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.