April 13th, 2025
Julian Larson, Lorin Jacot, Erik Reimers
On the beautiful traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and Lil’wat Nation.
With snow conditions and weather looking all-time, Julian suggested we do an in-a-day rip of Neve + Nch’kay (Mt. Garibaldi). I suggested we should try the high-route variation…
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Most new VOC members quickly learn about the Neve Traverse after joining the club. It is a classic ski traverse which travels across the glaciers and through the mountains near Squamish. Although it is a very popular goal to work up to when first getting into ski-mountaineering, it is by no means over-rated and absolutely lives up to the hype of its beauty and adventure.
Much more obscure however, is the high-route variation of the Neve Traverse. This alternate line keeps the excitement high by tucking closely under the south face of Atwell Peak, and includes an almost obligatory ski off of Nch’kay (Mt. Garibaldi) due to the summit only being a stone’s throw away. This year, I was keen to give it a go. With all the green flags lining up, Julian, Lorin, and myself set off on a lovely spring day and had a truly incredible experience on the route.
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The week leading up to our trip, Lorin had also been planning a separate 50 km long, 3000 m gain, day-trip of his own to ski “Super Couloir”. Lorin’s trip was to occur the day before our trip. This had Julian slightly concerned, but I ensured him that Lorin would have no problem keeping up even after such a mega day.
The evening prior to our trip, Julian and I dropped off one car at the Red Heather trailhead which conveniently happened to be (1) the same trailhead AND also happened to be (2) at the exact same time that Lorin was finishing his own (successful) trip. Snatching up Lorin (to his surprise) as he entered the parking lot, we headed back into Squamish, got Lorin a burrito roughly the size of his torso, and went to Julian’s place to get some sleep.
With an alpine start to beat the expected heat later in the day, we started hiking up from the Rubble Creek trailhead at 4:00 am. Although there is more elevation gain this way, we had decided on a north-to-south direction because it would allow us to finish the day by skiing directly to the (other) car. We quickly made our way up the trail by headlamp, put our skis on, and reached the lake by 6:00 am.
Left: Our approximate route for the day in red where the standard Neve Traverse takes the right (east) line while the high-route variation takes the left (west) line. Top: A layer of fog dances above the surface of Garibaldi Lake. Bottom: The first light of the day while we cross the lake with the Sphinx Glacier amphitheater in the distance.
As we crossed the always lovely Garibaldi Lake, we were accompanied by a beautiful, yet very cold, morning fog which danced in wispy waves just above our heads. Climbing out of Sentinel Bay and onto Sentinel Glacier, the welcoming warm sun hit our faces and the first views of the day’s highpoint came in: the Nch’kay summit. With hardpack snow conditions and fairly straightforward navigation, we were able to make great time and passed under The Sharkfin around 8:30 am. This is where our route deviated from the standard Neve Traverse as we set off upwards towards the Nch’kay summit.
Top: Climbing out of the Sentinel Bay as the sunshine hits our faces for the first time of the day. Bottom: Fast travel as we skate-ski onto the Warren Glacier. Right: Climbing up the North Pitt Glacier as we head towards Nch’kay with Castle Towers far in the distance.
To our delight, as we got higher and higher up the north face of the mountain, the snow changed to dreamy, cold, powder. A few other parties were also attempting the summit that morning (entering via Brohm Ridge), and had left us a lovely booter up the final, steepest section. With the face in prime conditions (minimal cornice, bergschrund, avalanche, or ice concerns), we reached the summit in no time: around 11:15 am. We took some time to enjoy the magnificent 360° views, which included a great look at “Super Couloir” which Lorin (and Vivian Liu) had just skied. Hooting and hollering, we made our descent off of the summit with some fantastic skiing: dreamy powder, 45° pitch, in an extremely special-to-me landscape.
Left: Booting up the final section towards the summit. Top: Mandatory summit selfie with Atwell Peak and Squamish behind us. Bottom: Our view to the east which shows the epic “Super Couloir” ski line in center frame.
From here, we were all feeling great, and it still felt early enough in the day to continue on with the plan. To stay on our high-route, we then tucked closely under the east face of the mountain to travel between Nch’kay and The Tent and onto the upper Bishop Glacier. Due to the significantly increased crevasse hazard in this terrain, we stayed sharp and took our time as we skied down a bench which sits below the main face of the mountain. Continuing to tuck around the massif, which included prime corn-skiing conditions, we then stood above a short drop which would put us onto the Diamond Glacier.
A blissful, powder, steep skiing descent off the summit and continued descent as we wrap around the massif onto the Bishop Glacier. In the video, Julian calls out “All-time conditions!”.
This was definitely the most committing moment of the traverse as it was now 11:45 am and the sun had been baking the south-east face of Atwell Peak which towered above the glacier bowl. We discussed, and with relatively minimal exposure below our traversing line for a wet loose to push someone into, we felt okay to continue on. Albeit, we would travel with ample space and as quickly as possible. Sure enough, as I was waiting for my turn to drop in last, a decent size wet loose (size 1.5 maybe) came down from the face of Atwell Peak, just behind Julian. Having previously discussed our plan, we knew to continue on as fast as we could until we were out of the firing line. Once on the other side, just below the Diamond Head summit, we took a quick break to regroup.
Continuing on, we were graced with more lovely corn-skiing as we came down from Diamond Head, up and over The Gargoyles and arrived at Elfin Lakes. From here, all that remained was the well known slog to Red Heather (which included us losing Julian for a brief moment), and then a lovely triumphant ski down to the car, arriving back at 3:00 pm. Ample time to retrieve the other car and eat some burgers in the afternoon sun.
Left: A quick break after passing through the Diamond Glacier below Atwell Peak. Top: A long slog back to Red Heather. Bottom: Enjoying some burgers in Squamish with a view of Nch’kay behind us.
Overall, this was definitely one of the highlights of the ski-season for me. And, if conditions allow, I would highly recommend this route. However, your skills certainly need to be competent, with much bigger hazards to navigate and much steeper skiing to execute than the standard route.
Stats: 11 hours, 42km, 2800m, steep snow, steep skiing.