Spearhead Traverse – Whistler Museum and Archives Society

The ‘Skin’ny on Whistler’s Ski Touring HistoryThe ‘Skin’ny on Whistler’s Ski Touring History

December 30, 2025 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Top Image: Pip Brock and Don Munday walking down Whistler’s tracks, packing skis.
Photo taken by Phyllis Munday and from the BC Archives.

Ski touring and split-boarding continue to grow in popularity as people strive to extend their range into the backcountry of the local Coast Mountains. However, it is nothing new.

In 1933, the first documented ski ascent and descent from the top of London Mountain – now known as Whistler Mountain – was made by Pip Brock. With “terrible” skis purchased from a Vancouver department store, the feat of the intrepid 19-year-old was at first disbelieved by locals. His claim was, however, confirmed by binoculars which showed his tracks: the first top-to-bottom run of Whistler, sited and sighted, 92 years ago.

Pip recalls “Most mountaineers thought that skiing was impure and indecent. But a few of us being frivolous, realized the fin and value of ski for winter touring.” Pip was later joined by celebrated, nationally-treasured mountain adventurers Don and Phyllis Munday, skiing up Wedge Creek as means to summit Wedge Mountain.

Initially, local ski touring converts were few and far between. Pioneering prospector Harry Horstman (whom the glacier on Blackcomb and hut are named after) indignantly heckled the young Pip Brock, chastising him with: “What the hell you got them planks fur? I can get around twice as fast on my snowshoes as you can on them slitherin’ boards!”

But it was “slitherin’ boards” that George Bury, along with three others, chose to use for their 1939 expedition: the first to assess the potential for ski development in the area. The four men began their explorations from Cheakamus Lake and over the period of 10 days, skinned and skied their way around. The tour ended by way of skiing down ‘The Barrier’ to the railroad tracks and flagging down the southbound train headed for Squamish. The development idea was sidetracked with the start of World War II. The group never revisited the idea post-war.

Members of the Bury expedition in 1939.
Bury collection.

In the 1960s, Stefan Ples became actively involved with Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. in their development of Whistler as a ski area. Stefan was incredibly familiar with the mountain, having been touring up and down it for years.

There is a story of when Stefan first met Franz Wilhelmsen (‘The Father of Whistler’), President of Garibaldi Lifts, fittingly on top of the mountain. Franz had arrived by helicopter, Stefan by skis. Franz is reputed to have said “What are you doing on my mountain?” to which Stefan replied “What are you doing on mine?” It is ironic that Stefan became so involved with the ski resort’s development given that it is said he truly could not conceive why people would choose to take a lift up the mountain, just to ski just a short distance down. Though eventually awarded a lifetime pass, Stefan’s preferred method of access was by skinning. It took Stefan approximately 3 hours to reach the peak.

Members of the Bury Expedition in 1939 at Black Tusk.
Bury collection.

The Spearhead Traverse is now the area’s most popular ski touring mission, linking Blackcomb and Whistler by way of an approximately 34 km horseshoe-shaped route across the peaks of the Fitzsimmons and Spearhead ranges. The traverse crosses 13 glaciers, and depending on routing 9-11 mountain passes. In 1964, the first successful tour of the circuit was completed by four UBC Varsity Outdoor Club members. It took the group nine days, starting from the base of Blackcomb.

Today, the Spearhead Traverse is regarded as beginning at the backcountry gates atop of Blackcomb and ending in Whistler Village. The Spearhead Huts Society built a state-of-the-art 38-bunk backcountry accommodation in 2019, with two more huts planned along the route. A strenuous endeavour, most take 2-4 days to complete the trek, however the fastest known times currently hover around the 2 hour mark for both men and women.

The Spearhead Traverse is undertaken by approximately 4000 people per year, skinning their way into the storied tracks of this place.Ski touring and split-boarding continue to grow in popularity as people strive to extend their range into the backcountry of the local Coast Mountains. However, it is nothing new.

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(*Please note that the version of this article that was published in The Pique Newsmagazine on December 26, 2025 had the wrong photo credit with the Brock/Munday photo. Credit is correct here.)

Over the Top: The Story of the First Spearhead Traverse, Part Two:Over the Top: The Story of the First Spearhead Traverse, Part Two:

August 8, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

The Spearhead traverse, a popular ski-touring route, was first undertaken by four members of the University of British Columbia’s Varsity Outdoor Club, Alistair MacDonald, Karl Ricker, Bert Port and Chris Gardner, in 1964. The four were approaching the head of the Spearhead Range by the fifth morning, breezing across both the Ripsaw and Naden Glaciers and arriving at Couloir Ridge where their easy progress was halted by difficult terrain. At this point, the group had reached Mt. Macbeth and Naden Pass, considered to be the limit between the Spearhead and Fitzsimmons Ranges. Falling back to their original position, the party utilized their crampons to descend onto Iago Glacier and get around the head of the valley.

A panorama taken at the groups’ camp on “platform” glacier from the Varsity Outdoor Club Journal. Karl Ricker Collection

Despite their extensive preparations, the group’s map of the region from 1928 falsely rendered the south side of Mt. Iago as too steep to traverse up, when in reality the slope had not only one, but two, skiable slopes. This cartography error led the party astray and forced them around the Mt. Diavolo icefall, before ascending and setting up camp on the newly christened “detour ridge.” In retrospect, the group proposed that for future expeditions, a couple of days could be shaved off by following a different route along Nanden and Macbeth Glaciers.

The next day, the group descended onto Diavolo Glacier, before proceeding to the col between Mt Benvolio and Mt Fitzsimmons and adopting their strategy of splitting the party to bag both peaks before reconvening at the top of Fitzsimmons Glacier. From there a slow ascent up the slopes of Mt. Overlord and onto Overlord Glacier ended with the group settling down at Panorama Camp.

Due to heavy clouds, the group set off at noon the next day, splitting up for the third time and bagging both Whirlwind and Fissile Peaks before meeting up again at the col. The weather began to worsen and the party quickly skied down to Russet Lake. In later years, the BCMC would build one of the first gothic arch huts in the region, the Himmelsbach Hut, which was completed near the shores of Russet Lake in 1968 and was just recently relocated and replaced by the Kees and Claire Memorial Hut in 2019. At this point, the group had gotten below the clouds, allowing them to continue beyond the Singing Pass onto the flanks of Mt. Whistler.

Despite being so close to their goal, the weather conditions worsened and halted any progress for a day and a half. The party finally managed to set off at noon the next day, making their way up onto Whistler Mountain and bagging the peak, before hastily skiing down in heavy snow in order to barely catch the train departing Rainbow Station to Squamish. The first Spearhead Traverse expedition was able to complete the trek in nine days, and concluded that the route would serve future backcountry skiing well from years to come. The Spearhead has remained a popular route, and can now be routinely completed in a day, with most parties opting to complete the route between two to three days. In 2013, speedsters Erick Carter and Nick Elson completed the traverse in a blistering three hours and ten minutes.

Pip Brock part 2.Pip Brock part 2.

July 30, 2011 Whistler Museum 2 Comments

This is the second half of a feature on Pip Brock, an early Alta Lake summer resident and pioneer of ski-mountaineering in the Coast Range. For the first half of this article click here.

On 30 July 1935, while Pip and the Mundays were bushwacking north-east of Knight Inlet towards the still-unclimbed Mount Silverthrone, Pip’s father Reginald boarded a chartered a flight from Vancouver to Gunn Lake with Pioneer Airways. That afternoon their C204 aircraft, which also carried David Sloan, managing director of Bralorne’s Pioneer Mines, landed at Alta Lake to pick up Mrs. Brock before continuing northward.

On take-off, windy conditions prevented the pilot from gaining sufficient altitude. The plane banked sharply to avoid the fast-approaching trees and the pilot attempted to re-land on Alta Lake, but without success. They plummeted back to the ground about 400 metres south of Mons, killing the pilot, Bill McCluskey and Mr. Brock instantly. Mrs. Brock and Mr. Sloan were severely injured, and transported via rail to Squamish, where a speedboat and doctor were arranged to take them to Vancouver General Hospital.

The Vancouver Sun’s feature story on the fatal crash. Click the image to view a full-size scan of the article.

The news quickly reached the central coast via the steamships that regularly plied those waters. When a local homesteader heard of the crash, he rushed up the Klinaklini River in his canoe to give Pip the tragic news. He reached the climbing party just before they ascended onto the Klinaklini glacier, at which point they would have been out of contact for several weeks. Pip rushed back to the city to discover the added tragedy of his mother’s passing; she succumbed to her injuries before their boat reached Vancouver.

The Brocks’ deaths was major news. They were an extremely respected and prominent family. Mr. Brock was the dean of applied sciences at UBC, a former Director of the federal geological survey, and a decorated military commander in World War One. He received a military funeral, and to this day Brock Hall at UBC commemorates the esteemed geologist.

Despite the family tragedy, the Brock boys continued to visit their cabin at Alta Lake. In 1937, Pip re-joined the Mundays for two major ski-mountaineering trips into the surrounding mountains. First, in January of that year, while Pip was on winter break from university, the party headed up Wedge Creek where they set up a base camp below tree line near the crest of Wedge Pass. From here they made the first ski ascent of Wedge Mountain, noting that they stood higher than anyone had before in Garibaldi Park, as the winter snowpack lifted them a few meters higher than summer climbers.

A few days later they proceeded to to the Spearhead side of the valley, making the first ski descents of what is today the Blackcomb backcountry. Don Munday’s description of their ski descent of one of the range’s massive icefields—probably the Shudder or Tremor Glacier—remains one of my all-time favourite skiing quotes:

Life has few thrills to equal ski-ing on a glacier. The quite moderate gradient surprised us with its immoderate speed for an uninterrupted half mile—if champagne has feelings when uncorked, they would match ours during those moments.

Don and Pip heading back to Primrose along the PGE railway tracks. Hungry, no doubt. Photo: Phyllis Munday, courtesy British Columbia Archives.

Buoyed by their success, Pip and the Mundays set out on an even more ambitious exploratory ski-mountaineering trip that spring, to Mount Sir Richard. Even today Mount Sir Richard is a fairly committing multi-day ski tour from Whistler or Blackcomb Mountains, accessed from the back of the renowned Spearhead Traverse. Back then skiers didn’t have the luxury of gondolas to ferry them up to the alpine, so they were forced to follow a far rougher route than modern ski-tourers enjoy.

Awaiting for the end of Pip’s school semester in late April, the party headed out from mile 34 of the PGE Railway to a supply cache that Don had previously placed near Cheakamus Lake. Here the party used a raft to pull their supplies to the head of the lake, a gruelling process which took two days itself. From here they continued to pack gear up the Cheakamus Valley to the base of Sir Richard.

Don (on shore) and Pip (on raft) hauling two weeks worth of gear and provisions up a still-frozen Cheakamus Lake. Photo: Phyllis Munday, courtesy British Columbia Archives.

Fighting thick brush, every sort of snow conditions imaginable, and the logistical headaches inherent in such a route, they managed another fine first ascent and an exhilarating ski through the McBride Glacier icefall. The trip took fourteen days. In an article in BC Mountaineer, Pip summed up their journey in typical understatement: “The trip was certainly an arduous one, but the most worthwhile trips usually do require the most effort, and this trip was worthwhile.”

We know little of Pip’s later years, though he continued to hike and climb well into his silver age. Later climbers who met him on the trail recount his genuinely warm and easy-going spirit. Few would suspect the epic mountain adventurers previously undertaken by this gentle old man.

The Brock boys picnicking near Singing Pass, 1930s.

The widely publicized expeditions that Pip and the Mundays undertook together helped convince the sceptical mountain community of the merit’s of ski-mountaineering. It is a testament to their vision that the Coast Mountains are today recognized as one of the world’s premier ski-mountaineering fields.Their wilful hardship, endured solely due to their love of the mountains, should serve as inspiration for those among us who wish to break beyond the confines of mechanized mountain access to discover all that the Coast Mountains’ alpine landscapes have to offer.