Trip Report by Leigh McClurg
Probably could of made this less verbose but ah well. Last Wednesday, with the forecast for the weekend looking amazing, AdrienBC sent an email around to myself, Springbow and bcroadtrip proposing we overnight near Zoa Peak, bag Zoa Peak then bag Thar the next morning via the couloir on its north face.
Apart from the long drive for myself and Spring from Squamish it all sounded excellent. We could also go in our little Hyundai 2WD to save on gas.
Zoa ridge was actually myself and Springs first foray into winter camping last year with AT and Spunkys New Year Party. We’d stopped short of the main summit that time due to avy conditions. So revisiting that peak and getting some mountaineering experience in as well seemed like a great way to spend the weekend.
Anyway, Saturday morning at 4:30am myself and Spring where up and getting ready (it’s great when you get your “lie in” Monday to Friday rather than on the weekends). We left shortly after 5:30am and picked Adrien up around 7am. We all had doubts at this point if we could pack 4 people, 4 overnight packs, 2 Ice Axes, 6 Ice tools, 4 pairs of snow shoes, 4 pairs of hiking poles, all our mountaineering racks... etc into our little Hyundai. We headed to Deans and tetris’d everything into the trunk and between our feet and somehow it just about all fit.
Off we went. We pulled into Chilliwack to gas up and ran into Scott (CT’r: smac) at the pump... small world. He was heading to Thar also... smaller world. Anyway from there we made good time to the TH for Falls lake and geared up and headed out. The initial plan was to camp at Falls lake but shortly into the hike before the summer parking lot Adrien and Dean decided to cut into the trees and serendipitously found an excellent camping spot with enough room for both of us to pitch our tents.
We pitched our tents, dumped any unneeded gear and headed for Zoa Peak. The plan was to bag Zoa Peak but in doing so also get some valuable beta on the conditions on the North Face of Thar, specifically the couloir we’d be climbing to the summit. It was actually pretty cloudy on the coq so we were unsure if we get any views at all, let alone of our objective for the following day. But sure enough, shortly before gaining the ridge we got above the clouds and the views opened up.
The hike to Zoas summit is pretty straight forward. Although I can understand why most stay at the subsummit, the main summit is treed and really has inferior views of the surrounding mountains. Once we were at the subsummit we investigated the north couloir and planned our ascent route. We also noticed the lake was entirely frozen and would probably be stable enough to cross (it probably hasn’t seen sunlight in over a month as it is shielded by the North Face of Thar) We headed to the true summit with a throng of skiers, had lunch then descended leisurely back to camp, filling up on water at a stream shortly before our camp.
We dug out a kitchen, boiled some water, had dinner, chatted for a bit then turned in pretty early as it was getting cold. We woke up at the lazy time of ~6:40am and got moving shortly after breakfast. We broke a trail to the lake and arrived at it in about 10 minutes from the summer parking lot. We cut across the lake and then angled up as we came around to the base of the wide gully that leads up the north side of Thar.
We kept our snowshoes on as long as possible then we all transitioned into our crampons. I made the schoolboy error of keeping my snowshoes on until I needed to be in crampons. I had to cut a bench with my adz and awkwardly swap into my crampons in the middle of the slope. The going up the couloir was good, getting progressively steeper. The snow quality varied from punching through up to our knees near the start, to a firm névé with the consistency of styrofoam (awesome stuff, I wish every slope had this snow) to a sheet of ice/hard snow under a small skiff of snow.
We elected to not rope up for the ice section. I don’t personally see the point of roping up anyway without protection. All that is holding you to the face is the front two points on your crampons and the picks on your ice tools. If someone fell on that 50’+ slope they are pulling everyone else off with them like hairs on a bandaid.
We continued up, every few steps my calves would burn really bad from balancing on the front of my boots. Thankfully, a few swift kicks into the snow/ice would make a larger foothold to rest on. I can’t imagine climbing free solo on solid ice, I guess, as Adrien mentioned to me, you’d just have to put your weight on your tools to rest your legs.
Anyway, we eventually reached the crux, a section of mixed rock/ice that needed to be ascended. Dean led and placed a fixed rope with pro as he went. Kudos to him for that. Next myself and Spring prussik’d up the fixed rope then Dean belayed Adrien up.
After the crux it was a short climb on less steep snow to a spot a few meters below the summit. This short climb though has a pretty bad runout so even a short slip and slide could prove hazardous.
Once up and over the top we basked in the sun for the first time that day. It had been painful shivering on that slope as the rope was fixed and seeing the sun warming the South side of Zoa across from Falls Lake. We hung out on the summit until we got too cold then descended via the East Ridge (the normal ascent hike) It went quickly.
We broke camp when we got back, had some hot tea, then hiked back to the car. The crux then was to see if we could remember how we had fitted everything in the previous day. We eventually did and drove home with an amazing sunset ahead of us.
Overall a fine alpine route that we’d grade as probably AD. Recommended.
