fter several week-ends of depressing weather, the bc hikers finally got a break on this beautiful easter week-end. The sun was much more appreciated than the chocolate eggs.
Dean (Bc Road Trip),Matt and Alex (Sandhu)met at the North Vancouver parking lot early Saturday morning where we all gathered our gear in a big SUV. Although we had all waken up fairly early we only left at 9:45 as we had to rent some AVI gear from MEC.The trip to the Cerise creek parking lot was a good occasion to get to know each other as I had only climbed with Dean before. After several pitt stop, we finally left the car towards Keith`s at 12:30, not really an early start, but who cares, if felt like it was beach time.
I had never done the cerise creek trail so early, but I was highly satisfied with the quality of the trail. It was extremely well traced and could have not been easier, so easy that it only took us less than 2 hours to the hut.
After a quick sun tan stop, we started our way towards the col where we would setup camp for the night.
Because of the warmth, I was a little bit concern about going under the Joffre slopes. At this point the snow was getting mushy and level of difficulty went up a few notch. In steep ascent towards the col, we slowly made it up our way, after rushing a few places under avalanche gullies.
By 5 pm, we were at the col! I felt very proud as we were all carrying 20kg backpacks and has snowshoes. A little bit to our credit, but a lot to all the skiers who had made some excellent tracks.
We quickly started digging out our snow cave, my new hobby, which consisted in a deep rectangular square, with a trench on one side and a slot on the opposite side (the length of the cave, where we would put our feet to waist, when going to bed. There was also a nice shelve above the trench for the cooking.
With 4 people on the team, it took us little time to set up the hut and we put a nice tarp to cover it all. It was extremely windy on the col and I think was very efficient to isolate us.
Once the cave was finished, is was already 6:30 pm, however, I had climbing fever and needed to do a nice line before going to bed. Our eyes turned towards Spetch that seemed to be about 500 m away.
We looked at the North eastern face, that seemed fun and fairly steep and would promise a beautiful sunset at the top.
Unfortunately, Matt was having terrible cramps in his legs, so he had to bail out on the climb. Myself, Dean and Alex roped up and started our traverse towards the bottom of Spetch. Although there were good tracks, it was a tough walk as the snow was still very puffy. When we arrived 200 m away from Spetch
, Dean felt very tired (from his climb of the NW face of Brunswick the day before, 10h!) and we now had to break trail. My summit fevergave me the energy to go through the ankle high powder all the way to Spetch. Once at the beginning of our ascent line, we all put on the crampons, already well exhausted. I was hoping to do North face of Hatzle afterwards, but I had to bring myself back to reality. As soon as I started the face, I was waist deep into the snow, our tiredness from the day started to hit hard and feelings of giving up felt really appealing.
However, Alex, who never complains and always willing to help, decided to take the lead on the climb, something I really appreciated.
Luckily, Alex found some really good snow higher up and it was only ankle deep
, perfect for this kind of steepness. Climbing the face was extremely fun and had some good exposure. We were rushing towards the top to get to see the sunset.
Once at the summit ridge, we had a quick break to look at the sunset. We then followed the ridge, with a small tricky move that had not too much exposure.
We finally arrived under the summit and dragged ourselves to its top. we could see the skiers approach, much longer but not as steep. By 8 pm we made made it to the summit, it was very cold but beautiful.
We did not spend much time on the top but had to feed ourselves as we were all low on energy.
The return was easy and we did a few foot belays to stay safe. However, it was fairly dark when we started our traverse back to camp. I don`t remember how much time it took but it seemed like forever. we were completely exhausted, had to stop every 20 m, myself lying in the snow. Finally we made it back to camp. I was a complete zombie... A bit of cheese managed to revive me for a few minutes, but the snooze hit me right back in the face. After a quick dinner, we all crawled into our sleeping bags and fell asleep.
The night was not perfect, time to time, a sprinkle of cold snow would fall on my face and wake me up. However at 4:30 in the morning, with no clue what the weather would be like, I looked at the sky (the tarp was too small to cover above me) and saw the stars. I woke up evryone and said today was the day to climb Joffre.
We had a long breakfast and took some time to prepare ourself in very cold temperatures, although the thermometer was low, spirits were really high. We had barely slept 5 hours but we all felt very strong.
Finally at 6 we left camp and descended the glacier on our snow shoes. The great part was how quick the approach was, 5 min! well worth not sleeping in the hut.
At the bottom of the couloir we stared at our very long ascent. It`s steepness was not that bad, but there was plenty of things above us that could fall, the residue at the bottom was very convincing.
We put on our crampons, and started the ascent. It must have still been cold but we were getting hot very fast.
The ascent was in a mix snow, generally perfect for kicking steps. Actually, the snow was perfect, a few icy sections but nothing scary. The good thing about the couloir is that there a a few spots well protected for a good rest. The whole mountain could fall and you wouldn t get hit by a thing.
The top of the couloir was the best part, fairly steep and sunny (but cold enough) with amazing views. The snow was really hard and the crampons were doing all the holding.
At the summit ridge we started traversing towards the true summit, where I fell through a hole. It was only my left leg so I managed to keep myself out of trouble but it was a good reminder that i had to stay focus.
After a last little slope, we finally made it to the very desired summit of Joffre. We did not go to the ridge as we were concerned about cornices. The view was breath taking and we could see 100 km away. The view on Matier was unbelievable and the beauty of BC stunned my heart one more time.
Because of the sun coming out (it now exactly 8) we decided to rush down. The decent was uneventful but I might have a gone bit too fast for my teammates... I just wanted to get out of a potential bowling alley.
We were back to camp at 10 am,4 hours after leaving, a good timing when we are just on snowshoes.
Because of the bad weather rolling in, we quickly backed and headed back down. We were extremely quick to get back to the car and took less than 2 hours.
Although burnt out and burned faced, I had a fantastic week-end with a great group of climbers who truly enjoy the mountain and mountaineering, a bunch of humble climbers that I loved climbing with.
Dean (Bc Road Trip),Matt and Alex (Sandhu)met at the North Vancouver parking lot early Saturday morning where we all gathered our gear in a big SUV. Although we had all waken up fairly early we only left at 9:45 as we had to rent some AVI gear from MEC.The trip to the Cerise creek parking lot was a good occasion to get to know each other as I had only climbed with Dean before. After several pitt stop, we finally left the car towards Keith`s at 12:30, not really an early start, but who cares, if felt like it was beach time.
I had never done the cerise creek trail so early, but I was highly satisfied with the quality of the trail. It was extremely well traced and could have not been easier, so easy that it only took us less than 2 hours to the hut.
After a quick sun tan stop, we started our way towards the col where we would setup camp for the night.
Because of the warmth, I was a little bit concern about going under the Joffre slopes. At this point the snow was getting mushy and level of difficulty went up a few notch. In steep ascent towards the col, we slowly made it up our way, after rushing a few places under avalanche gullies.
By 5 pm, we were at the col! I felt very proud as we were all carrying 20kg backpacks and has snowshoes. A little bit to our credit, but a lot to all the skiers who had made some excellent tracks.
We quickly started digging out our snow cave, my new hobby, which consisted in a deep rectangular square, with a trench on one side and a slot on the opposite side (the length of the cave, where we would put our feet to waist, when going to bed. There was also a nice shelve above the trench for the cooking.
With 4 people on the team, it took us little time to set up the hut and we put a nice tarp to cover it all. It was extremely windy on the col and I think was very efficient to isolate us.
Once the cave was finished, is was already 6:30 pm, however, I had climbing fever and needed to do a nice line before going to bed. Our eyes turned towards Spetch that seemed to be about 500 m away.
We looked at the North eastern face, that seemed fun and fairly steep and would promise a beautiful sunset at the top.
Unfortunately, Matt was having terrible cramps in his legs, so he had to bail out on the climb. Myself, Dean and Alex roped up and started our traverse towards the bottom of Spetch. Although there were good tracks, it was a tough walk as the snow was still very puffy. When we arrived 200 m away from Spetch
, Dean felt very tired (from his climb of the NW face of Brunswick the day before, 10h!) and we now had to break trail. My summit fevergave me the energy to go through the ankle high powder all the way to Spetch. Once at the beginning of our ascent line, we all put on the crampons, already well exhausted. I was hoping to do North face of Hatzle afterwards, but I had to bring myself back to reality. As soon as I started the face, I was waist deep into the snow, our tiredness from the day started to hit hard and feelings of giving up felt really appealing.However, Alex, who never complains and always willing to help, decided to take the lead on the climb, something I really appreciated.
Luckily, Alex found some really good snow higher up and it was only ankle deep
, perfect for this kind of steepness. Climbing the face was extremely fun and had some good exposure. We were rushing towards the top to get to see the sunset.Once at the summit ridge, we had a quick break to look at the sunset. We then followed the ridge, with a small tricky move that had not too much exposure.
We finally arrived under the summit and dragged ourselves to its top. we could see the skiers approach, much longer but not as steep. By 8 pm we made made it to the summit, it was very cold but beautiful.
We did not spend much time on the top but had to feed ourselves as we were all low on energy.
The return was easy and we did a few foot belays to stay safe. However, it was fairly dark when we started our traverse back to camp. I don`t remember how much time it took but it seemed like forever. we were completely exhausted, had to stop every 20 m, myself lying in the snow. Finally we made it back to camp. I was a complete zombie... A bit of cheese managed to revive me for a few minutes, but the snooze hit me right back in the face. After a quick dinner, we all crawled into our sleeping bags and fell asleep.
The night was not perfect, time to time, a sprinkle of cold snow would fall on my face and wake me up. However at 4:30 in the morning, with no clue what the weather would be like, I looked at the sky (the tarp was too small to cover above me) and saw the stars. I woke up evryone and said today was the day to climb Joffre.
We had a long breakfast and took some time to prepare ourself in very cold temperatures, although the thermometer was low, spirits were really high. We had barely slept 5 hours but we all felt very strong.
Finally at 6 we left camp and descended the glacier on our snow shoes. The great part was how quick the approach was, 5 min! well worth not sleeping in the hut.
At the bottom of the couloir we stared at our very long ascent. It`s steepness was not that bad, but there was plenty of things above us that could fall, the residue at the bottom was very convincing.
We put on our crampons, and started the ascent. It must have still been cold but we were getting hot very fast.
The ascent was in a mix snow, generally perfect for kicking steps. Actually, the snow was perfect, a few icy sections but nothing scary. The good thing about the couloir is that there a a few spots well protected for a good rest. The whole mountain could fall and you wouldn t get hit by a thing.
The top of the couloir was the best part, fairly steep and sunny (but cold enough) with amazing views. The snow was really hard and the crampons were doing all the holding.
At the summit ridge we started traversing towards the true summit, where I fell through a hole. It was only my left leg so I managed to keep myself out of trouble but it was a good reminder that i had to stay focus.
After a last little slope, we finally made it to the very desired summit of Joffre. We did not go to the ridge as we were concerned about cornices. The view was breath taking and we could see 100 km away. The view on Matier was unbelievable and the beauty of BC stunned my heart one more time.
Because of the sun coming out (it now exactly 8) we decided to rush down. The decent was uneventful but I might have a gone bit too fast for my teammates... I just wanted to get out of a potential bowling alley.
We were back to camp at 10 am,4 hours after leaving, a good timing when we are just on snowshoes.
Because of the bad weather rolling in, we quickly backed and headed back down. We were extremely quick to get back to the car and took less than 2 hours.
Although burnt out and burned faced, I had a fantastic week-end with a great group of climbers who truly enjoy the mountain and mountaineering, a bunch of humble climbers that I loved climbing with.
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