Blanket Glacier 2008

Anticipation. Frantic Packing. A Nerve Racking drive. Helicopters and blue sky. We’ve finally arrived. Fresh air fills our lungs while our hearts beat like big sky thunder. Some go on vacation for a rest, others like our group, go to push our bodies to the limits. Exhaustion will follow in time, but for now we must go skiing!

Day 1 – Saturday, February 16, 2008
After arriving at Blanket Chalet, we unpacked the necessary gear and headed out on a half-day excursion. The idea was to get our climbing legs, work out all the bugs, and find some of the fresh 31cm that fell the night before. Heading west, we looped south and skied the area known as Home Run, finding steep chutes to run, 10 foot cliffs to drop, and lots of fresh pow.

Slope Count – 1
Vertical Skied – 225m
Max Altitude – 1989m

A good first day!

Day 2 – Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sunshine baked our faces as we warmed up to the thoughts of climbing to Blanket Peak. Helen Keller beckoned group members as we crested Caribou Ridge West, tempting them with her promise of fresh tracks and an endless run as she rolled down slope. The rest of the group persisted and trudged onto the Glacier below Blanket Peak. Wind scoured the snow from above and to the west, depositing it in the slightest of draws on the glacier. As the wind pounded us while digging our snow pit, it was decided that we would forgo the summit and seek refuge in the basin below. The pitch was steep and lead the group downhill until our legs burned from exhaustion. Skinning up in the basin we climbed back to Caribou Ridge and skied to the cabin, finding more fresh tracks along the way.

Slope Count – 2
Vertical Skied – 1145m
Max Altitude – 2600m




Day 3 – Monday, February 18, 2008
The invitation of sun warming our backs as we climbed the south facing slopes of Mt. Castor drew us to explore the possibility of the run called Muppet Show. Unfortunately conditions weren’t stable enough and threatened to slide, so we remained on the shallow graded slopes of Castor finding fresh tracks and avoiding most of the afternoon sun crust that developed.

Slope Count – 3
Vertical Skied – 755m
Max Altitude – 2163m

Day 4 – Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Can Caribou substitute for Reindeer? We skied Caribou Ridge West down to Christmas in the morning. Resting on the bench between the two areas, Al, our intrepid guide indicated that the steeper areas were located left, while the tamer slopes were straight ahead. He coaxed me to lead my partners in crime, Ralph and Toni, down the steeper sections; however we had alternate poaching plans. After being given the green light to go ahead, we skied straight into the open chute that the rest of the group was aiming for, making sinfully perfect turns. Christmas has earned its name as it is relatively easy to access, however it is a slog to get out of and back to the cabin. We saw four caribou on Caribou Ridge on the way home, however despite the fact that we were bagged, they didn’t offer to pull us back home.

Slope Count – 5
Vertical Skied – 1240m
Max Altitude – 2230m

Day 5 – Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Life is grand when you’ve been donated a Million Dollars, or at least have the opportunity to ski an area so named. This was the most strenuous day, but also the most rewarding. Plans in the morning included digging another pit to test conditions, however when we arrived at the top of the slope, virgin snow threw all desire to learn out the window, as we robbed the bank dry, taking every dollar. The previous night had been cold, creating a thick layer of surface hoar on top of boot deep pow. Snow shattered like broken glass as we danced with our silhouetted shadows and carved our signatures between the trees.

Slope Count – 5
Vertical Skied – 1340m
Max Altitude – 2162m






Day 6 – Thursday, February 21, 2008
Blue Bird skies and no wind coaxed us back up for a tour of the Glacier. As we climbed Glider and traversed the shallow graded convex role helicopters plagued us with their curiosity and the drumming of their rotors. We reached Armstrong Pass and watched CMH shuttle skiers up from the valley floor to the top of Mt. Cranberry, while listening to them on their radio frequency. It didn’t take long to realize that they had no idea what they were doing, and were outside of their usual haunts. As we were preparing to leave, the chopper dropped a group off at the top of the pass, just below us. As I would expect from Heli-skiers they were naïve to the outside world. They couldn’t understand what we were doing up there, how we got there, or how we were going to get down. Our group all wished that we were going to share the slope with them as we wanted to buzz them on our way down. It wouldn’t have been difficult to do as they were either skiing in the guides tracks, or crashing into each other. The best adjective that I can think of is “gong show”.

Slope Count – 1
Vertical Skied – 965m
Max Altitude – 2674m

Day 7 – Friday, February 22, 2008
Previously in the week we were bank robbers, well today we spent it all in Vegas skiing High Roller. Our first day of cloudy periods, but the only thing to slow the pace was the fatigue catching us on the up track. We tracked the area clean of fresh snow, and then watched the same Heli-skiers from the day before come down through the trees and ski our tracks. It was one of the sweetest moments when they recognized that we were there, and responsible for taking their snow. The catch phrase “Earn your turns” really sweetened the pot and left a smile on my face the rest of the day, not that the wonderful skiing wouldn’t have already!

Slope Count – 3
Vertical Skied – 1000m
Max Altitude – 2153m

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