Mamquam: Spring skiing, snow-hiking, and a summit for (nearly) all

Trip dates: June 19-20 2021

It started as a tentative spring skiing trip to Exodus, however, as the date neared, Haley and Cassandra reasoned that the logging roads to Exodus may be too gnarly for our cars. We all voted on other options for the weekend, among them, Weart, Currie, Blanca Lake, and Mamquam. Most of the people voted for Mamquam.

I was initially not so sure that it would be worth trying to ski that weekend. I’ve been skiing in June before, but given the uncertainty about conditions I was unsure that trudging with my skis was how I wanted to spend my weekend. I’ve been very fortunate to get out backcountry skiing many times this winter, so I wasn’t feeling super desperate to get some skiing in. Maybe it would be better to try hiking, I thought…

But, as the people poured into the pre-trip (Zoom) room and we started discussing plan options, I became more excited. This would be my first VOC trip in well over a year and I was excited to go adventure with new people. We nearly all decided on going to Mamquam. We discussed the feasibility of skiing versus hiking, and as we talked about it more, I became more enthused about the idea of skiing. Even if it meant carrying my skis a long way, it just seemed like the better way to travel once we got up high. So, most of us decided to go all in together and bring skis, planning to ski up and onto the glacier on Sunday and hopefully summit.

However, Thursday evening we all received an email from Eytan saying that his friend was up at Mamquam recently and advised AGAINST using skis. He said he would hike, so long as he could find 2 other people to complete a glacier rope team with him. He had exactly two volunteers, and so there was a group of 3 hikers with 16 skiers (yes, that’s right – 19 of us!). I wasn’t so much aspiring for glorious turns; I was just excited to get out and explore with some new people and use skis as a mode of transportation when the snow levels would allow.

Alas, we headed out of Vancouver Saturday morning and arrived at the Watersprite trailhead around 10 (?) ish, our cars making it up the rough logging road (with Sam’s Toyota Sienna proving its worth once again). We all geared up, found the best systems for carrying our skis on our packs and our large group set out on the trail.

Viva la Voile strap

Early on, we arrived at the first crux – the log creek crossing. There is nothing aside from the log to hold on to as you cross, and it is nice and polished. Sam walked across, pack on, no problem. I went next, opting to straddle the log and scooch across in small increments. The others followed suit. Luckily this went relatively smoothly, albeit slowly.

Shorts were not ideal. Photo: Lou B.

We hiked up the steep trail and made it to the ridge where we would then descend to Darling Lake and set up camp. At the ridge, the skiers skied-up and traversed the ridge and descended to the partially frozen Darling Lake. We practiced self-arresting and some glacier travel skills before dinner and split up our rope teams. For most of our time at Darling lake we were in a cloud, right up until our bedtime around 9 PM when the skies cleared, birds started chirping, and we headed in to bed.

After a brief rest in our tents underneath a beautiful bright moon and stars, we woke up around 3:15ish to get ready for the day, and we actually set out fairly close to our goal departure time at 4AM. The sky was dark but lightening up and we had an amazing view of Garibaldi from the south.

Sky’s a clearin’. Photo: Josh M

Lovely morning! Photo: Nina B.

We skinned up and up, the rock features impressively looming above and around us. We quickly arrived to a very steep section that required bootpacking. In the leading group, we decided to go up the steep section, however we then learned from Cassandra and Lucy and Alberto that the route Lucy and Alberto took the last time they did Mamquam was up a more gentle slope to our left, but at this time it was more rocky with less snow, so our group had opted for the snowier option. Nearing the top of the slope there was a convex roll that was crevassed. Eytan (in hiking shoes) post-holed in a crevasse just down to his knee. At this point I paused to discuss route options with the group and we decided on a way to navigate around the crevasses. After the trip, we reflected that it would have been better to go the other more rocky way and avoid the steep, crevassed convexity. We also probably should have roped up. We did not rope up at the time due to the steepness of the slope, however it was especially dangerous for the hikers navigating the crevasses unroped.

Going up the first steep slope. Photo: Eytan F.

After making it to the Mamquam glacier, we divided into our rope teams and roped up. We faffed around deciding if we should rope up or not, and ultimately decided to just do it to avoid even more faffing. My group (myself, Sam, Tom, and Lou) joined the hikers to create a 7-person rope group for added security for the hikers. We then set off across the glacier towards Mamquam. It was incredible traveling on the immense snowfield, with snowy peaks surrounding and blue skies, with warm, clear weather. Ahhmazing!

Traveling across the Mamquam icefield. Photo: Julia F.

Break before the final motion up to the summit. Photo: MJ W.

At the base of Mamquam, we stopped for a rest and group pee break and then headed up. When we reached the bergschrund we probed it, found it to be about ~1m thick, and decided that this was sufficient for us to safely travel across it. After the bergschrund the slope became increasingly steep and we bootpacked to the saddle, and dropped our skis. As I dropped my skis I heard a, “WOOOOOOO!!!!” from Sam, already on the summit. Wasting no time, I grabbed my axe and bootpacked up the final snowy slope, scrambled on the exposed rock section at the summit and met Sam there, with Lou and Eytan just behind me.

Sam nearing the summit. Photo: Josh M.

MJ making her way up. Photo: Julia F.

Atop the Mamquam summit, Alberto points something out to the group. Photo: Nina M.

It was absolutely stunning at the summit. One could see an endless sea of mountains, Squamish and Howe Sound, Vancouver Island, Garibaldi to the north, and more. It was so, so beautiful. Shortly thereafter I made my way down so the remaining people could come up. There was a traffic jam just before the bootpack down to the saddle though, so I waited for a while with Ross while he pooped near the summit. The hikers quickly started making their way back to camp, because they would be going at a much slower rate than the skiers.

After I left Ross to finish his business deal I made my way down to the saddle and Tom and I got ready to ski down the glacier, which I was very excited about. Then Cassandra and others began yelling something to us from the summit, which we could not hear due to the strong wind. After yelling back and forth not hearing each other for ~5-10 minutes, we finally learned that they were asking us to grab a rope they had left lower down on the slope (which was steep and warming up, so we were interested in skiing down sooner rather than later).

Skiing back down to camp was amazing on the wide open glacier…

Nice. Photo: Nina M.

We encountered the hikers again at the initial steep bootpack section and passed them on the way down, trying not to to hurl sluffballs at them (but inevitably doing so a little bit…). As far as I know, everyone that brought skis was very glad they did. I’m not sure if the hikers were as happy with their decision.

Fun times skiing around waterfalls exposed beneath the snow. Photo: MJ W.

Upon reaching camp pretty much exactly at our planned time of 11:30, we immediately stripped our clothes and went for a cold dip in the icy water and waited for everyone else to make it back. We then hung around camp for a bit, eating food, chatting, and packing up. After that, we headed out and thus began the descent. It was getting very warm out and we were eager to move quickly. The descent was tricky, navigating holes in the snow and the steep forested terrain. I think there was only one injury on the way down; Mykal punched through the snow and banged up his knee. We made it back to the cars around 6 pm feeling very hot, very tired, and very hungry.

It was very rewarding to go in to the trip uncertain but optimistic about the conditions and whether a group of 19 people with varying skill levels and modes of transportation would make it to the summit in time, and having things work out so well. I think 16/19 of us went to the summit! It felt like a party with our giant group up there. Not to say that we always made the right decisions, though –  in hindsight, we (skiers) did not know which route down the hikers were taking down to camp, and if they were roping up. We should have all communicated this better. While we made it work with both skiers and hikers, it was not very safe for the hikers to be going down by themselves in the case that a snow bridge failed, and it did not make for very efficient travel having skiers roped up with hikers. Next time it would be better for the hikers to have more in their group, or to have brought skis.

Nonetheless, it really was an epic trip. I think we all learned a lot about the complexities of glacier travel, group dynamics, and the value in being optimistic. Thank you so much to Cassandra for initiating and organizing as well as Tom, Lucy, Alberto, and Ross for providing your expertise and helping out over the course of the trip, and to everyone for being such good company!