Rutherford Creek Loop(Ipsoot, Rhododendron, Longspur, Appa Glacier)

The snow started at 7km mark of Rutherford Creek, walked/skinned 8km of the road then took a spur road(branch 550) towards the South drainage of Rhododendron Mountain.  Once at the end of the cutblock, we veered off SW of Ipsoot Mountain. Some steep and icy skinning on the tree line but once we were in the alpine it was smooth sailing to the summit of Ipsoot Mountain. We skied off the NW face down near to the lake where we set up our camp for the night.

The next morning, we ascended Rhododendron Mountain via the South slope. Alex and Ben took a very steep approach, directly on the icefall while I went around westward of the spire to the upper plateau of the glacier. It was a much more mellow slope. The skiing would have been better if it wasn't icy/crusty.

I had 2 more days to explore the area so we parted ways. Ben and Alex skied back to the car while I continued traversing to Appa glacier. From the summit of Rhododendron,  I descended SW down to the West fork of Wasp Creek, a tributary of Ryan Creek.  Then, I continued to the North side of Appa Peak. The route was pretty straight forward. I managed to find a gentle ramp from the North glacier leading toward the East ridge of Appa Peak.

I stayed/camped on the summit. It was windy and blowing snow all night. I woke up in whiteout the next morning. Navigating through whiteout down to the glacier was challenging. It took me almost half day just to ski down safe to the glacier.

My plan was to exit via Sootip but because I was falling behind with the schedule, I decided to stay and just explore around Appa glacier vicinity. I had perched my tent at the col between Rowel Peak and Appa W2(Mumbai), overlooking the headwater of Ryan River.  To salvage the lost time, I skied  Rowel Peak, Appa W2(Mumbai), and Appa SW3(Bandra) until sunset. I retired to my sleeping bag in calm and clear sky.

I wasn't certain with the weather the next morning. Once the sun hit my tent at 6:30 in the morning, I got out of my sleeping bag and hit the slope without having breakfast. I skied down the Southern end of Pemberton Icefield with Longspur Peak in the agenda. From the bottom of the glacier, I took a broad South gully, then contoured Eastward by taking direct East face to the summit.

There's a short pitch of steep skiing from the summit, I was bundle of nerve skiing that section, otherwise I made it down safe.  I retraced my route back to my camp, had lunch and packed up. On the way down to the lower glacier, I went a side trip and skied Kwtamts Peak, Sem'am Peak, and Syaqtsa Peak; these are gentle peaks on the South side of Appa glacier, adjacent to Appa Peak.

The ski out was a little bit of a death march, 15km hiking with my ski boots all the way down to the hi-way. I made back to my car at 10:30pm.

Total distance:  100km, 6770m cumulative elevation gain