Radiant Peak-A long time love affair & 1st descent

There are different kinds of back country adventures; Some are just to get outside, climb high and chill with friends and enjoy people. And some of it is for a mission or-'Objective skiing' as I like to call it...That what this day was all about...The objective of Radiant Peak.

Having hiked, kayaked in skied in the Wilderness Conservancy for years, I have eyed up this luscious, undulating south Face of Radiant many times. With such a large exposed face covered with avalanche start zones and massive slide paths, the timing had always been elusive to ski this beauty with a good margin of safety. Being a south face means it would be a ski attempted early season, before the warm sun covers her with an icy crust...And this was the year!














AS with any good trip, it starts with planning: calculating how much time it would take to get to the top. With a 5 km approach and about 4500 ft of elevation to climb, we figured it to be about a 5 hr trip to the top-if all goes well...(in general you can buget 1 hr for every 1000 ft of vert, on top of travelling 3-5 km per hr). We made it within 15 mins of our guesstimated time, which is always a measure of one`s mountain sense. Although I must admit, it wouldn`t have been so if it were`t for Dan bustin the trail like he does for a living!
After a short boopack and some
sastrugi (word of the day from dictionary .com- (sā-stroo'gee-)

Long, wavelike ridges of snow, formed by the wind, Sastrugi are usually up to several meters high and are often parallel to the prevailing wind direction) we summited and ripped off our skins...

A sweet, long ski down with ridges and gullies, big trees and open alpine, and ouf course, fresh powder...I had to force myself to do turns as the skiing is just so creamy you want to keep going !

Cap it all of with a night of winter camping and a flask of Scotch means one good night of sleep and batteries recharged!!

Ski touring in the purcell Mountains-December 15

Gutbomb.
That's the affectionate term for an A&W breakfast, that typically starts off an early morning touring venture from Kimberley.
Fill the snow machines at the local gas station; wave to some passer by (sucka!) that is going to work. Amongst friends we drive up the valley to the starting point and unload the sleds. Strap your gear on and cruise in search of a new and fresh line.
Like this one up Mayo lake. Steep , deep and well spaced trees. 5 cms of fresh cold slow snow on top of 20-30 cms of facets...(Rotting snow due to the recent cold temperatures). Thankfully the cold has not penetrated the full depth of the snowpack, making it a super unstable & uncohesive mass. There is a pretty solid layer below, however loaded up with more snow it could certainly create problems...to be monitored ...
At -15 it was cold at ridge-line, but stellar to be out, and can't wait to go again...

Story 1: First Descent of Pinnacle Creek, June 2003

Purcell Wilderness Overland kayak expedition: Stehane Poirier & Craig Campbell, June 2002

Adventure 1 stands as my best ever.

A kayaking first descent in the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy: arguably the most beautiful place in my world. The largest protected piece of land in South easten BC, this wilderness area is home to huge ungulates and lots of Grizzlies...
Day 1: Steph Poirier, ami par excellence, joined me in blind faith. Having stuffed the gear we needed for 4 nights into our kayaks, we hooked them to our lifejackets and dragged them 10km to the Dewar Creek Hot springs. Here we spendt the night.
Day 2, drizzly day with 400m visibility. We hiked up a 2500ft avalanche path dragging our boats while kick stepping up a spring corn snow. From the pass, Hall Peak , a huge granite wall hung in the back ground just barely in sight. After post holing and roping our boats down the west slope, we were now in super rugged terrain-no trails, no roads, no nothin`but a 30 km paddle out to Kootenay lake. That night Steph and I huddled together on the limit of hypotheria after a super soaked day with our minimalist gear.
Day 3: Creek boating a small alpine stream, alternating with portages from the innumerable slide paths choking the creek with debris. Once at the confluence with Fry Creek, everything became paddleable, as the river was now wide enough to paddle around ( or under!) most obstructions. Non stop grade 3 & 4 whitewater, dotted with calm pools and huge moose! That night we would reach the drier climate of the West slope of the Purcells as we exited the spine of the mountain range. With the barometer rising & the weather breaking, a warm fire and a glowing sunset stoked us for a great sleep and comfortable camping-an incredible and appreciated contrast to the previous day`s harsh conditions.
Day 4- the paddle out to Kootenay lake. The crux of the trip would be Fry Creek Canyon. This Grade 5 stretch of whitewater is only navigable by experts in the low flows of Aug & September. However, we were mid June, as we needed the medium flows to make the upper Pinnacle creek and Fry Creeks navigable. Having hiked the entire trip the fall previous, I knew we would be hiking the last 8 km around the final canyon. That we did, arriving at the beach on Kootenay lake at the conflunce of Fry Creek at sun set. We were out, and needed only to cross Kooteny lake to meet Mooks, our shuttle driver that had driven around to meet us from Kimberley. AS I write this I can feel the calming endorphine rush of cleasensed adrenal glands that accompanied the final paddle across the lake. A peaceful feeeling having passed through a magical protected wilderness, and having been challenged in every facet an adventure can.