Whirlwind

On Monday February 27th, my dad and I left our house to ski Fissile Like a Missile. The avalanche advisory for the backcountry was low in the alpine, tree line and below tree line. It is very rarely low across the board. My dad did not think it should be that low, he thought that wind loading was definitely a problem now seeing as it has been very windy in the alpine lately. The visibility was not very good so we knew we might not make it to our preferred ski line. Fissile is a mountain that is accessed from Whistler mountain. From Symphony we climbed up Flute, a 15 minute hike that is in Ski Area Boundary on Whistler. On Flute summit we saw two groups, one was a group of six Italians that looked very speedy, there was also a guided group of 8. The guide was the owner of Canada West Mountain School, the company my dad guides Mt. Logan for. We said a brief hello and continued on our way. We descended the back side of Flute and then hiked up Oboe, a 30 minute walk. As we skied down the other side, we were surprised at how nice the snow was. It was very tracked, but when we got a turn in the powder it was very good.

Arriving at the bottom of Cowboy Ridge we wondered where the Italians were, they had told us the were also heading towards Fissile. We were quite surprised they had not passed us yet. My dad told me that this next hike was about two hours long. When we had looked at our route on Google Earth I saw that after Cowboy Ridge the terrain became flatter. I was confused as to why this hike would take two hours, it looked as if it should only take 45 minutes at most. During this ascent we could see that the tracks were narrowing out, but there were still a lot. While we were ascending I started to feel my previous blister spots hurt. I knew that I needed to start experimenting with different techniques to stop blisters so I stopped. I took off my boot and sock and put on two pieces of Leukotape K where my feet were rubbing. I had read that this stretchy fabric tape help to prevent and stop blisters very well. Once we were at our highpoint on Cowboy Ridge we couldn’t see very far. Looking back at Oboe we could see the trees but the shape of the hill blended into the fog. Looking the other way we couldn’t see Fissile, it was only a few hundred meters away in distance. I had never been down this side of Cowboy Ridge before. I had been up and down the other side, but the only time I had been on this side was when I did the Spearhead traverse. When I did the Spearhead Traverse I was traveling from Blackcomb to Whistler so I had never climbed up this slope. There was a short downhill ahead of us, we kept our skins on. I asked my dad if we would ski Fissile, But I didn’t think the visibility would allow it. My dad said no, we would go up Whirlwind, this was our planned alternative route. Whirlwind is peak that we could tour all the way up, if we had went to Fissile we would have needed to boot pack for at least 100 meters. The top of Whirlwind is 2430 meters high.

As we continued to climb we turned around and saw the Russet Lake cabin. My dad pointed out where a new cabin would be built as a part of the Spearhead Huts Project. The hut will hopefully be built this summer. It was now becoming slightly more clear and we could see Fissile. Pointing out the route we would have taken it was obvious that boot packing was necessary to ascend the slope. As it continued to clear up my dad pointed at the summit of Whirlwind. It looked much farther away than I thought it would be. At one point we were crossing a gully. Since it was a terrain trap for avalanches my dad sped up so that we were not crossing it at the same time. After about an hour since we were on our high point of Cowboy ridge my dad asked me how my feet were feeling and if I could keep going for about an hour. I said that my feet were sore, but I felt strong. At that point I felt stronger than I had all day. I could see that we were getting somewhere, my temperature was perfect and my mindset was good. As the top approached I was surprised at how quickly we had ascended the slope that had looked so big. There was a section near the top that was very wind effected, there was no soft snow on top  of a hard crust. I was a bit nervous here because I could see myself slipping and sliding down. The section was short and it was over within a minute. Once we were on the top ridge the wind picked up. The light was very flat, we could not see how steep the slope was in front of us. I was glad we had come here and not the steeper slope of Fissile. When we reached the top the view was non existent, we still took some photos.

While we drank tea and took off our skins the clouds and fog began to leave and lift. We could now see Fissile, Cowboy Ridge and Cheakamus glacier when looking south. As the view improved Black Tusk and the surrounding glaciers looked so incredible. Sunlight was coming through the clouds and I was amazed. I couldn’t get enough of the view. When we started to ski down we were very happy that we could see where we were going. The top 50 meters were very wind effected. The crust made it very difficult to ski and I almost fell multiple times. However, the snow became very good. There were no tracks where we were skiing. On the way up we had seen 4 tracks coming down from the col of Whirlwind and Fissile, but there were no other tracks. It felt so awesome to ski good snow again, I hadn’t skied in the backcountry for almost a month. My dad took photos and videos of me skiing down.

The snow wasn’t very deep, but it was very fluffy. When we reached the short uphill of Cowboy Ridge we just boot packed up the small slope. Once we were on the other side we put our skis and started down the long descent. The snow was good there but it was chopped up by very hard tracks. Once we reached the start of the Singing Pass trail it was about 4 o’clock. My dad lead for about half an hour and then let me go first. I had only been down tis once before but I remembered how thrilling it was. The icy, narrow trail needed your full attention. Some of the sharp corners were a bit scary. My left calf was cramping and my right quad was sore. I had been in the same position for a while. When we were about 2 thirds of the way down we passed the guided group of 8. My dad was surprised that the guide had taken his clients down the trail. It was dangerous, but I think it would be good to do it with a guide the first time. When we reached the start of the logging road the trail widened. Shortly after that we passed 3 of the Italians, it seemed as though one of them was having quit a bit of trouble get down the trail. I think that the logging road is the most fun part of the trail because you can go faster while staying safe. there are still corners and creeks to cross but I am less worried at that point. We came onto the ski run while there were still people descending from a day on Whistler. It was almost 5 and I was very hungry, I had not eaten as much food as I should have. We ate après and I felt great. That night I was very happy, I felt like myself after I had been into the mountains again after a break.