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).