recommended Waddington ski traverse route?

[pete_a]

I've been looking over maps for a while, read the Coast Range book by Baldwin, read through the trip reports I could find online...guess I'm just hoping to find opinions from anyone who's had previous experience skiing around Waddington as to which of these options is probably the best way to spend two weeks up there in the spring.

 

Right now the traverse ideas are, drop off near Munday- ski around the head of the Franklin glacier hitting Munday, Wadd, Chris Spencer, Finality, and Jubilee along the way...exit via abandoned logging roads to lake near Knight Inlet for a floatplane pick-up.

 

or...drop off above Fury Gap, ski Chris Spencer, Wadd, Munday, etc, and exit to the south down to Scar Creek for a pick-up at the logging camp airstrip.

 

or...heli-in and heli-out of the alpine and not deal with a day or two of bushwacking and hiking to the valley floor.

 

thoughts? opinions? thank you.

[Dru]

Your "lake near Knight Inlet" option sounds bogus. I have seen those roads from the air, they stand out as bright green swathes of 30 foot high slide alder in a sea of dense second growth.

 

You should get dropped off at Bifrost Pass and ski out Scar Creek if you want to see the range. If you just want runs, get picked up and dropped off in the alpine, eg. at Plummer Hut.

[pete_a]

 

The Knight inlet exit sounds like one day of very unpleasant bushwacking to Devereux Lake but its been done before... here's a trip report a found of a group that exited that way http://www.geocities.com/nobananas_kh/Waddington.html

 

we'd prefer to see the range, not just get in turns, I'll have to look on my map for Bifrost Pass...doesn't sound familiar, can you give me a hint as to where it is? thanks.

[Dru]

Bifrost Pass is at the north end on the boundary with the Whitemantle Range.

 

I guess I wasn't thinking of Devereux Lake, but Trophy Lake. Devereux Lake is not a "popular" way to enter or exit the range in summer, Don's book indicates it is OK under spring conditions.

 

You should buy Don Serl's book it has a lot of good beta even though it's not a ski guide.

[pete_a]

thanks.

[Dru]

Of course, I have never skiied here so what I say may be BS.

 

I looked up D. Lake on the map. I guess they came out from the north and down the road instead of making that 2000 meter descent right to the lake.

[jordop]

Of course, I have never skiied

[Dru]

pshaw.

[Don_Serl]

You should buy Don Serl's book it has a lot of good beta even though it's not a ski guide.

 

hey, there's a good idea!

 

i don't "ski" either, although i've spent several weeks on skis in the range. you've got the right ideas - i reckon your #1 plan of starting somewhere munday-ish, touring and climbing a circuit of the upper franklin drainage, then exiting from jubilee to devereux lake is pretty classy. the necessary air service info is in the guide. you might want to check with NOLS - they tend to run a trip or two a year in and/or out of Devereux and/or Canyon Lakes, and might have some useful beta.

 

i think i heard rumours of the scar creek camp scaling back: dru, know anything?

 

the trip from bifrost pass out to the coast is a very different thing than hanging out on the glaciers. one's about travelling, the other incorporates travel.

 

and the plummer hut is a poor choice for skiing. the upper tellot glacier doesn't have enuf steep terrain.

 

PM me if u want - like i said, i don't really ski, but i'm pretty familiar with the terrain and what goes on in there.

 

cheers,

[pete_a]

thanks for the info Don, I appreciate it. and yes, I'll go snag a copy of your book this weekend

[Dru]

Scar Creek camp was pretty slow when I was there last but that was March. It may be a seasonal thing, or a regional thing (more accessible timber in different valley).

[Don_Serl]

btw, the key negative to the jubilee exit is that it's high, so requires decent weather. if it's puking, the alternative would be to exit via the franklin glacier and valley - you cld then float-plane out from the franklin camp. check whether the camp is occupied before u go, otherwise u either need your own radio, or you'll have to live with a pre-arranged pick-up date/time.

cheers,