Iago & Great Bear Adventure
I had originally planned to innovate with a new traverse
that would have allowed us doing 2 peaks that are apparently interesting, a
Mount Henning to Mount Thymme route. I had planned everything and had gotten
everyone on board.
Unfortunately once we got there, the snowmobile club told us
that the route we were planning was heavily used and could be dangerous since
snowmobilers were rushing up and down the old logging road.
Luckily Ben knew the area very well and recommended to do
Iago and Great Bear which were only a few km away. The hikes were much shorter
which a good thing was since we were about 2 hours behind schedule (Dean had
forgotten his skins and we had lost time while picking up the team).
As new skiers, this was also less intimidating as we are
still taking time to get use to our shoes.
The trail was extremely well broken and provided an amazing
glide for our skis. Mostly old logging road at first, then it quickly became a
forest trail involving sharp turns and ups and down.
The weather had been fairly poor all day long as we were in
the clouds. But as we were approaching the ridge to the top, we could start
seeing some blue sky through the fog.
About 3 hours after the beginning of our hike, we made it to
the top of Iago which was completely covered.
Because we wanted to set camp, we started digging our snow
pit which we would use to sleep in. As we were on our task, the pressure level
dropped and we were above a sea of clouds. It was an amazing feeling. We had full visibility on all the Coquihalla
peaks!
This definitely turned the week end around.
In the afternoon, we did a few ski runs on the Iago ridge
and even descended the North face for a while. We were really starting to enjoy
backcountry skiing.
At the end of our day, we made it back to our summit camp
and enjoyed an amazing sunset over the coast mountains. The clouds were still
below us and we felt like Gods high from our clear views.
But the weather dropped fast and I was definitely not
equipped well enough to deal with the temperatures.
I had a quick dinner as I was extremely cold. Leigh dug a
nice snow kitchen which I could not fully enjoy since I had to walk constantly
to keep myself warm.
I quickly went to bed in my -10 sleeping bag and with just a
small tarp over myself. It was probably -15 that night and I was definitely
struggling with the cold.
At 7 am in the morning, we woke up with the first sun lights
which finally brought me back warmth.
After a quick breakfast, we decided to go back down the
North face of Iago. Since the weather was completely clear now, we could see
that the slope offered an amazing ski run for a fairly long distance.
I really felt I was now fully enjoying amazing powder skiing
with large turns. The most amazing part was that once we reached the bottom, a
track was already made and the ascent back up was extremely fast.
Back at the summit of Iago, we picked up our gear and headed
towards Great Bear. This involved the descent of the steep south face of Iago
where myself and Dean took off our skis as we are not that good yet.
We quickly ascended the north face of Great Bear and ended
right above the highway. We enjoyed a quick lunch and then headed right into
the bowl north of the peak. The snow was really amazing there. Back in the
forest, we struggled to find our original trail from the day before. But after
an hour we were back on track and took off our skins to enjoy a super fast
return back to the car.
Again, another adventure in BC that was simply mind blowing.
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