the shultz gambit: Duffey Quadfecta

On Wednesday of last week, the team went out for an attempt of the fabled Quadfecta in the Duffey Lake environs, more specifically; climbing and skiing Mt's Joffre, Matier, Spetch and Slalok by their classic ski passageways. The storm snow of the previous week had settled into a consolidated mass and the forecast was for a clear, cold day in the alpine. Calls, texts and 'whats-aps' where fired around in a froth of excitement and the decision was made, at 3:30am we were to meet in the NW corner of the usual parking lot in Squamish and with a quick gear shuffle, were off, 5 jammed into one vehicle like cloves into a holiday ham. It is ALWAYS exciting to make a plan to head to this high alpine area.

Conditions were perfect for travel. The highway of Joffre Lakes trail served us well as we slogged up the initial approach, breaking up into upper Joffre lake after about 1.3 hours of effort. Sarah volunteered that she had done the math on the way up and broken the day into 13 separate sections, we had just completed the first one.

Travel up the Aussie Couloir was fast and trail-breaking easier then previous ascents with crampons creating more comfort near the top as the sun crust was hard and required care. The team assembled at the summit and looked around at our day to come, 3 more peaks to climb and 4 to ski, lets get going! 2 of the group skied while 3 chose to down-climb and ski due to the crust, although tedious and far from prime shape, the Aussie is key to the plan so we were all happy to arrive at the bottom to have a quick water making session on the glacier before moving on.

Matier and Spetch were next and no difficulties were encountered but we did find one thing: boot-top powder descents on the 40 degree faces, the best! I couldn't believe it! I think Matier's NW face is one of my favourite pitches of skiing I've done, this is the 4th time I've been up there and I just love it every time. Just classic in every way.

Finally, Slalok. New ground for all of us, we made the summit late in the afternoon and gathered together to look around. What a great group of good friends and what an incredible place. Ryan looked over at Joffre and said it felt like we were there the day before, a familiar feeling after a long day in the mountains. We ripped the skins and let the skis run down the humungous Stonecrop Face, this piece of terrain is really complex and to me is the crux of the day with multiple aspects and plenty of convexities with the added delight of cliffs below. Luckily, we had great snow and conditions and once again found powder to ski and finish up our last descent of the day.

Back at the car, Ryan had stashed some beers and as we stood around, tending to our feet and packing up, sipping our beers I couldn't help but think about how perfect this day was and to be with such great company in such a special place, all the better. I thought to myself, what step in Sarah's list would cracking a beer be?

Trip Data: 2883m of ascent / 21.9km / 12:40m
Chris Christie, Sarah Hart, Scotty Everett, Ryan Treneer, Ross Mailloux