|
|
||
 |
left image: This is the west face of Overlord Mountain as seen from the Overlord glacier at around 2200m. |  |
| right image: Here is the northeast ridge of Fissile Peak as seen from the Fissile-Whirlwind col on the southern edge of the Overlord glacier. | ||
|
I visited this area on June 7 and 8, 2002.
These two peaks will be familiar to skiers of the Spearhead traverse.
The Singing pass trail leads 12km from the centre of Whistler village
(675m) to Singing pass (1600m). 2km more leads to the Russet lake hut
(1885m) and another 2km leads to the Fissile-Whirlwind col (2300m)
where I camped. The trip from Whistler to the col required about six hours.
The snowline was around 4km north of Singing pass this time of year.
On Saturday, I skied north across the Overlord glacier to the western edge of
Overlord Mountain. From there, a short snow climb up the northeast face
led to the summit of Overlord (2634m). Skiing back south across the glacier
and then downwards west between the base of Fissile and the icefall led to
the northwest couloir on Fissile. This enjoyable route is only 300m
high with snow slopes up to 65 degrees. I left my skis at the bottom and kicked
steps up, amazed that this route sees ski descents. Anyone who has skied with
me knows my downhill ability wouldn't exactly hold up on this kind of slope.
After returning to the Fissile-Whirlwind col, the descent was a quick
downhill, taking around three hours from the col to Whistler.
Here's a much better photo of Overlord taken a year later on May 18, 2003 on the Spearhead traverse. |
||
