Vantage Peak

I found a new favourite view on January 27th. My dad, my mum and I left our house Saturday morning for the duffy. At the trailhead parking lot for Cerise Creek we counted 15 cars. Our goal was to summit Vantage Peak. I had previously skied on the lower flank and my mum and dad had been to the top in the 90s. Being a pretty easy peak to reach, and with lots of traffic on the lower section, I wasn’t expecting a hard day. Having brought our dog, Cola, she jumped out of the van as soon as we stopped. She has started to go blind so we didn’t know how well she would do, but she was very glad to be with us. By 9:15 am we had started down the short section of the trail to the creek.

The skin track was very defined and packed down which made for super easy walking. Making our way up the trail, we were passed by a trio of guys and another group with a 10 year old. We yoyo-ed up the trail with them almost all day. Cola loved having other people around and would run up or back to other groups if they were close enough for her to smell. If she was walking behind me, she couldn’t see my skis and would step on the backs of them repeatedly. Extremely annoying! But the walk was gorgeous, the trees were caked in snow and when the sun came out everything sparkled.

I kept thinking about how nice the trail was, you would have been able to classic cross-country ski all the way to Keith’s Hut. As we made our way up Vantage Peak came into view, it looked so far away, but every time I go into the mountains I am surprised by how far our feet can carry us, even in only 6 hours. We reached the point where the path split to the hut and to the pass leading to Vantage and beyond that Snowspider. From there we followed a less defined route.

On the last section of that slope leading to the col between Vantage and Mattier we split up because it was convex, so prone to avalanches. I went fairly fast for this part, for safety, but it felt so awesome. Lungs and legs working hard, enveloped in cold air with incredible views around, it really is the best workout one could ask for. At the top of the hill I sat down and stared at a view that truly took my breath away, Mt Howard, Mt Mattier and it’s North glacier.

It is now my homescreen on my phone and every time I see it I want to go back there. I looked down to Twin One Lake and saw a duo coming up, but their trail didn’t pass where I was waiting. Cola enjoyed the break as she had been running up and down the slope between me and my parents. Enjoying a lovely snack I was so happy to be where I was and so present. When my mum and dad reached me, we savoured some chocolate and then started up the last ridge. There was a track there, but at times it had been erased by the wind.

The summit was in view, and my dad said it was pretty close, it would take us about an hour more. From there, we had views on all sides, though looking south was definitely the most notable. We could see Mt. Currie and the backside of the Spearhead Traverse. Towards the East there was Snowspider, but beyond that nothing I could recognize. To the north we could see Rohr and Marriott, and once we were higher the West showed us Joffre and Cayoosh.

The going became gradually trickier and when we needed to take our skis off my mum stopped, she wasn’t infected with the summit bug and took advantage of the long break. There were a couple hard moves that my short legs didn’t like, but Cola had a lot more trouble than us, and she wouldn’t stay if we told her to.

Arriving at the top we were very happy it was such a beautiful day, and with no wind!

We didn’t stay long though as it was 3pm and we were to be home at 5pm.

As soon as we started down we knew Cola would be a problem, the rate she was going down was probably 1 meter per minute. We were continuously calling her and at the difficult parts we lifted her down. As the slope became gentler and the snow became softer she sped up, but still painfully slow.

When we came to my mum we cut into the bowl on the North side of the mountain. I had been hiking up in softshell pants and hadn’t put my gortex pants on because I didn’t think I would need them. However I was pleasantly surprised as I made my first turns. The snow was a lot softer than it seemed and it was spraying all the way up my thighs and coating my pants, this meant that it was fairly warm. The slope was a super nice angle and we zoomed down.

At tree line, which was probably 350 metres vertical from where we had started skiing we waited for Cola. Her tracks cut straight through our turns. She has never figured out that it is easier to go in our tracks. At that point the skiing became worse, the snow was much stickier. We went down slower through the trees and after a short period of time the snow was absolutely horrible. If you stopped for few seconds you would have 10 cm of snow stuck under your skis. Turning took a lot of leg strength and the descending slowed significantly. Thankfully, this didn’t last for too long and we were than on the main up track leading to the cabin. Cola was exhausted, but it was much easier for her from there on. Skiing out the track was fast and fun at some points, but we did a great deal of shuffling to get back. As we were getting closer the sky started to turn orange and pink, I wished that I was somewhere that was more open so that I could admire it better. I had just broken a sweat when I got to the van.

Looking up at where we had come, I gave myself a pat on the pack. I had travelled 16 km on foot, ascended 1000 metres, found new precious views and stood on top of a mountain, all in the same amount of time that a school day lasts.