Varsity Outdoor Club

Members can insert new events into the calendar and signup for trips, but please read the instructions before posting.
VOC trips are organized by members like yourself, not professional guides. The trips go into wilderness areas where assistance is unavailable and unexpected events can occur. You could be seriously injured or die. You are responsible for your own actions. Please use caution.

Groovin' Turns at Helm Creek (overnight ski touring+camping trip) · Sat. Nov. 26th, 2016 - Sun. Nov. 27th, 2016

Warning: This is an old trip - it already happened

Details Page: Where you can see brief trip details (publicly viewable).
This trip does not have an associated Wiki Page.
Message Board Thread: Discuss this trip with other members here.

Signup Page: Where you can signup, bail, edit participation entries, see/email members on the trip, etc.
Wikitext Page: From where you can cut and paste information formatted for the wiki.
Printable List Page: Which generates a printable list of participants.
Edit Page: Where the trip organizer can edit the entry for this trip.
Mark Going Page: Where the trip organizer can sign members up as "actually going".
Modify Signups: Where the trip organizer can change signup classes.

Organized by: Elliott Skierszkan.

Start: Saturday, Nov. 26th, 5:30 am
End: Sunday, Nov. 27th, 8:30 pm
Pre-trip meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 23rd, 8:30 pm
Pre-trip meeting location: Outside clubroom

Description:

Attention Snow Lovers!

Temperatures have been dropping and the snowpack has been building pretty nicely in the alpine! Lots of people have been out getting turns in already! So who wants to get out for a night of winter camping and skiing?

This is a ski trip intended for :

1. People who do know how to ski downhill, are interested in ski touring and winter camping but want to get more experience. You don’t need to be a cliff-huckin’ steep-seekin’ adrenaline junkie, but you need the ability to ski downhill comfortably on blue runs or harder.

2. People who have any level experience with ski touring and are happy to share their knowledge with the group. I am looking for fellow members who are confident in their avalanche terrain management & rescue skills to come along and help!

The plan:

I would like to explore some of the skiing options around the quieter Helm Creek Campground in Garibaldi Park. We will Vancouver early Saturday and drive ~1.5-2 hours to the Helm Creek Trailhead in Whistler. Plan to hike up a steep forested trail with skis and camping gear on your pack until we reach snow, at which point we will collectively breathe a sigh of relief and get our skis&skins on and continue on to the snowy campground. It should take a few (3-4 hours) of climbing to get to the campground. We will build our base camp and go find some turnable snow!

We will have a difficult hike with heavy packs to get to our camp!
We will camp on snow!
I will take MAX 2 car groups on this trip. If there is lots of interest, we can try and organize differently but I strongly prefer to keep numbers manageable.
There is a $10 per person fee for camping in Garibaldi Park.

Depending on group interest and weather, we can split our time between skiing up nearby Empetrum Ridge, or a bit further on slopes below Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge if conditions are favorable. If there is interest, I also suggest to invest some time in practicing avalanche companion rescue scenarios.

Final note: Trip destination may change depending on weather and snow levels. Helm Creek can only be accessed if the snow level stays fairly high because the access road is unplowed in the winter. Alternative destinations could include Brew, Taylor Meadows or Hanging Lake area.

Posted: 2016-11-04 14:47:00
Last modified: 2016-11-04 22:18:46

Varsity Outdoor Club