The Sun God

Over the past 10 years or so I've been obsessed with riding the North Face of Sun God. Every summer it would loom in the back-ground from our Tenquille lake mountain bike rides. From that vantage it's a dominating rock face with slivers of snow filling only the smallest crevasses. It tends to be a face that's usually shredded in the spring when you can drive to near the base. Corn would be okay but pow would make it epic! We tried to nail it back on March 19 this year but it didn't live up to it's namesake. That day it was more like Storm God. No vis , puking and wind. On Saturday morning the forecast called for The Sun God to show itself and freezing levels to remain manageable. After a short sled ride Danielle and I we're  the only ones in the valley and at the base of the God.  Slideshow

    

The standard way to the top is usually a direct boot-pack up the central couloir. I was not interested in being in the direct shooting gallery from what looked like a 20ft plus cornice on one of the first hot days of the year.  

We decided to find a way up to Cerulean Lake and then hunt for access to the ridge that separates Seven O Clock mountain and Sun God. It wouldn't be an easy task as the 1700m lake is surrounded by cliff bands. 

Let the boot-pack begin. 

And some skinnin. 

More boot packing but starting to get into 30cms of pow! 

On the way up we decided to look for an alternate descent line if for some reason we couldn't get over or around the cornice. 

The summit came into view! 

Prior Khyber and G3 prototype splitty skins. What else do you need?

4 hours from the sled we finally found an entrance to the ridge with a super steep boot pack. 

Once on the ridge the views south to Pemberton were stunning! 

        

Danielle took a moment to admire a line we ripped on Ronayne back in March. http://www.flickr.com/photos/patmulrooney/5530682967/in/set-72157626452399540/lightbox/

Time to bag a summit. 

More scenic ridge travel with the fabled knife ridge of Mt. Currie in the back-ground. 

      

Our friends Meager and Plinth. 

Tenquille Lake and Mountain and Goat. 

  

    

The Sun God welcomes us with no wind at 6:00pm. 

We decided to drop into a line 100m from the true summit that looked to hold deeper pow and was 100% north facing. It had no chunder or debris from the day's warming and looked juicier than the other line. It would be more complicated and wasn't a guaranteed exit. 

Danielle dropped in first as I lurked over the cornice. 

                     

The snow was nothing short of amazing for the last day of April 2011! 

After the 500m summit steeps we spilled out to the massive avy fan and got in some spring turns. 

Danielle and I agreed this was the best line of 2011! The Sun God finally let us in! Hope to see ya next year.