Hi all,

We guided a ski ascent of Mount Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the Premier Range of the Cariboo Mountains April 25-26, 2016. We had what felt like ideal Spring ski mountaineering conditions with clear skies, calm winds and good overnight melt-freeze recovery.

We access the mountain via helicopter from Valemount to a camp located at 2080m by a small lake on a bench feature just north of the lower North Canoe Glacier (52°46'17.55"N, 119°40'19.29"W). From camp we ascended in a Northwesterly direction via the South Rib route to the summit comfortably in a long day (1500m ascent over 7km). We were able to stay on snow and ski all the way to the summit, ski crampons were very useful.

The snowpack was firm and dry in the morning and moist on solar aspects in the pm. There was about 10-15cm of recent new snow above 2900m overlying a very firm 5-10cm crust. This crust was present at all elevation and aspects, it made for great travelling conditions and mostly stable snowpack. We measured upwards of 300cm of settled snow on the glacier above 2500m so good coverage up there.

There glaciation on the south side of this peak seems to have lost a fair amount of volume since the last topographical map update. The edges and elevation profile of the glacier has receded and is different than suggested by the map. This lead to unexpected exposed rock in places where glacier ice should have been. That said, the route was easily negotiable.

A highly recommended Spring ski mountaineering tour!

David Lussier
acmg mountain guide
Kenton Lambert
acmg apprentice ski guide
www.summitmountainguides.com