By Rory Diacono
Originally Published – May 22, 2023
My Neighbor last winter
On the 22nd of April 2023, five of my friends and I attempted the summit of Mt Ymir. Travelling on touring skis the walk was long, hard work and especially challenging at the summit but to ski the Ymir bowl, it was totally worth it!
Nelson to Mt Ymir (Google Maps, 2023)
Mt Ymir (why-merr) is a 30 mins drive south from the energetic town of Nelson in British Columbia’s southern Kootenay Mountains. Although in the backcountry, it’s on the doorstep of Whitewater Ski Resort and dominates the scenery. My friends and I had been working at the resort that winter and the idea of summiting it had always been on our mind. We just never had the opportunity to do so… until now.
Our group was composed of all skiers (the way it should be!) Ben, Grace, Max, Jyoti, Christie and I. Ben had the most experience of our group, summiting the peak before but all of us had previously travelled half way when we skied the prospector bowl.
Fully packed!
We arrived at the Whitewater car park at 10am and got set up. It was gonna be a long walk as we unfortunately timed the tour after the resort closed for the season. What would’ve been a 10 minute trip up to Blasters Ridge via chairlift was now an hours hike up the hill, call it a warm up.
Apart from Jyoti’s right ski popping out once or twice, everything was smooth sailing. This pop off was normal for Jyoti as it happens every time she tours but once in ski mode the issue disappears.
The halfway point, Mt Prospector
An hour and a half had passed and we had reached our halfway point Prospector peak. We were now greeted by the hardest part of the climb, an hour of steep switchbacks up the actual Ymir ridge, time for a quick snack break.
Ben and Grace blazed a trail ahead of us whilst Max and Jyoti paused along the way to get Jyoti’s ski back on. Meanwhile Christie and I were holding up the rear, the switchbacks were tough, we had to try really hard to not lose our grip (or our ski) and tumble down the hill!
The peak in sight
One positive thing about this stretch was the amazing scenery, we’d never been this high and seen so far before, especially now as the clouds had just cleared up.
What I also found fascinating was the alien landscape of the Ymir’s backside. All the snow and wind had made the backside become an incredibly flat surface which ran diagonally down towards the base. The only thing blemishing this surface were the scatterings of ice encrusted treelings, bent over from the strong alpine winds.
Transitioning on top of Mt Ymir
After all the switchbacks, falls, near tumbles and the “woah that’s a nice view” we had finally reached the top. After months of looking up from the chair lift and through our building’s windows we finally made it to the top of Mt Ymir… And it was very cold!
We put our packs down, put on our layers, took out our lunch and started the all important, photo barrage!
Once fed, rested and photo’d, we were now ready to start our transition into skiing. We packed way our touring skins, put our goggles and helmets on, switched our bindings into ski mode and kicked the snow off our boots and clicked —
Jyoti… she can’t lock her right boot into her binding and it’s not just the toe piece now but the heel too. How is she supposed to get down without a ski on?
Our concern and trouble shooting caught the attention of a pair of snowboarders who arrived a little after us and tried to see if they could help. The boot could get into the right place in the binding but the binding wouldn’t hold! To fix this one of the snowboarders brought out these large zip ties from their pack and wrapped them around the boot and the ski, locking them into position. That foot wasn’t going anywhere and fortunately the left foot hasn’t been a problem the whole trip.
Topographic image of Ymir (Google maps, 2023)
The Ymir peak is made up of three intersecting ridges that come together into a “T”; the bowl we would be skiing on was located on the top of the “T” and looked out towards the resort. This required us to dip around the “T’s right armpit” and enter the face on a small saddle. Being on the backside, this “armpit” had become very icy recently but not recent enough to prevent a ski triggered avalanche two days prior, we didn’t want to stay in this area very long.
The plan was to drop in one by one, regroup on a supported piece of terrain before the avalanche debris then individually dash across above the debris and make it to the saddle.
Grace is the first to drop “krrrrrrrrrrrt” her skis go across the ice. Stop.
Then Ben krrrrrrrrrrrt. Stop.
Then Jyoti… krrrrrrrrrrrt POP!
It’s Jyoti’s left ski… the one not zip tied to her foot and it’s now tumbling down the mountain…
We’re all trying to keep an eye on the ski and to see where it will land while simultaneously trying to keep a grip on the ice. Stop. The ski hits a tree about 30 meters down.
Max, Christie and I regroup onto the supported terrain as Ben elects himself to drop down and retrieve the ski. We use this time waiting for Ben to get back to reevaluate our plan and check in with our group members.
As we stood in a line we were all still slowly creaking and sliding on the ice until Krrrrrrrrrrr–krack. STOP.
A meter long crack has just opened up above Grace’s uphill ski, one too had opened above max’s uphill ski… Nobody moves.
Ben is still side stepping his way up the hill right below us.
I call out to Max “what are you thinking!”
“We need to get to the Shoulder quickly!” he shouts back,
“Grace?”
“I’m not moving until Ben gets back!” she cries,
This isn’t the time to be making rash decisions, especially when our group isn’t all together.
Jyoti descending to collect her ski with Christie in tail
Ben eventually reaches the rest of us, exhausted but Jyoti is reunited with her ski. With the group now back together we can finally get off the ice and onto the safety of the shoulder. One by one we dash across to the shoulder without knocking any of the sensitive debris and with each successful traverse we’re rewarded with high fives and “well done’s” especially when Jyoti makes it across. Fortunately for her right foot the zip ties were holding strong, she even had a decent amount of control too. Taking inspiration from the ziplines and rummaging through our packs and found two ski straps that we could use to lock Jyoti’s left foot in place.
After analysing the area we agreed on a route; head riders right, aim for the trees and avoid the massive cliffs to our left. This was the moment we dreamed about all season and after hiking up all day, with gear failures, rescues and near-tumbles down the face we were now about to experience some of the best skiing in the Kootenays.
There wasn’t a single track to be seen apart from our own and though it was late April the snow quality was utter bliss; light, fluffy and very very playful. There is nothing better than surfing across an open field, speeding, kicking up snow and carving crisp lines on the delicate, delicate surface. You never realise how fast you’re really going on snow like that, before we reached the trees there was a substantial jump to be hit and I flew far further than I expected! landing safely it was the cherry on top of the best skiing of the season.
We leap-frogged through the trees and took in where we were. For some of us this was our last ski together as we’re all going our separate ways very soon but for the meantime we all got to be a part of this special moment, a memory that will be kept forever.
Ymir over the course of the season