Burns & Turns 2024 (Minus some Turns)

It all started in the wee hours of the morning the Saturday of reading break… (Okay, I’ll stop trying to sound Scottish now).

My car group had surprisingly very minimal faff for the morning of a VOC trip. So to spice it up, driving up to Phelix Hut we turned to the Tantalus look-out to enjoy the great view of the sunrise. Then we took a mini-detour to get back on the road going north but still arrived at the Pemberton McDonalds early. There we met up with ~34 excited VOCers some wearing kilts and some who attempted to make kilts with tea towels. Surprisingly every car was on-time and then we left in a car train towards Phelix.

Tantalus look-out at sunrise

That was where the lack of faff ended. When we reached the winter parking lot we were supposed to go up in predetermined groups to make getting up to the hut easier but due to limited snow, about half were on skis and half were on snowshoes or spikes. We got it mainly sorted out with snowshoers going together and skiers sticking together and started hiking up at ~11am. From there started the many transitions of skinning, A-framing skis, or carrying skis up the logging road. Once most of the skiers got to the woods, we decided it was simply best to A-frame our skis and microspike it up. Unfortunately I didn’t have my shoes and had to hike up all the way in ski boots. Let’s just say blister tape was one of the best things I brought on the trip.

And we’re off!

Sunset at Phelix (P.C. Emma Ghelfi)

When my group reached Phelix and the frozen lake, we were so glad to see that there was more snow than expected, although Cabin Hill was definitely going to be a no-go, so we started planning on where we could ski to make the most out of carrying up our skis. The last group got up to the hut at ~6pm right in time for a beautiful sunset view of Phelix. Of course, most of the snowshoers/hikers got to the hut much faster since they weren’t bootpacking, and they had already settled into the hut and tents, and some were making an igloo. After having reserved ~80 spots in the hut we scared off all of the other groups and were the only ones in the hut! Everyone then started making their amazing dinners (most commonly instant mashed potatoes/rice + veggies, some toasted marshmallows, or 12 boiled eggs brought by Mozi & Peter Lu). Some started planning their objectives for the next day. but most simply relaxed, enjoyed the clear sky and stars, and went to bed early, getting ready for a full day Sunday. It definitely felt amazing being at Phelix and seeing it in snow (even though there wasn’t much of it, as seems to be the theme this winter) was stunning.

Sunday morning we were welcomed by beautiful conditions of blue skies and no wind. Many were quick to get up and sorted out into groups for some excitement. One group went on a more mountaineering-focused objective up Gandalf; many went to do some laps near Frodo; some stayed in the hut to relax; and an ambitious group attempted to go up Shadowfax and Taillefer. I was part of one of the groups skinning up to Frodo. The skin up was quite mellow till we reached the Peregrine West Col where it got a little spicy but everything went smoothly. Then we left our skis and hiked to the Frodo summit where we had lunch. After enjoying the view we hiked back to our skis and started skiing down. The first group that started to ski down triggered a small loose avalanche so we adjusted our run to be more in the path of our skin track. After enjoying our ski down most of the way, we transitioned and skinned up some more for another shorter run. Everyone enjoyed it as there hadn’t been a lot of snow yet this season so we took a lot of pleasure in every jump and 180 and speed. On our way back to the hut we noticed that someone drew spirals and smiley faces in the snow. We also met up with a group of snowshoers out for a sunset stroll. The sunset was amazing the second day in a row!

Back in the hut everyone was explaining how their days went and we learned that as a whole, we had triggered three small avalanches, but everyone was okay. Then Ross Campbell, our amazing trip leader, started to chef it up making haggis and veggie haggis for everyone. It was really good, although the black pepper was a bit too spicy for some of us. Ross also recited the “Address to a Haggis”, and although he explained the meaning beforehand, most of us still didn’t fully understand. Then Elias Bowman recited an Ode to Climate Change explaining how the climbing season is longer now and polar bears are learning how to swim. Chloe Garzon and Emma Ghelfi recited an Ode to Backcountry Food which highlighted the fancy avocados, ramen, and french toast that the VOCers had been making so far.

Beautiful sunset of Phelix!

While many of us were out skiing or snowshoeing, some of those who stayed in the hut created not only a dance floor on the lake for the Ceilidh, but also a skating rink on which we later played a version of human curling. We also found out that tele-boots are the most slippery on the ice, even more than hut booties.

Between having everyone in the hut, and the cooking of the haggis, Phelix definitely felt like a sauna so when Ross invited everyone onto the lake for the Ceilidh the cold fresh air was more than welcomed. It was then time to test the strength of the ice. Safe to say, the ice held and no one went swimming. Ross taught us 5 dances and sometimes it felt like Ross was just making up dance moves, but it still got everyone laughing. More than once, I was laughing so hard with my partner Eden that I had to stop. One of the dances was a VOC special that definitely felt more like us just fooling around. Other than everyone bumping into each other and not knowing what to do, everyone was having a blast. Then Ross asked if anyone else had any dances they’d like to teach, so I decided to try to teach a Lithuanian traditional dance. Let’s just say teaching dances is much harder than expected but it definitely was a great time and left many out of breath.

Afterwards, the party truly began. When everyone got back to the hut, Ben Wahl took out the guitar, and Eilas took out the jaw harp and started the jam session with the amazing choir of VOC’ers. Singing from 10:30pm-1am we definitely went through most of the song book with some favourites being “Barrett’s Privateers”, “Northwest Passage”, “Home”, and “Loch Lomond” a Scottish Song led by Ross. Having played around on a guitar for a couple months but never having played for others, I asked to play a couple songs, cause what’s the worst that can happen. When I heard the video of “Viva la Vida” I cracked up. Throughout the night, Ross kept telling us that we should finish singing, but it was such a fun time and we didn’t have a care in the world. Let’s just say that everyone in the hut definitely heard us singing and we probably kept up more than a few people till we stopped singing. Ironically most of the singers were those sleeping in tents instead of the hut so I decided to wait before climbing up to the loft to try to avoid any angry glares from those who were trying to sleep.

The next morning was definitely a lot slower than the previous but slowly everyone got ready and groups left the hut between 9-11am. Going down was yet again slower on skis than spikes. Starting out with skis was definitely fun, but due to the limited snow coverage in the forest, we decided to once again A-frame our skis to get to the logging road without ruining our skis. Once we got out of the forest section, we were beyond excited to ski down the logging road! Those few moments of speed and getting to ski Frodo definitely made me happy that I brought my skis.

The pristine hike down

As with most VOC trips, there were some shenanigans and faff waiting for everyone to unite back at the cars. Flavia Caprez and Josh actually got back to the parking lot quite quickly and prepped strawberries with caramel and chocolate for the rest of their group, Settare Shariati and Julian decided to work on their tans, my car group decided to play with a kendama and a deck of cards, and Elias got to use his ice ax to break through the top layer of ice in his Nalgene that was left in the car. Everyone made it back to the cars well by 3pm and we started back the drive to Vancouver and back to reality. Some of us (myself included) were not ready to do schoolwork so we joined either the Glendining + Sloquet Hot Springs trip or the Keiths ski trip and not think about school for at least a couple more days.

And with that, another successful Burns & Turns is in the books “on the Bonnie Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond”/Phelix.