Coastal Classics Part 1

Mt Monarch (3555m)

by Ptor Spricenieks

Like so many adventures, mine with Mt Monarch began as mere childlike curiosity looking at the B.C. roadmap. Just selected peaks and their altitudes marked here and there amongst the big spaces in between roads and towns. Other major peaks like Waddington and Robson had a face but the regal sounding Monarch was a mystery. In fact, back in the early 90’s, alot of the pre-heli-tenured coastal wilderness of BC was a mysterious place known only to mega-traverse pioneers like John Baldwin and John Clarke. It was only when I saw a slideshow of Whistler local Dave Sarkany in ‘96, who had begun remote and exposed ski-tours of his own, that I finally caught a glimpse of the inspiring sight of Mt Monarch’s west face.

Dave was of course just ski-touring by and his shot of Monarch was but a fleeting glimpse from a distance. The reality was that it was a very remote peak and would require a dedicated expedition to access it. Furthermore, from his picture, it was not clear if there was even a way to make a connection form the Imperial Way Glacier below to the beckoning upper face. I began researching the peak, esconced by the possibility and the challenge. I learned that it had yet to see a winter climbing ascent and that it would be a serious undertaking. From the topographical map, there seemed like there would be options but the final analysis would have to come from direct observation.

I showed my friend and ski-fou partner Troy Jungen the picture and he became stoked on the scenario as well. In the early winter of ‘97 I happened to be going to the Outdoor Retailers convention in Salt Lake City and brought down a proposal to try and round up some resources to make an expedition happen. Les Anthony was the editor of Powder Magazine at the time and was already familiar with Troy and I’s exploits from Yuh-Hai-Has-Kun (Mt Robson). He liked the idea that I presented to him which had developed into Troy and I self documenting not only an attempt to ski Mt Monarch, but a 100km traverse of the Monarch Icecap finishing at the then still obscure Bella Coola valley incorporated into the deal. At the same OR show I met photographer and coastal Washington ski-pioneer Carl Skoog who had a shared intrigue with the Monarch area and thus our expeditionary team was born.

This, my first foray into the real giants of the BC coast was set to go in mid March of ‘97, adding the additional challenge of a winter attempt. Troy and I realized we had some serious preparation so we began with a Febuary adventure into the Beartooth wildeness of Montana for some training. As I was living in Nelson that winter and skiing lots with my old buddy “Matty Shred” Thompsom, he joined us on our Montana trip and naturally defaulted into becoming our fourth to go to Monarch. The “acrtic” and high altitude environment of the Beartooths and our mentor Tom Jungst provided us with access to perfect training and we left with not only several premiere descents but acclimatization and practice towing sleds full of basecamp goodies.

To make a good go at Monarch and get into the zone with 2 weeks of supplies, we decided to fly right to the mountain and try to figure it our. Starting at Nimpo Lake on the Chilcotin Plateau, we found an older bush pilot named Floyd that knew the area well and could land his Cessna with skis. He was only willing to land us on Success Lake below the North side of the peak, not our ideal LZ but it would at least give us access to the Talchako Glacier afterwards and a idea of the unknown north side of the mountain. On the flight in we did a flyby of the peak and realized that the North East side had a line on it too. Although not from the summit, an aesthetic hanging face could be accessed via the east ridge and the North/South Horseshoe Glaciers that ended at the lake. It all looked white and so we decided to give it a go.

The weather was bluebird and cold. The mountain was massive and our attempt demanded a 7500ft vetrical and 7km horizontal effort in the still short winter days. 2000ft. sub-peaks separated by the massive glaciers were dwarfed by the vista of streams of blowing snow connecting the summit to the sky. Cresting the East Ridge and the base of the face revealed an icy mountain thinly covered by snow as daylight was fading. Monarch lies on the interior side of the coast range, directly adjacent to the Chilcotin plateau. The terrain resembled the Rockies or Alps more than we had expected. This eastern slope of the coast range was cold and dry and definitely subject to a more sporadic appearance of optimal steep conditions. We had come so close and the view to the south, of Mt. Waddington and the Ha’Itzulk Ice Field, blew my mind. The vastness of our descent made my sensory circuits lose their boundaries. 6000 ft. of boot deep fluff later, we were back at the fire.

Getting up onto the Talchako Glacier was a bitch. What looked like an easy couple of hours ended up in nearly a full day of wrestling with the sleds through tight pecker-pole pines. As such our next camp was far from where we wanted it below the west face. The next day we went light up the Imperial Way Glacier to the base of the mighty 1000m West Face but were met by an also mighty giant avalanche. Intimidated and unispired by the steep conditions we’d found on the other side, we turned our focus on the lengthy traverse back to Bella Coola ahead of us. Rightfully so, because the next day we found ourselves getting pounded by an intense coastal storm.

For 5 days it raged as we were buried by 3 meters of snow. Dwindling supplies forced us to continue traversing by instrument on day 5 despite 100km whiteout winds that occaisionally knocked Troy and Matty (the lighter guys) to the ground. It was definately an epic getting out of there, one that made us fully aware of the power Coastal Mountains. It didn’t erase the potential I had seen from our West Face reconaissance from my mind and I knew I’d be back someday.

In 2001, I was back in the Bella Coola area on a renegade heli-ski mission sessioning the much lower but dramatic peaks closer to the Bella Coola valley. As we point-and-skied our way around that day, we ended up working our way back close to Ape Lake and caught a nice view of Mt Monarch. My soul was gripped by being in it’s presence once again.

Later that spring, Scott Murray, with whom I was on the aforementioned heli-mission with, Chris Kettles, my old friend and ski-mountaineering partner and I flew to Monarch in his personal Cessna 185 for reconaisance but were turned around by extreme turbulence as we approached the socked in peak.

Meanwhile, in 2002, Eric Pehota and Johnny “Foon” Chilton gave the Noth East Face a go. Accompanied by writer Mitchel Scott and photographer Blake Jorgensen they flew by ski plane up onto the Horseshoe Glacier system, eliminating the approach. They too found the mountain’s icy flanks thinly covered by cold powder snow and weren’t able to shred the hanging beauty face. They did however make a sweet descent of The Pretender, one of Monarch’s satellite peaks.

In July of 2003, just after I had returned from a fabulous ski-mountaineering session in Bolivia, Chris Kettles called me up saying Fred Beckey was organizing a trip up to the Monarch Icefield to go climbing with his buddies and that we should go along and give Monarch a go. It had a been a wet and cold spring and there could be a chance of good conditions. I was still in the mood for charging and we loaded up his truck and drove to Hagensborg to meet Fred, the most prolific climber alive today and at 80 something years old, a true inspiration.

Chris and I drove up the Nusatsum River logging road so that we could be picked up on a shorter shuttle leg as we had two full loads of Richard Lapointe’s A-Star going in. Soon I was back on the icecap making camp in the presence of Monarch once again. This time some 14km away on a rock island on the Talchako Glacier as an intermediary point between the objective of Fred’s group and ours.

We weren’t in any hurry so we relaxed a couple days and enjoyed the summer alpine scenario before setting out to make an advanced camp. Fred and his boys were focused on Mt. Cerberus so we left ‘em to it, packed the sled and set off in quest of the ominous West Face. The exit couloir from the upper face was at a bad angle and we couldn’t really see if it would go untill we actually reached our camp spot. It was at a col that Matty, Troy, Carl and I had gained opposite the Monarch’s West Face and separated the Imperial Way Glacier from another adjacent arm of the Talchako. There 6 years ago, we had seen what we all considered to be a Sasquatch footprint and now we could see that the exit couloir did indeed go, although we would have some rock climbing to do lower down regardless.

The next morning dawned bluebird and we set out leisurely to see where we could get. We chose the snow face that led to the south west ridge as the easy way but when we got to the ridge we had to scope out a rock route. The rock was “chaucy” and exposed and culminated in a 5.7 step. We had enough protection with us and it all proved to be fun hauling the skis behind us. At that point we had gained the buttress and a neve ridge that led to a glacial plateau with the exit couloir and West Face looming above. The day was warming nicely which was crucial because upon ascending the upper portions, the snow layer was very thin.

As we climbed up onto the West Face itself, it was daunting to be looking at a blue coloured slope. The snow was so thin that looking at it horizontally you looked pretty well onto the permanent ice sheet underneath. Only off angle did it appear white. This made for superb climbing and the angle remained below 50 degrees on the main face. The exit couloir would provide the steepest turns of the descent. Once atop the face, it was obvious that we were on the highest skiable point of the mountain. We could see the termination of the North East Face below. To gain the summit pillar we would have had to make another rockclimb after traversing the ridgetop and as the afternoon was fading and the conditions seemed at their warmest, we turned and dropped in.

It was fun skiing. Very exposed and slidy on the thin thin layer of snow on the face that had perfectly warmed. If it had been steeper it wouldn’t have been fun. The exit couloir although steeper had more snow on it and thus more of a bite in each turn. It emptied out on top of the glacial plateau and we could lay out a few big turns. Care had to be taken descending the lower part which we had climbed in order not to bonk each other with rockfall while rapelling. By the time we reached the lower face, the light was orange and we could fully cruise the warm snow jumping a few bergshrunds on the way back to camp. Intense but friendly, Monarch was finally shredded and we were stoked.

The next day the clouds and winds poured over the mountain, sealing our window of opportunity. Back at the main camp, the temps dropped and snow began to fall. Fred and the boys were successful on their mission as well and we all went home happy. One of the most inspiring peaks of the BC Coast was now even more alluring. It didn’t feel like goodbye forever. There’s still more incredible unskied variations on that peak awaiting the patient and inspired ski-mountaineer that wants to socialize with royalty. A classic indeed!