On 2017 December 25th, I skied Birthday Chute in Duffy lake area. This chute is one of the classic lines. It is steep and deep!
The trail starts from Cerise creek trailhead. Once you come out from the first forest to old FSR using winter trail, you turn left and go into forest to skin up Vantage ridge.
Here is how we did it!
We started at 11:oo from the parking. It was a late start. Snow level was still low, especially in the forest on Vantage ridge. Skinning up the ridge was difficult. It is steep and trees are dense.
This is the first view when we come out of the forest, and the start of last climbs! It was 13:48, so we took almost 3 hours.
After the steep section, there is a flat and you can see the upper bowl and the top of Vantage ridge.
A few more steps to the top. It was 14:35 when I took this photo. We occasionally stopped and took photos, so you might be faster than our timeline. I hope I can give you a good idea of how long does it take. Then we came to the top around 15:00.
We walked down to our left(North) to get to chute entrance. It is a short descent and then uphill again, so it is better keep your skins on! Jundai reached to the entrance by 15:30, and I followed him after taking this photo from the ridge top.
It was 16:10 when we were ready to ski.
The chute starts narrower and steeper. It was really rocky when we skied. You got to be careful in early season.
Once we passed the steeper section, it was wide enough to enjoy skiing it. It is about 4 to 6 skis wide.
The lower section was in really good shape. The chute is facing north, and the sun light does not hit all day. That keeps snow cold and dry.
After we skied super deep pow skiing inside the chute, there was a low angle open slope which we enjoyed faster and bigger turns. But, there were many hidden debris in some spots, so we had to be careful not to hit them.
Skiing ended into a creek and forest. We followed the creek and slightly skied to left. It was super icy and rocky. It was definitely the toughest part of this day. We skied out to the old FSR by 17:10, then walked back to where it meets cerise creek trail.
It got dark soon after we came out to the FSR, so the last forest patch after merging to Cerise creek trail was really scary descent.
Finally at 18:28, we came back to our car! It was really fun day. I really recommend to start earlier to avoid walking in dark. The trail in the forest is full of traps in early season, so start your trip earlier and do not end up in dark!!
Sea to sky 