Burnie Glacier Chalet
Box 4222 V0J 2N0 Smithers, BC, Canada

Skiing with Rob McNeill is generally vigorous and no nonsense. Today on Tom George Mountain, there was no BS. We are heading up.

We are a very small crew this week. When we come back down, we see that our old friend Mr. Marten has tried really hard to get into the lodge in our absence. You can see his tracks going up the roof to the chimney, which must have smelt interesting. He wisely refrained from going down the chimney.

And here is Robbie. Those two gentlemen have skied with me for 15 years. The place would not be what it is without them.

It's still cold at Burnie, but we go skiing (three pairs of longjohns in my case). The alpine has seen a bit of wind, but it's skiable. It's excellent skiing below. This is none other than Dave Loucks.

And here are Trevor and I on the summit. Trevor was nice enough to give me these photos. Thank you Trevor!

We descend through the slabby rocks beside the glacier, just above the Anderwasser. These mountains are magnificent in any weather.

But I fail to find a way on to the neve, and the rain is coming back. The crevasses are deep and jagged and the glacier has receded so much that I could not reach the ledges I used to traverse below the Inner Solitaire Glacier.

A steep snowfield allows us to circumnavigate a part of the icefall.

The summer route goes well above the famous Burnie Step that we boot-pack up in the winter. A little bit of scrambling is required to gain beautiful ledges above the torn-up glacier.

Past the creek crossing, we make like the goats and follow the moraine crest.

Esther and Stefan cross the creek flowing from the Solitaire Glacier.

On a fairly nice morning, we got away early to climb up the Burnie Glacier and cross Polemic Pass. Verena climbs the little via ferrata I built in the Interruption.

Julius and Esther cross the Loft Creek bridge. The trails and bridges make summer mountaineering and hiking feasible in this rough country.

My friend Stefan strikes a pose on the rocks.

The wet and cool summer has preserved snow on the glaciers well. It's easy going.

Time for a summit photo! Verena, Julius, Stefan and Esther with Polemic and Hut Peaks across the Sandpiper's Loft.

Esther is an all around wonderful person. Her food is to die for. We ate well even on the summit, and the sun came out for at least a minute.

Verena and Julius arrive on the summit first.

On a day with little rain, we climbed Loft Peak. The trail to treeline makes this trip much easier. Here we are on the morainal fin where we ski in the winter, too.

We spent a day training crampon and ice axe use on the lower Burnie Glacier. It's a great venue for that, just 30 minutes from the lodge. Julius communes with the ice.

However, we climbed a few summits. Here are Stefan and Esther on the Solitaire Ski Peak. We only got wet on the descent. This is no big deal when a warm lodge and a sauna await.

The Burnie River bridge held up in the high water, but I was concerned. We could not cross because the water was high and swift on the other side.

For the first few days, the rain was heavy but at least incessant. Esther is hiking through the moraine.

The Brysch family and I wanted to trek Mount Edziza, but the weather forecast (and the weather) were so bad we went to the lodge instead. This turned out to be a good idea.

Eventually the plane was tied up and Tlell and Eira Mae stepped ashore serenely.

My esteemed friend and colleague got the worst of it.

It was windy on the lake when Wendel arrived, bringing in Sean, Tlell, Eira Mae and two friends of theirs. Wendel managing the plane in the surf.