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Snowspider Hut via Cerise Ck and Vantage Col
Closest Town: (29 km E of Pemberton).
April 19, 1998 (3 days) Calculated Length: 15 km Value: 23
Abstract: Two day trip into the Snowspider Peak area from the Duffy Lake Road. Up Cerise Creek, over Vantage Col and down the Twin One Creek drainage. Stayed in the Snow Spider hut. Climbed Vantage peak.
Difficulty: Easy ski with moderate route finding. No heavy bush.
Participants: Marcus Dell; Betsy Waddington; Robin Tivy; Steve Grant; Jayne Hardy; Alan Janot; Peter Gumplinger
Access:
Approach Notes: Although the summer approach to Snow Spider is via Van Horlick creek, this road is not plowed in winter, which makes the route up Cerise Creek and over Vantage col the ski route of choice.
We started at about 10:30 AM from the usual Cerise creek parking lot on the Duffy lake road. Within minutes of the road are the two small creek crossings which are done at this time of year with a mixture of snow bridges and logs. Then we headed up the usual well flagged trail to the Cerise Creek hut till reaching the open space below the morraine. From there, we continued south rather than swinging around the corner to the Cerise hut. We climbed steadily on open slopes till we reached the col between Vantage Peak and the East ridge of Matier. The UTM co-ordinates of this col are 415-757. (East is first, followed by north.)
Once reaching the col, the party huddled together then descended down the packed slopes till the large lake at 427735 was reached. Once across the lake we then dropped down along the creek a bit before swinging east toward the Twin One - Van Horlick col. This area is now recently logged, so we were on the logging road for a while. At the end of the logging road, we climbed through the trees reaching the hut.
The snow was up to the peak of the roof of the cabin, but the door and the front windows were visible. Inside it was pleasantly bright and clean, with one end split by a loft and the other end containing a good iron stove. This cabin was built with a good deal of effort by members of the Whistler Ski and Kayak club. It is well designed and constructed, although made of fairly plain materials.
It snowed hard all night, and the next morning we awoke to more snow and whiteout. By the time we were ready to leave, Snow Spider was still generally in a whiteout, although the situation was improving and at times the route up the east ridge could be seen. Due to the fact I am still on probation for pushing on in a total whiteout on the Neve traverse this year, I was forced to cave in to peer pressure, and thus we simply headed back the way we came. Everyone agreed that Snow Spider would be much more leisurely as a 3 day trip from this route.
By the time we got to Vantage col, the sun was brilliantly out, and all the peaks including Snow Spider were in the sunlight. Of course it was necessary for most of us headed up Vantage peak, and then had a really enjoyable afternoon ski back down Cerise creek to the road.
My conclusion, of course, is that this trip was an illustration of the value of forcing the weather gods to show their hand, rather than being bluffed out. Snow Spider could be in the bag! But, as I said, I am still on probation for this year's 3:00 AM finish to the Garibaldi Neve trip so I had to be content with a relaxing afternoon with good friends, sunshine and a big slope of linked telemark turns.
Waypoints
NAD27/WGS84 WGS84 Lat-Long Km Description
414-811 414-814 50.38333, -122.41667 0.0 Start on Duffy Lake Road
415-756 415-758 50.33333, -122.41667 5.6 Vantage Pass
457-715 457-718 50.29667, -122.35833 11.4 Twin one-Van Horlick Col
453-718 453-720 50.29889, -122.36333 11.8 Hut
446-691 446-693 50.27500, -122.37333 14.5 snowspider
or via Twin One Creek FSR:
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