On August 30 my family left our house at noon to go on our second annual Spearhead Traverse on Labour Day Weekend. We were all excited because we hadn’t spent much time hiking in the summer. On the way to Whistler I bought some shoe laces and loads of snacks. Instead of buying individually packaged energy bars, I got a package of peanut butter cookies, which I ended up loving. After some delays in the parking lot about park restrictions due to parking and camping as well as lift tickets, we all made it to the Peak-2-Peak and we were on Blackcomb Mountain by 3pm. Starting up and along the trails there were many more people than there had been the previous year. The inbound trail seemed much longer and had more elevation gain than I had remembered. As we made our way closer to the backcountry the views improved, of Whistler mountain, Black Tusk, Garibaldi, Tantalus and beyond. Arriving at a small lake and the end of the defined trail, Anna (my sister) already had a blister. I felt bad for her, but was glad I had been able to get my boots figured out. Blisters are honestly so disappointing.
From there, we started up to the col of 7th Heaven and Decker. This had been an alternate route we thought we could try and the faster option when we were planning, and was different than our other summer trip. It became windier and colder as the terrain became rockier and steeper. Passing through the col we could see the Decker glacier and it looked very gnarly. We descended for a few minutes before my dad seemed that the glacier was too broken and steep to ascend.
Turning around, we traced our footsteps back to the Whistler Blackcomb boundary. Back at the tiny pond we set up camp. I started the stove as water was collected. The tent was put up and my mum and Anna jumped inside. My dad and I made soup, drank it and then started to make dehydrated Alfredo pasta. We talked about Denali, being in the mountains delighted me and I was excited to plan our next big trip. Eating dinner in the tent, my mum said that her feet were extremely sore and she wanted to go back tomorrow. Anna jumped at the opportunity to get out as she already had bad blisters. My dad and I would continue on. The next morning we awoke at 6am and had a fancy breakfast as my dad had carried up bacon and butter.
We were all quite full after. After reorganising all of the gear to suit a two person team Anna and my mum took the unnecessary things. I traded food with them to get all of the yummiest treats. Anna and my mum left before us, and we were walking by eight. My pack didn’t seem any heavier which was wonderful. We had brought enough food for two more nights, but weren’t sure how long it would take us. After ten minutes of walking we saw a marmot sunbathing. It was sitting in a very picturesque spot and we photographed it as we approached it. I got within ten feet and was quite surprised it hadn’t run off.
The view was spectacular and the sun lit the mountains amazingly. I had given my t-shirt to Anna to be taken down, but during the first climb of that day I was worried that I would miss it. Reaching grass the walking was easy and lovely as we wrapped around Decker. We passed the location where we had spent out first night in the summer of 2017 and noticed that the stream had dried up. Around there we also watched a family of ptarmigans waddle along. Then we started to ascend the slope more directly (at a steeper angle) to reach the Decker – Pattison col. The rock leading up to it was stable and the travel was fast. Arriving at the col we traversed a small ridge as the wind cooled us down and searched for access to the glacier below the small rock band. Looking at the landscapes around us, I found they seemed smaller without snow, but the glaciers looked bigger with all of their crevasses.
Finding a pretty easy way down, we set foot on snow. We put some more layers on, including toques which I was happy about since I love toques. Taking the rope, harnesses and crampons out, our packs became so much lighter. Starting across the first glacier, it was fairly steep, with gaping crevasses below. While travelling across that slope I was reminded how much I like glacier travel, better than hiking by a long shot (though I do love hiking, it isn’t usually technical enough). After descending and crossing a patch of rocks, we started up to the top of Trorey. Reaching the short band of rocks, we couldn’t remember which way we had gone last year. After looking around for a while, we choose a path and it ended up taking quite a while. The rocks were loose, some were small and some were boulders. I was belayed up the final part which was very hard. It seemed like vertical rock in crampons with big packs and a pole. At the top my dad went and searched for an easy route and found one to our climbers right.
We started descending loosish rock and came to the snow, it was easy going. Eventually, we started going back up and were traversing in a different part then we would go in the winter, a steeper but more direct route. The clouds had come in a bit so heat wasn’t a problem. Reaching a bunch of crevasses we started walking through them which worked for a while and I loved looking around in the crevasses.
They are so insane! The crevasses were getting bigger and the bridges fewer and we ended up needing to backtrack. There were some gaps we jumped over which was fun because they weren’t super far.
On the other side of the maze we kept up the snowy slope. Arriving to the point where you need to decide to go up steep scree like last year, or cross a bergschrund and continue up steep snow. We went up the schrund because there was a small but stable bridge. Getting to the col via the snow was way faster than the rocks had been last year, but the shcrund had been to big to cross in 2017. It was surprisingly calm at the top but we couldn’t see Iago or Fitzimons. It had cleared up by the time we descended onto the Platform Glacier and the view was incredible. The broken ice looked so cool, but it meant that the route finding could be difficult. Coming to the Ripsaw it became windy and it stayed as we traversed and found a way up onto the rock.
Down to the Naiden Glacier is always a tricky section, but this time it worked pretty well and my dad left Cairns along the way. On the ice again fog came in and at the col to the Macbeth glacier there were high winds. There had been a rockfall on the glacier and the rocks looked very neat melted into the ice. At a common campsite spot we stopped, refilled water bottles and talked about if we would continue. It was 5pm and we decided to keep going up Iago. Going up the short rocky ridge and across it the visibility blinked in and out. Close to the end of the rock we could see the glacier rising in front of us and my dad said we should descend slightly on the rock for a more direct ascent of the ice.
This part held the most unstable rock of the trip. Loose gravel and boulders covering slanted but firm rock. It was super hard to tell if a rock was stable or not, it was steep and a fall could have been very long.
I was relieved to reach the glacier where our crampons gripped the ice and we were attached to each other with a rope. The slope was steep but solid and we made good time ascending it. When the angle became mellower crevasses appeared, but going through them was pretty straightforward. There were some far jumps, but I landed them all. Walking among the crevasses made me so curious about glaciers. Coming to the top of Iago there was still fog and it was 7pm. From there we started searching for an easy way down, this section had been horrible last year. The second place we looked at turned out to be very easy, a fairly gentle bench of rock to the snow. Once the snow turned to ice we tied into the rope and walked to a pretty flat spot for our tent. We stomped out the snow a bit and it felt like winter. My feet were soaked and freezing as well as my hands, but it was the wind that made it cold. We almost lost the tent in a gust when our temporary anchors failed and we were digging holes for real anchors. I then held it until there were many rocks buried in the snow keeping it down. Getting in the tent just before 8pm, we had been on the go for just about 12 hours, we had travelled far. In our sleeping bags we made two Nomad Nutrition Meals, I loved the Indian Red Lentil Stew and I was super full.
Trying to sleep at 10pm, we needed to find ear plugs because the wind was so loud. The next morning we started moving around at 6:10am and enjoyed a breakfast of Mr. Noodles. The sun was shining as we packed up and admired Chekamus mountain, it is so beautiful.
The wind was still around, but I felt that the day would get hot. Starting up the slope to Benvolio and Overlord, it got hot fast.
We crossed through the col and descended to go around Overlord.
Coming to the next col, we looked back at the Macbeth and Fitzimons glaciers which were magnificent.
After a short break we found the rock band that leads to the Overlord glacier.
On top of the small ridge we scope out our route below and I was then lowered to the ice.
Then my dad rappelled down and we set off towards some large crevasse bridges we had seen from above. The crevasses there were the biggest I had seen up close on the coast, they were massive! They could have had a semi truck in them. The slope was fairly steep and the snow was hard, as we were in the shade. We made our way around some more crevasses and that was the last technical part. I was so happy we had gone on the right side of Overlord so we didn’t need to cross Refuse Pinnacle, on which I fell last year. When we reached the col of Whirlwind and Fissile the fog was back. Descending the small bit of ice towards Russet lake was hard walking. The ice was very hard and pretty steep. At the bottom of the ice we quickly made a meal of Nomad Nutrition and enjoyed the scenery.
Moving onto the soft earth felt so nice on our feet. We made our way past the lake and up to the construction site of the Kees and Claire hut. Continuing we came to a trail and started to see a lot of people, but none with overnight packs. My feet were getting very sore and I was super hot. Going up to Flute I sang 99 bottles of beer on the wall, the whole thing. At the top of Flute we talked to some humorous guys about birds in the area. We reached the first sign and it said the roundhouse was 2 hours 15 minutes away, I think it took us 1 hour 45 minutes, but it seemed so long. I wished I could have been skiing so bad. When we arrived at the roundhouse the download line was past the light board, it was insane. After standing in line for 25 minutes we saw a sign that said express download. Turns out they didn’t put anyone in every fourth cabin because they have metal seats not cushioned ones. That made us so annoyed, we could have totally avoided the line if they actually had put a sign at the end of the line. Arriving in the valley we ate some Splits burgers and reflected on an awesome trip. I had loved that we went fast, but it would have been great if we had had our 2 other members the whole way.