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.
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| 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.
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| Milla Lake |
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