I finished work today at midday and headed up the mountain with Elke and Andrew after I bumped into them at the campground. It was a sunny day so we headed for the top of Blackcomb Glacier. Once we rode off the Glacier chair we decided to check out what lay over the backside of Blackcomb.
To get into the backcountry we had to navigate a fifty step climb up a snow ledge which had no handrails, only boot grooves dug out by other climbers. I nervously climbed up, hoping that I wouldn't slip and fall back off the ledge. I was relieved to get to the top, but only for a moment. There was another narrow ledge that you had to drop off in order to access the bowl below. Once in, it was an easy traverse to get to the next drop off. We had two options, drop in to the left, or into the right - cautioned by signs that read 'Steep, rocky entrance' that as well as knowledge of numerous permanently closed areas PLUS visible signs of an earlier snow slide. We chose left.
The drop in was exceptionally steep, double black according to the map. It was a slow decent at first, tricky for me as we had to get through a narrow, rocky pass. Once we all cleared the pass, it was a steep, powdery line to the bottom. Very nice riding, well worth the uncertainty faced at the top.
A few more cheeky powder lines and then we hit a 3.4km path which lead us through the valley and back into civilization. The path was super quick, no room to turn because skiiers were absolutely flying past, bent over in racing positions. So with the board pointed straight, I flew along the path and had a great ride back to the lifts.
All in all, pretty cool fun.
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