Greg Hill.ca

A mission to nowhere

Well somewhere, but somewhere really far away that was almost near a summit but not really. Ian,Aaron Chris, Mark and myself decided to try and summit Mt-Hassler in a day. Hassler is the second highest peak in the Selkirks and is an awesome mountain.

We left the parking lot at 6 am and toured up onto the illecilleweat and over to the Geiki glacier. From here we shredded down the heavily crevassed glacier and down into the  valley.DSC_3165.jpg

I had thought it would take us around 4 hrs up to this point but it took around 6 hrs. I guess using the equation that you add 8 minutes extra per hour per person than I was right. 4 hrs + 4 extra people times 8 minutes times 4 hours = 6hrs

From there we toured up the Dawson valley and onto the Dawson glacier. Going up the lookers left we toured onto a morraine that curled up into the alpine. Keeping us safe from hazards yet right in the heart of it all. Touring up we worked our way up Mt-Fox and onto the twisted rock by 3 pm. By now we had traveled 19 kms and 9600 feet of gain. Sitting on the Twisted rock we tried to summon the energy to go for the summit which would have been 2 hrs to the top and an hour back to where we were. Having only seen the summit twice during the day we looked for an excuse to turn around. The weather did not look promising so we turned and started heading home, which was very far away.DSC_3112.jpg

DSC_3195.jpgFrom the valley we followed our down tracks back up the Geiki and to the top of forever young. On the way up we watched as the sun warmed up a cornice and let it drop which triggered a fair size slide.  It came nowhere near us or our skin track but it still warned us to make the appropriate terrain decisions. By 7.45 pm we were on the top of Forever Young and on our way home. The chute was in perfect condition, 30 cms of nice powder lay blanketed the whole way down it. I snuck in for first tracks and had the best ski down Forever Young that I have ever had. And then we skied out the Asulkan. Back at the cars by 8.45. 14.5 hrs and 13 700 feet of gain.

Its amazing that I have such strong friends, although we were all tired we had just  toured 40+ kms and 13 700 feet. That’s the largest day I have ever done with four other people. So although we never made it to Hassler I learned a lot about what it will take to ski this mountain in a day, and I also learned more about Rogers Pass and some more hidden gems.  

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