing on the Pemberton Icecap.
Wednesday: Alexis and I drove Rutherford FSR to Km 17. From there we walked through snow patches to 1085 metres and strapped on the boards just below Branch 546. Took the branch road to the Menzel Trail. Next and only stop of the day was about 12:45 for a quick lunch at the bottom of the Appa Glacier. Up 6 km of glacier and then over the pass at the head. Descended to the icefield below Longspur then up its southeast ridge. Weather was in and out for most of the day. Snow showers above 1300 metres. Got a few glimpses of mountains around the Pemberton Icecap and a brief glimpse of the final 600 metres of Longspur. It was just enough to memorize the route and then everything disappeared. Climbed till the altimeter said it was the summit and called it a day.
  
Parked just across the bridge over Rutherford Creek. Elevation 1085 m on Rutherford FSR. Looking across Branch 546.
  
Start of Menzel Trail. Maximum snow depth from 2011. Glacier outwash flats at the hut.
  
Three shots of Appa Glacier.
  
Water break just before descending to the icefield.
  
Three shots of southeast ridge of Lonspur.
  
Not quite the end of a long day - ascending to the pass at the head of Appa Glacier.
Alexis plotted the route the next day from his SPOT track. Turned out we missed the summit by 250 metres (horizontal). Ha, ha! Big joke on us.
|
Edited by - Stoked on 05/25/2012 3:35 PM
|
|
 Peak bagging, bushwhacking, zamboni driving, snowshoeing, self portrait artist, and speed demon who loves to hang out on Mt. Seymour
4000 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2012 : 1:37 PM
|
 I think Longspur is the rear peak centre right. As seen from "Sootip".
That is a long way from anywhere especially as a day trip. |
|
|
|
bandana wearin', pole huckin', view lovin', dog herdin', 4x4 navigatin', lake huntin', butt-slidin' bridge crosser, who enjoys postholing with an overnighter pack
Surrey, BC
Canada
4649 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2012 : 2:09 PM
|
Nice trip! Love those icecap pics  . The dog had no problem keeping up? Wow. We tried to have our dog along for a couple of ski trips but he's getting too old now, keeping up with us on the downhill parts just wiped him out. He'll be staying home from now for the ski trips. |
Edited by - Spunky on 05/25/2012 2:09 PM |
|
|
964 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2012 : 3:19 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by simonc
I think Longspur is the rear peak centre right. As seen from "Sootip".
That is a long way from anywhere especially as a day trip.
Simon, the icefield centre right is Appa Glacier and that's Longspur, as you suggested, behind it (25 km from so-called Sootip). I recogize some of the smaller peaks around Appa Glacier. If I'm right, the triangular summit left of centre with the snowpatch on its right side is Sisqa Peak. We first skied it in the early to mid 1980s. It was a trip Robin Tivy was on and he was going through a "semiconductor phase" and attempted to name it Transistor. Everything had to have a name derived from semicondutors. (So, you see, this perfidy has existed for quite some time.) This was the time personal computers were coming on the market. Fortunately, Paul Adams led some youth climbs from the Pemberton First Nations and they were able to suggest native names for some of the peaks around Appa Glacier, which were subsequently adopted officially. Sisqa, Sem'am, Kwatamts all follow the western divide of Appa Glacier. The curiously named Syaqtsa Skuza Peak is the little black nubbin sprouting left of the tongue of Appa Glacier.
I don't know the origin of the name for Appa Glacier. At least I know it wasn't RT. The mountain on the east side of Appa Glacier is Appa Mountain (unofficial).
The Menzel Trail is used to access the glacier when there's snow on the ground. In summer, it's best to go over Appa Mountain to avoid kilometres of dense willow swamp in the outwash plain of the glacier.
The snowmobile club has done an incredible job with the trail. It's designed for winter use, of course. It's not pretty but it's very effective. It opens up the area for recreation like never before. We used to be restricted to a very short window in spring when it was possible to access the Appa Glacier. The trail makes it possible to get in there from mid-May to early-July. Formerly, you'd take branch road 233, follow the creek on its south side and then make a tricky crossing on logs below a waterfall. Of course, the creek is bridged by snow early on but by early June the snow bridges have pretty much disappeared. Now, no creek crossing is necessary. |
Edited by - Stoked on 05/25/2012 3:29 PM |
|
|
964 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2012 : 3:24 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Spunky
Nice trip! Love those icecap pics . The dog had no problem keeping up? Wow. We tried to have our dog along for a couple of ski trips but he's getting too old now, keeping up with us on the downhill parts just wiped him out. He'll be staying home from now for the ski trips.
Spunky, the dog was great on this trip. Very easy travel for him until late in the day coming down below 1800 metres. The snow started to soften too much so we had to wait for him a bit instead of him waiting for us. |
|
|
West Vancouver, B.C.
Canada
289 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2012 : 08:07 AM
|
| Nice work Paul and Alexis! You guys add a whole new meaning to the day trip concept. |
|
|
90 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2012 : 08:46 AM
|
It was a great day! Quite an unusual type of scenery for me. I am
more used to Duffey Lake type of scenery than immense icefields.
Morale of the trip: if there only to be one use of the GPS, it is to
record the summit location so that you do not miss it by 250m, haha!
Could not believe it!! I guess we just have to go back!
It also had a whole meaning to a trip when you get to the McDonald
for instant recovery food and you start reading the newspaper of the
following day.
Cheers
Pebeto |
|
|
Vancouver, BC
Canada
150 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2012 : 11:35 AM
|
Thanks for all the interesting information, Paul.
I've bushwacked up to the lake at the toe of Appa Glacier in summer, and the alder and willow is indeed horrible. (Fortunately it is not continuous and I think that it took about 2hrs from the cabin to the lake.)
My white out story might be worse. I thought I summited Gabbro so I put it on the BCMC schedule as a day trip on a long weekend. A number of people ruined their long weekend just to do this somewhat obscure peak because I proceeded to lead them up to the ridge just north of Gabbro. There was a drop and then a 30m verticle climb up to the summit 70m to our south and way beyond our unequipped climbing abilities. (And I had a gps on my first trip.) |
|
|
964 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2012 : 06:14 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Alastair
Thanks for all the interesting information, Paul.
I've bushwacked up to the lake at the toe of Appa Glacier in summer, and the alder and willow is indeed horrible. (Fortunately it is not continuous and I think that it took about 2hrs from the cabin to the lake.)
Alastair, is it possible in summer to walk around the lakeshore to reach Appa Glacier, or is it steep, loose morainal material? |
|
|
Vancouver, BC
Canada
150 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2012 : 10:54 AM
|
Its no problem to walk around the lake.
Ive put Longspur on the BCMC schedule as a two day trip in Sept or Oct for the last two years in a row. Both trips I cancelled because of poor weather forecasts. This year I am planning on Sept 8/9. It would be nice to actually attempt it. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Longspur - a long ways from anywhere
