Elevation Gain: 1,594m
Distance: 18.39km
Total Time: 1 day
Date: April 12th, 2025
I’ve been excited to check out the Icemantle Glacier for some time now. It’s totally unexplored area on my map and a somewhat remote group of peaks despite its proximity to Vancouver. My only hesitation to doing a smaller trip out there was that it also forms the start/exit of the Misty Icefield traverse and approach to Mount Pitt. However, there’s enough objectives in there to keep one busy without detracting from another trip into the area. I was slated to be oncall for the easter long weekend, so with some good weather, Andrea and I decided to take a day off the weekend before and make a three day trip out of it.
We approached from the Chief Paul Creek FSR and managed to drive up to 750m before hitting consistent snow. That added an extra 4-5km of skiing up the road, but we were above the last cut block before we knew it. I lead us on a long traverse contouring the 1450m mark around the east side of Lone Knoll, where we managed to avoid much of the steep and undulating terrain around. As we wrapped around to the south side, the terrain opened up and that concluded the tedious portion of our approach. Just as we gained the ridge we came across a fresh set of skin tracks. It seems we weren’t the only ones taking advantage of the good weather. We both surmised they’d likely be doing the Misty Icefield traverse.
Now on the ridge, it was just a fun stroll meandering through the open snowy meadows. As we neared the base of Bluemantle we made the decision to camp near its base and head into the Icemantle area on the following day. We located a perfect camp spot on the west side of Bluemantle and set up our tent. Andrea was feeling too tired to do more on this day, but I was pretty keen to get up to Bluemantle. She opted to build us a fancy camp site while I went up to the summit.
It was a short 2km skin from our camp and I found a reasonably mellow line up to the south west side. From the summit I had panoramic views of the Fire Spires and the extra effort paid off. I also caught a good glimpse at our route for tomorrow and some of the surrounding area. The ice fields to the south stretched as far as the eye could see. I realized right then and there that the Misty Icefield traverse will definitely be receiving a visit in the coming years.
As the light began to fade, I prepared for my sun crust ski run extraordinaire. I made several dodgy turns down the slopes before I could bee line it for camp. Andrea had just made the finishing touches on a sheltered cooking area and I joined her to make some dinner and conclude an excellent approach day.