Bikepacking 02: Chilcotins

Wow, what a trip.



All we could talk about all trip was the next time we would come back.  Great trails, lots of objectives, and gorgeous weather.  Also no bugs.  Weird, incomprehensible, but I'll take it.  This trip was a trial run for our upcoming Iceland trip, so we took the fatbikes and packed like we were planning on packing for Iceland:



Let's be honest here - we need to take a lot less crap.  Look at those things.  Ridiculous.

The too-fat bikes meant we did a little more pushing than most people would have to, but they rode really well everywhere else - sand, scree, mud... I definitely recommend putting max-size tires on whichever bike you bring.



Day one was access to Spruce Lake.  Day two we left all the crap at camp, and did an out and back up towards Deer pass.  Day three was a ripping downhill back out Gun creek.

Highly recommended.

Recommendations:
- suspension
- fat tires
- personal bike choice:  a trail bike with a really good pedaling platform
- water treatment
- a plan to keep your feet warm during the river crossings
- look at trailforks for excellent GPS tracks and up to date trail conditions
- stop in at the Tyax lodge for info, maps, and to say thanks for all the work their guides put into the trails

Lillooet

An Ode to the Snowmobile

I followed up a good New Years party with three days of sled access skiing on the Duffy.  Having locals show you around is the best.  

Day One was Blowdown North, where rapid warming scared us off the open slopes and into some mini tree laps:







Day Two was a more conservative area in Blowdown South:





And our final day was in Steep Creek, with one big and awesome lap.





Thanks Jen and Mike, along with the rest of the LPC.

Lillooet Icefield Days 7-9

Day 7 – Thursday
 Up at ~9, leave camp at 12:30, stop by ~5
 Whiteouts again, much snow overnight
 Spring has forsaken us
 Lie in tent in misery until ~10:40
 Trudge through blizzard for the whole day. Navigation by compass
 Travel through some of the most epic, awe-inspiring terrain ever. See none of it
 All members of expedition officially tired of digging tent snow-fortresses
 A brief somewhat clear night sky and the sight of a few stars helps partially lift mental claustrophobia.

Day 8 – Friday
 Up at 6, leave by 9, stop at 8:40. At 7:05, take crampons off to ski final valley
 Sun rises, expedition finds itself in an oasis of cloud
 Spring returns
 Epic
 Witness a cloud snow itself to death
 Climb massive glacier headwall, traverse along ridge until coming down
 Decision to come down off icefield today rather than tomorrow = genius
 Follow path of glacier-deer (linx/bobcat/cougar) to lead us down the glacier and valley
 We have now ascended, traversed, and descended the Lillooet Icefield
 We are now mountaineers
 At camp, smell pine trees, see birds
 Cloudless night sky, warm air
 All is beautiful.

[editors note:  our exit route is highly recommended.  The typical exit found in existing trip logs stays up high much longer, extending south - but nobody has found a way down that they would do again.  Looking up at the possibilities as we skiied along the valley, "henious" was the word that came to mind]


Day 9 – Saturday
 Up at 7, left at 9:15, at car by 5:10, Kelowna by ~2:20 AM
 Navigate out of the valley, again following the tracks of the bobcat-esque animal, now affectionately nicknamed Cougar-Jesus
 Tom gets surprisingly stage-hooked down a 4-foot slope on the river by a small, but stout, pine tree
 River valley and logging road navigation, and the whole day in general, goes exceptionally well
 Able to move along high snow banks on the sides of the main logging road for most of the way to the car (most of the logging road also not plowed, thankfully).

Lillooet Icefield Days 4-6

Day 4 – Monday
 Blizzarded in again. Thickest snow yet, but wind finally died down somewhat
 Whiteness. Whiteness everywhere.
 Caroline: “I hope someone makes a note that this is the THIRD time I’ve dug out the tent today!”
 Morale is low.





Day 5 – Tuesday
 Up at 7:10, leave camp ~10:15, arrive at new camp ~6
 Snow had piled up overnight, but downfall decreased (visibility minimal upon waking)
 Spring arrives
 Sun while breaking camp. Much distraction and jubilation
 Epic, glorious, sunny day
 Caroline gets stage-hooked by a pine tree while downhill-skiing when The Widowmaker goes around the other side. Hilarious
 Caroline throws a Nalgene at Tom’s knee. Direct hit.
 Cloudless starry night. Snow at camp frozen hard, allowing for ice slides.

Day 6 – Wednesday
 Up at 7:30, leave camp ~9:30, arrive at new camp at ~6:50
 Birds chirp in the morning, sun up down the valley
 Morning ice slides
 Awesome warm, sunny start, moving up the valley
 Crampons save the day
 Matt steps on Tom’s hand while wearing a crampon. Suspicions of conspiracy intensify
 Ascend the Endless Glacier for most of the day, alternating sun and cloud
 Clouds roll in to stay near the top of the climb
 Officially make it onto the Lillooet Icefield
 Hail and snow begin, with brief pockets of half-visibility
 Exhaustion widespread. It’s the altitude.

Lillooet Icefield Days 1-3

Our first major icefield traverse was, on the whole, successful.  We didn't die, get lost, or run out of food.  I think our biggest mistake was not allowing enough time - we built in extra days to go skiing and summit some peaks, but a run of bad weather ate up all of those days, meaning the whole trip was spent either in a tent waiting out bad weather or on the move.  Next time it would be nice to have a bit more time to relax and explore.  What follows is Tom's Trip Log:

Lillooet Icefield 2014 Daily Log

Friday, April 18th – Saturday, April 26th, 2014

Day 1 – Friday
 Matt and Caroline do epic bike ride (75 k) on fat bikes
 Tom reads almost entirety of Ender’s Game at the airstrip
 Plane drop off on saddle, make camp.

Day 2 – Saturday
 Blizzarded in
 Did nothing.





Day 3 – Sunday
 Up at 6. Skies clear-ish. Travel until ~4
 Navigate by compass for the last few hours due to snow picking up again
 Visibility never great
 Tom’s trip hernia begins
 Traveled ~7k. Pass out at camp.

Slim Creek

This trip was basically an access trip up to the alpine areas at the top of Slim Creek.  In short, it was a slog.  Useful for winter camping experience, but in future I would access this area via snowmobile or helicopter.

Route:  up Slim creek logging roads as described by John Baldwin.  The trails at this time of year are heavily used and well maintained.  No access issues whatsoever, but not necessarily peaceful either.  Total access was 35 kilometers and 17 hours of sled hauling.  On the way (net downhill) out we managed to fit everything on our backs and did it in one long day.

Food Usage:  1 kg / person /day.  Averaged 3400 calories PPPD, ate most of it.  Total average cost of $8.66 PPPD.

Fuel Usage: melting water, boiling water for breakfasts, and some dinners.  3 people. Using an MSR whisperlite, with the full winter setup, total fuel usage was 1900mL.  Temps on average at cooking time probably -15C, with lows of -20C.

Protips:
1) take kickwax for the ski out.
2) Baby Bel cheese freezes at approximately -15, and tastes like chalk.

Report and Pictures:

The drive to Lillooet was spectacular, if a little long.  Also not sure it would be something I would want to do  with snow on the roads, but our conditions were fine.







Our sleds.  These worked out pretty well.  Overall travel speed with the sleds was slower than I expected, but our total weight was not carryable, so we didn't have much choice.   Changes for next time will be a better harness system, and probably the use of some sort of duffel bag - this would be lighter than using packs, and would also allow easier access to contents during the day.  Depending on the trip, being able to ditch the backpack and haul just a sled would be way more comfortable.



We were going to take a laid back day on day four to recover from all the sled dragging.  But after a few hours relaxing in the sun we couldn't stand not taking advantage of the nice weather anymore, and headed out.  This meant a pretty late day.



And this is why we should have allowed more time (and maybe taken a helicopter).  One week of dragging a sled along a logging road, with a few days in the alpine?  Pretty good.  Two weeks of pulling a sled through terrain like this, with days off to bag peaks and go skiing?  Unbeatable.

Duffy Lakes: Equinox

I think I'll let the pictures tell most of the story on this one.  Lillooet was amazing.  One of our better backcountry days so far.

There are lots of pictures, and I have not included them all in this post.

If you click here, you will go to the beginning of the skiing pictures. (go "left" to see the rest in order)

We started skiing from the Maintenance shed, and angled up and to the left, finding our way through cut blocks.

(Snowy roads)

(The beginning)

(Starting the descent.  We skiied the bowl that is farthest away in the picture, and you can see the entire run - "Equinox" - down to almost the highway.  Amazing.)