The last day of Winter - Mt Garibaldi....

Our backyard summit of Mt Garibaldi regularly pulls me in it's direction during the snowy months. It seemed obvious to go for a summit of the iconic ring of fire volcano on the last day of winter 2016. The weather window looked tight with a fairly organized and warm front approaching fast so we'd have to act quick.                    

I got a got a glimpse of it the previous day from the Pemberton Ice cap.... She looked good to go!

When we arrived Saturday morning the groomer had smoothed out the whoops the night before!    

We set off up the Warren Glacier and found others were on our route. A few years back in the month of May I actually spotted a cougar in this exact spot. These were too small and likely belonged to a Bobcat buts it's clearly a cat route!      

The end of Brohm Ridge is a scenic place....

We had great views of Mt Tantalus and the Rumbling Glacier....

Castle Towers looked inviting to the North....  

And the Table looked like a nice place to have a picnic....

Earlier in the morning we ran into Maddy and Cameron who set off at 6:30 am without the aid of a shuttle machine. They moved fast and were on our heels before we knew it.      

Nice to have some colour amongst the "Milkbird" non photogenic conditions....    

High on the North Pitt Glacier the weather took a turn for the worse and our window closed. I've summited this mountain enough times to know it's about the view and headwall visibility for the descent. I encouraged Maddy and Cameron to push on as this was their first time up.    

We made out way back to the sled in very flat light....

And still had a nice view of town and the sound....  

Maddy and Cameron ended up turning around just before the summit and said hello on route back.  

Even though we didn't summit we ended up having a great day and found a nice spot to have lunch and enjoy the last day of winter!

Bigness - The Pemberton Ice-cap....

Sometimes it's a good idea to go to a place where everything is so big you can't help but feel very small. One of those places is the Pemeberton ice-cap where everything is vast and stretches out as far as the eyes can see. It's a rare day for me to leave my board at home when venturing into the back-country in the winter months but sometimes conditions line up when I need to do some exploring.              

Anyone that knows the feeling of a good pow day on a sled can relate to these shots of Brett in the white room!      

After a round of that, time do dust off....

And go for another one!

 

 
Calum snapped a couple of me making my way up....

Looking into the Soo....

Looking towards Mt Garibaldi in the back left gave me an idea for the following day. Some others on the right side ridge enjoying their own piece of the Ice-Cap....  

The iconic Black-Tusk and Mt Garibaldi....

We got close to Ring Mountain in the Callahan Valley. Alpha, Serratus and Tantalus in the back-ground....  

And we found a nice entrance into the Squamish River Valley....

A good day out leaves your machine looking like this....  

Old growth powder harvest....

When I close my eyes and dream about what the best pow day would look like this is it. Only 25kms from our front door in Squamish there exists a place where this dream day becomes a reality in the right conditions. This winter has been ramping up consistently and the month of March literally landed the perfect storm!

                   

When the Canadian Avalanche association refers to a "Weather Bomb" and reports 100cms in a 24 period you know it's gonna be a good week-end!  

Bright and early Saturday morning we landed at our launching spot....        

Conditions were very stormy and trail breaking was heinous....  

But it all made sense when we dropped into this!

Ridiculous!

This special place contains some of the biggest old Douglas firs I've ever seen....  

 

 

These photos don't even do this justice!  

Brett pulled a bunch of disappearing acts....

Fantasy land old growth forest....

You know it's a good day when it's tough to find the sleds at the end of the day! As we were leaving another full on snow assault began for the evening.    

Our zone was so good Saturday that we would be idiots if we didn't go back to harvest it Sunday morning. We assembled a new crew and headed out.  

All evidence of our presence only 14 hours earlier was all but erased....

The skies actually cleared for a few moments....  

 

Tits deep!

 

By far this turned out to be the best week-end of the year so far. Looking back at Squamish our Sea to Sky Valley is now in full winter mode setting us up for an amazing spring!