Forums Trip Reports Moby Dick, april '15 Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)Author Posts November 7, 2015 at 1:14 am #785497 karkis 270 PostsWerd! hey i wanted to share some stoke from a trip last spring, but there were some issues…it sounded like posting a TR on this site had turned into a gargantuan and highly technical endeavour, I’m all good for that, I’m a super smartypants, but sh!z fuk i was too busy to learn new tricks… I’m not sure if things have gotten easier here, or if it wasn’t actually such a big deal in the first place… but if the crazy bananas are back, it cant be so bad yah?also, Bruno n Greg were keen to cash in on this trip with some photos and Greg’s story of recovery from his broken leg in an avalanche accident in Pakistan. i dunno if any of y’all read ‘Ski Canada’ magazine (i know, right? me neither!) but it’s an interesting read… i didn’t realize Greg was so affected by that accident, he always has a game face on. Anyway, i wasn’t gonna scoop the story, they might not cover a flight for me again! but that’s all published now.anywaze, heres my version of events…i’ve known for years, seen photos, heard stories, read guidebooks, about the great white whale, and of course its always interesting. but when i topped out on Purity, 6 years ago, and looked south, my eyes locked in on the beast and she took a piece of my freshly scrubbed soul. I posted a photo of Tyler’s in my TR from that trip, thar she blows!!i’ve been smitten ever since, planning and scheming and trying to get back there, but honestly that shiz is in the frickin middle of the Selkirks, thats gads country and the folks at Battle Abby won’t help no riff raffs get into their gravy!! i needed 3, maybe 4 days in there, and its 3 maybe 4 days each in and out… thats 12 daze total and a weather forecast around here is all bullshiz any farther out than 3 days. Plus i was getting deeper n deeper into real life with every year that passed, business, home, baby…. i don’t have 12 days to gamble on a weatherman….Greg came up with the solution. He had some heli budget, use it or lose it, so i bailed on my responsibizzleties and called pea shooter. The guy with the budget gets shotty.We flew to Pequod Pass, between Battle Brook and Butters Creek, and dumped our camping gear out of the bird, then took off again to catch a lift back onto the high plateau of Mt. Proteus. A quick skin and bootpack, scrambling, put us on top of the highest point of the Battle Range and the snow conditions seemed to be prime. A quick safety meeting confirmed reports from Battle Abbey, that the buried V layer that was concerning us around Revy and Rogers Pass wasn’t much of an issue here. Regardless, we warmed up with the only mellow run around.Chancy’s a bit of a cowboy, its not his first rodeo.We toured back up the run for moreI was mad keen to hit the lines off White Jacket, so we traversed below Proteus and gained the ridge towards them. I’d hoped to leave the first line, between the glacier and the rock, for whoever wanted it; myself i wanted to traverse White Jacket and shred the eastern coolie which cuts through the rock wall…. but the ridge line turned into granite, a coarse slab that would be fun in rock shoes, with a flake crack which would take good cams, but the shoes and cams were in my basement, and my board was on my back, so i down climbed back to the group and they let me have at the consolation prize.I offered first tracks to Greg but he told me that the injury to his leg wouldn’t let him do justice to the steep first pitch of the line. I was surprised, i hadn’t realized he was so far from being fully recovered, he was always positive and upbeat in our plans for the trip, and even when he told me to go first he was just matter of fact, with his game face on….So i did, and It was all time!! we leap frogged our way down.Chancy’s all certizzified guidypants now so he’s always trying to tell us where to goyes Chance, strait fukin down! Behind him is Yes Please spire, Mts Butters and Ahab. Bruno was listening, Chancy!i was too busy looking upDown on the glacier it was every guide for himself, Bruno and i took photosthen we scooted around the corner and ascended back towards Pequod PassYes Please! and ice for scotchand a good look at what we came forMoby Dick, NE Glacier, Beckey climbed it in ‘88.we dragged our camping gear 100m west from the pass to a wind scoop below a rock wall and made ourselves at home at the foot of the great white whale. In the morning we realized how much E in in the NE glacier, as the whale was thrashing early. We decided on plan B for Butters and skinned up it in good time.You can see a speck which is our camp just right and below the centre of that photo.We noticed a group from Battle Abbey coming up too… our buoy DaGlo and their guy Marco go way back so they chatted a while. It was Family Week at Battle Abbey and the family was climbing Butters to scatter some ashes of Robson Gmoser from that top corner of their domain. Long live the King. We respectfully left them to deal with their burden.When we got back down to our camp the whale was silent in the shade. The air temp was cold though the sun was warm while we ate lunch. ‘We might as well take a look’ suggested Greg, but i think we all knew we weren’t going to approach that slope just for the view. DaGlo got us startedwe quickly crossed under the seracs and then booted up the right side to the shoulder formed by the top of the wall we’d been skiing under the day before.you could see our tracks on the glacier if the res was better.the summit pyramid above us was mixed ground with exposure, we could have ascended by traversing east, onto the slope of our run, and climbing across the ‘schrund, and up an ice and snow slope… but there was a cornice above, and the sun had been warm all day…… so we dropped in. It was pretty good!! i didn’t stop to take photos til i got to the bottomThen next day our forecast was calling for a warm front to come thru later in the afternoon, so we called our pilot and arranged a mid day pickup. But first we went for a tour around Pequod Peak. We climbed to the high col between Moby Dick and Pequodand looked south from therethe shiz its endless….!!Syked for another winter!! i hope y’all have a fine season! safety third n shit yah! thanks for readin!never summer snowboards phantom splitboard bindings dynafit touring atomic boots November 7, 2015 at 8:24 pm #785533 TEX 2486 PostsSuperfun Read as always Thanks again and again November 8, 2015 at 12:29 am #785542 Scooby2 628 PostsThanks for posting, those mountains are huge! Looks like awesome weather and timing, well done. November 8, 2015 at 7:18 am #785550 Taylor 797 PostsSo rad. High calorie early season stoke! Looks like a lifetime of exlploro-shredding could be had in the Selkirks…@sun_rocket November 8, 2015 at 12:11 pm #785560 maniacdave 564 PostsBadass, the delay makes for an awesome season starter!That was Pontus November 8, 2015 at 8:00 pm #785587 utasidian 120 PostsYeah, Karkis! Keep on gettin’ high in those mountains. November 9, 2015 at 9:22 am #785627 summersgone 820 PostsYeah Karkis! You mo’fuckin badass canuck! I liked this: “Chancy’s all certizzified guidypants now so he’s always trying to tell us where to go. yes Chance, strait fukin down!”You should of diffused with a simple “Do you need me to dutch rudder that for you sir?”. Fucking americans… November 9, 2015 at 10:03 pm #785665 Cbalke 237 PostsHell yeah @karkis !!! Glad you were able to get away and stoked you shared this Badass TR. November 11, 2015 at 8:50 pm #785753 JimmyC 351 PostsSweeeeeeeeet! November 15, 2015 at 3:50 pm #785956 liketoride 263 PostsSo awesome when everything just works out, having the time to go on a trip, weather, snow stability, the peeps to go with, the connections to access something way out. The gods of the shrediverse were shining on you. I’m jealous!Splitboarding is the answer unless Splitbooting is the answer, either way we're going snowboarding because America! November 17, 2015 at 8:12 pm #786046 D-GREEN 336 PostsThanks for disregarding the “gargantuan and highly technical endeavour” of posting a TR here Karkis. Once again you’ve provided us all with some awesome stoke to start a new season. Personally, I hope to return the favor. Hopefully from Canuckistan… Will you be at the splitfest in Reve this year? and how did you get that crazy banana to pop up? November 19, 2015 at 2:47 pm #786114 powderjunkie 1669 Postsholy terrain heaven well done Karkis, we won’t fault you for using the bird. 🙂 November 24, 2015 at 11:42 pm #786364 karkis 270 Postsaw yah glad y’all enjoyed it! the terrain makes it hard to go wrong round here.i gotta admit i was almost in the dog house for bailing on our family vacation to go man camping in the Battle, I’m lucky to have an understanding lady!! @summersgone i thought your ‘dutch rudder’ was something about burning a blunt… urban dictionary suggests otherwise!! damn yankees for reels, where’d you get such a dirty mind?!?! @D-GREEN yah I’m revelstuck til someone offers me another heli drop, i won’t miss spliffest!! The sykadelic banana is good fun, first you take the regular crazy banana and ya dose him up with Sidney and Molly, crank some EDM, say FK5 or Stickybuds, go easy on the booze n drink some juice, smoke a blunt (no dutch rudders) et voila: party on peeples!!never summer snowboards phantom splitboard bindings dynafit touring atomic boots November 27, 2015 at 6:27 pm #786482 christoph benells 717 Postsand the cover photo of the new backcountry mag eh?! December 1, 2015 at 7:24 am #786632 summersgone 820 PostsCongrats @karkis for the cover shot on Backcountry! So badass. December 1, 2015 at 10:08 pm #786673 karkis 270 Postshey thanks! yah thats all Bruno, he’s got the eye, the skills and the glass to make it all look good…. and a bit of luck i guess, like buddy on the summit watching me, i rarely see anyone up on Goat Peak but that day there was some random tourist skiing the south side and i asked him to come over and stand there for a minute “so i don’t look like some haywire out alone being reckless n shit” and that really added to the photo… i mean these daze, with goal zero and safety third n all that, the magazine really wants to promote images which demonstrate that we’re responsibizzle n shit, so basically it was just luck that i fooled them…never summer snowboards phantom splitboard bindings dynafit touring atomic boots December 3, 2015 at 8:22 am #786753 SanFrantastico 1514 PostsI would like to congratulate you on truly the king of all dancing banana icons. That was some sweetness. The other pictures, with the snow and stuff, were very nice too.Edit to add… just saw the backcountry cover…Putting the poo in swimming pool since 1968. December 12, 2015 at 9:49 pm #787099 whistlermaverick 312 Postskarkis wrote:hey thanks! ……..like buddy on the summit watching me, i rarely see anyone up on Goat Peak but that day there was some random tourist skiing the south side and i asked him to come over and stand there for a minute “so i don’t look like some haywire out alone being reckless n shit” and that really added to the photo… i mean these daze, with goal zero and safety third n all that, the magazine really wants to promote images which demonstrate that we’re responsibizzle n shit, so basically it was just luck that i fooled them…damn Karkis, good use of random tourist when there is no certizzified guidypants around, love it@j.memay Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)You must be logged in to reply to this topic.