Like its namesake Norse deity ruled Asgard, Mt Odin (2970m/ 9744ft) stands as the highest mountain of the Southern Monashees, and that was the objective for today. Having two sleds allowed for dropping one up Odin creek, ready for us if all goes well and we drop off the NE. Skinning away from the snowmobile at just after nine, we pushed up through the last of the trees and onto the Frigg glacier.
Although seldom visited by ski tourers, this general area sees traffic from commercial operations like Sol Mountain Lodge and CMH Galena, so it was hardly surprising when after 50 mins of driving, 50 mins of sledding, and 2 hours of skinning, our path crossed that of a dozen descending skiers. They came back for a second run when we where on the summit. Pretty sick place to get dropped off in a helicopter.
After a pleasant, un-threatened skin up the glacier, we were faced with an amazing snow ridge to the summit, a real treat after all the sugar snow rocky ridges we have been booting up lately.
It was pretty intense watching the 212 fly by as Greg dropped into the cherry run down the NE face, knowing we wouldn’t being crossing any heli tracks on this run…
The snow felt awesome. Arching turns down this glacier was so much fun I can’t even describe it! All too soon, the slope angle fell into the single digits and we were off on the 5 km cross-country ski in search of the dropped snowmobile. The light was well on its way out as we pulled up to the machine and headed for the trucks. An almost flawless day, at least until I ditched Magee’s sled over an icy snow bank trying to get set up for loading. We had it out in 15 mins, got it into the truck , and headed down the pot-hole ridden frozen Forest Service Road.
It was great to stand on this new summit under crystal skies and look to the North and recall Monashee days of the past. Six years ago Greg and I stood with three other good friends on the summit of Mt Monashee, hundreds of kilometers to the North, on the second day of our 21 day ski South to Revelstoke. What a wicked range. What a wicked run! Always worth the effort.
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