Mt. Garibaldi - NE Face 6/23/2008
Trip: Mt. Garibaldi - NE Face
Date: 6/23/2008
Trip Report:Not much of a trip report, more of a conditions/info report with some pics.
A friend and I skied and climbed up the NE Face of Garibaldi from Brohm Ridge on June 22 and 23. Continuous snow started a little lower than the gate (~1350m). We took about 3.5 hours to get to the bivi that the McLane guide suggests, a rocky ridge just before you hit glacier.
In the morning there was a nice crust from an overnight freeze which made travel up the glacier easy. We ditched our skis and roped up at the schrund, then followed tracks from a party who went up the day before. The schrund at the left hand side will be passable for a while and there aren't many open crevasses on the rest of the glacier.
Really nice views from the top and lots of peaks to the East that I couldn't even begin to name. We could see all the way to Baker pretty clearly. The party from the day before had 10m visibility in fresh snow on the summit, so we felt pretty bad for them.
We thought about heading over to Dalton Dome or checking out Atwell, but the chossy gully from Garibaldi down to those peaks turned us around. That doesn't look like a very fun route and it looks as though you have to get there pretty early (or in winter) in order to have it snow filled.
We got in some nice turns since the sun had mostly melted off the crust. It took about 4.5 hours round trip from camp to summit.
The ski out was nice and we managed without skins, since the slushy snow was sticky enough that we could ascend gentle grades without skinning up. From camp to car took about 2.5 hours.
This is the 2nd time I've tried Garibaldi. The first was on foot at about the same time of year, with similar conditions a few years ago. On the first trip we ended up walking around in a cloud for a while then going home. What I learned from both trips and from the party (on foot) that we ran into on the way in is that skis are the way to go. We took about 24 hours car to car with a camp in between, so I'd try to skip camping next time to make it faster, lighter and easier logistically.
The Tantalus Range at sunrise.
Garibaldi and Dalton Dome at sunrise.
Mark skinning up high on the Warren Glacier.
The Table and Garibaldi Lake from up high.
Atwell from the summit. Apparenlty this ridge is the easiest way to the top. Looks pretty doable except for the last bit.
Mark downclimbing into the schrund.
Sick turns.
Gear Notes:skis, rope and ice axe. brought pickets and didn't/couldn't use them.
