Comox-Buttle Divide Solo Ski Tour - Day 7

End of Shepherd Ridge to Buttle Lake

Flower Ridge Trail Parking Lot

Island Bushwhack! Started out around 9:30am and was on the highway by noon. Fairly easy route finding and a relatively open forest.

Comox-Buttle Divide Solo Ski Tour - Day 6

Headwaters above Tezla Lake to end of Shepherd Ridge

I didn't set an alarm and I woke up at 6am so I was happy about that. Got going at 8:30am. I planned to ascend the north ridge of Shepherd Peak and then traverse down Shepherd Ridge's north side until the ridge started to round off and I could follow the height of land. The initial skin up went well, muscles waking up to the days work. When I popped around the side of the ridge and had a view down the north side I was disappointed. I couldn't see a route, not without dropping way down below treeline or exposing myself to some big falls. I traversed down the ridge, hoping to find a way through but finally decided I needed to get over to the south side of the ridge.

North side of Shepherd Ridge

I found a col that was a very steep skin up with a boot-pack down the other side through a gully. The south side of the ridge looked much better but the clouds were closing in. I contoured along for a ways not really being able to see where I was but at least feeling I was making progress. Then the terrain started to force me to go up, into the clouds. I kept moving along, passed the last tree and was in a total white-out so I sat down and had a break because I couldn't see a thing.

After a while it cleared out a bit and I could see enough to continue moving up. Eventually, I could go no further because a large peak blocked my path. The south side was visible and looked steep with no options. The north side was obscured in cloud so I sat there wishing for it to clear out and eventually it did.

There was a large bowl with a small lake in the bottom and a clear path from the lake up a gully onto the ridge, to a point where it appeared I would then be able to follow the ridge top all the way down. How to get down into that bowl? From where I stood it was cornices and cliffs overhanging the bowl. I started moving back down retracing my steps when I saw an opening. I scouted it out and it would be a very steep line but it was possible and would have me down there before the clouds came back. Considering that if I was at a ski resort I wouldn't be nervous at all about skiing a line like this, I went for it. The legs burned but it went fine.

I ascended the steep gully and breathed a sigh of relief. The clouds were clearing out and I had a simple descent down the ridge in front of me. I could enjoy the lovely vistas once again. It was late in the day so once I reached the end of the ridge and found a spot with a magnificent view over Buttle Lake, I stopped and made camp.

View of Buttle Lake from Shepherd Ridge

Comox-Buttle Divide Solo Ski Tour - Day 5

Headwaters of Siokum Creek to Headwaters above Tezla Lake

A long day. I was anxious this morning. My barometer was down from the previous evening and I was worried the weather would close in. The day turned out fine however, and there was a nice sunset this evening so probably tomorrow will be fine to.

I started off by touring to the col between the peaks of Mt. Siokum, wrapping up and around the more eastern of the two. I was nervous about the exposure so I stopped to put my ski crampons on. They make me feel like I am in 4x4 mode. Then I made my way along a high ridge of many bumps to the Aureole Icefield. Some of this terrain did require scrambling down some rocks and there was a boot back down a gully to finally reach the Icefield. Touring up to Rees Ridge was great. The view was spectacular both down to Georgia Strait and towards Mt. Harmston, Argus Mountain and the Red Pillar.

East Peak of Mt. Siokum from Peak 1909

Next, I descended to Milla Lake. I took a narrowing gully down from below Iceberg Peak which worked very well until the end. About 100m above the lake it turned into a waterfall. Referring to the guidebook, I scrambled down the rocks skier's right of the gully. This was difficult with skis, a full pack and wearing ski boots.

Once down on the lake, I scoped out the route between Mt. Harmston and Mt. Tezla. It didn't look like it would go and it was full in the hot sun, so I headed down to the other end of the lake. Here there is a gully which leads between Mt. Harmston and Mt. Argus onto the Cliffe Glacier. For the most part it looked good to go, in the shade with limited exposure. At the top was a cornice which I couldn't see a way around. I went for it and it took a long time to get to the top and the cornice was still there when I arrived. There was a sneak around the left which I took but didn't feel great about because of some cliffs below.

After that I was on the Cliffe Glacier and I had an easy time contouring around Mt. Tezla and finding a place to make camp. Another exciting day coming up tomorrow I am sure.

Milla Lake