West McMillan Spire + Terror Glacier

Original trip report: https://engineeredforadventure.com/west-mcmillan-spire-terror-glacier/

Background

West McMillan Spire was first skied by Jason Hummel, Sky Sjue, and Phil Fortier in January of 2007 (per Skoog Alpenglow history). January?!? They approached in via Goodell Creek with snow all the way down to 500'! Wild.

I had Friday off of work and wanted one more mountain day before a short pattern change appeared to be coming in, with more cold moisture and a 'reset' of sorts. I jogged my brain, pretty quickly coming to one idea: West Mac. I texted a few friends, seeing if anyone was interested in a weird adventure. None bit, for various reasons. I started to get pretty psyched on the idea of a solo day, a long amble in the mountains with some time to think, listen to podcasts, and explore a new area.

This year our low elevation snowpack has been pretty non-existent, and while that may be a tearjerker during the winter months, it's actually quite useful come springtime. Corn set up super fast this April, thanks to a high elevation rain event that ended cold. The approach into Terror Basin is a very steep trail with dense foliage; even in the summer, it's a bit of a push. I examined snow coverage on Sentinel imagery, finding that the snowline appeared to be around 4,000' or so. Hmmm...seems like it might be possible to hike the trail all the way to treeline, mostly dry. I looked at the West Ridge on Sentinel, checking for coverage. Seems mostly white...hard to tell. The West Ridge was a little 'peppery' when Sjue/Hummel/Fortier skied it.

The more I thought about it, the more it kind of seemed like a good setup for a weird walk into Terror Basin. Walk the trail, push up the trail as far as possible, then maybe boot for a bit before reaching treeline where you could skin across? Seems possible. With uncertainty, plenty of podcasts, and excitement for some solo time in a remote corner of the Cascades, I drove out to Goodell Creek Thursday night.

Trip Report

I set my alarm for 3AM and began moving by 3:30AM. My rough plan was to ski the SE facing Terror Glacier from below Degenhardt first, to get some low-angle corn and eyes on the West Rige of West Mac, then head over to West Mac if it looked filled in. I figured corn-o-clock on SE aspects would be around 10:30/11AM and on SW aspects would be closer to 12:30/1PM. Heading for the lower angle glacier first would give me a sense of how stuff was doing, without committing too much. Plus, if West Mac wasn't in, it'd still be a wild position to ski in.

I had absolutely no idea how long it would take me to get into the alpine; I figured once I got above the treeline, travel would go smoothly. My goal was to make it into the alpine by 8-9AM; as long as I could manage that, I figured I'd be okay time-wise.

I made it to the end of the flat trail in 90 minutes and began pushing upwards. There was zero snow until 4k' or so, which was honestly pretty ideal. I switched to boots, booting very briefly before, shockingly, I was able to skin right around 4,500'. Wow, no way I thought I'd be skinning in this forest. The trees were just spaced enough to push through.

I reached treeline at 7:30 AM, ahead of schedule. Travel through the forest had gone smoothly. Instead of traversing over towards the Terror Glacier via the summer route, I thought it'd be a little more interesting to go up and over Glee Peak via the south ridge from the saddle with The Roost. It added a little bit of vert, but I was ahead of schedule, and I figured it'd make for an easy ski traverse over to the base of the glacier.

Skinning up the ridgeline to Glee was stunningly pretty. Triumph, The Roost, Davis...everything was in sight. Travel was quite easy until I reached the false summit of Glee at 7,000' just south of the true summit. On the map, the ridgeline looked easy and simple; getting over the false summit to the north turned out to be a vertical step with a huge cornice. Dammit, Sam. My 'more interesting route' was starting to seem dumb. I thought I saw a sneak around just to the west; I clicked into skis, skied down 200' or so on firm snow, only to realize I was above a cliff. Dammit, Sam. A quick transition, a boot back up to the ridge, and I ended up just skiing back to the summer cross-over. Well, that was dumb. I was burning the extra time I had earned myself. It's funny how spring corn skiing can be such a teeter totter of urgency. When you're ahead of schedule, you're chillin, with plenty of time; as soon as you start to feel 'late' to corn-o-clock, it's a rush.

Now in Terror Basin proper, I still wanted to go up Glee. Maybe it's my dumb young aggressive male (YAM) brain, but I still felt like it'd be sweet and make for an easy ski traverse. I transitioned quickly, cranking up the 700' extra that was completely unnecessary. From the top of Glee, I made an easy ski traverse high along the ridge to the base of the Terror Glacier at 5,500'.

I started up the Terror Glacier around 10AM; snow on southeast aspects had started to corn up, snow on southwests was still not quite ripe. You're still on time, Sam. I got a good glimpse of the West Ridge of West Mac for the first time; oh, that totally goes...hell yeah. I was on-time, feeling good...now I just needed to slow down, smooth out, and let the day roll.

I threw on music and tuned out, soaking in the scenery. I couldn't help taking the same photos over and over, of Triumph, up to Degenhardt, over at Davis.

I topped out the Terror Glacier just beneath Degenhardt around 11AM. It was damn hot, I plopped myself in the snow for a few minutes, smooshing some snow into my hat to try and cool off. A breeze would be real nice. Low angle corn on the Terror Glacier was lovely. I pointed my skis and let them float me down the Terror Glacier back towards the start of my skintrack.

By noon I was ready to head up West Mac. Here we go...Before any trip, but especially solo trips, I write myself a 'mental headspace' note. Here's what I had written before this day: If it feels right, go for it. But there's many other ways to enjoy the day. Don't get sucked into a scarcity mindset. Breathe, slow it down, and focus on your head.

Breathe...slow it down. I was on-time, felt good, and stoked. Coverage looked good, I didn't see anything moving yet, and the weather was perfect. Let's do this thing. I skinned up ripening corn to the base of the West Ridge, skinning as far as 7,100' or so. I transitioned to booting and began up.

Once at the col between Inspiration and West Mac I got my first glimpse into the McMillan Cirque. Woah. Fury, Degenhardt, and Outrigger, they were all right there. The scale of the Southern Pickets was impressive.

Climbing up the West Ridge was pretty chill until the false summit of West Mac when the ridge turns into a thinner 'butter knife edge'. Coverage was good, skiable all the way to the false summit. There were some rocks but plenty of ways through them. On the way up, I had been keeping in mind where I'd want to ski down. There was a lovely looking panel of snow on the south side of the ridge that led out onto the SW Face that seemed to be an interesting variation on the west ridge.

Getting from the false summit to the true summit was a little spicier, airy-er. There was one section that was definitely not skiable, with very thin and hollow snow over rocks. I did a few mixed moves through, nothing too bad. The final traverse along the butter knife ridge was amazing position. Sjue describes it really well in his report: 1,000' cliff on the left or 2,000' cliff on the right?

I snapped a selfie on the summit just after 1PM. When Hummel/Sjue/Fortier skied West Mac, Sjue and Hummel pushed off the summit on skis and traversed the butter knife ridge. I opted not to do this. I didn't like the idea of trying to sidestep the very thin, rocky section at the false summit over massive exposure. I re-traced my bootpack to the false summit, with the mixed rocky section feeling much spicier going down than up.

I clicked into skis right around 8,000' just beneath the false summit; the first turns on the upper West Ridge are positionally wild. Terror Basin to your skier's left, the McMillan Cirque to your right, Inspiration and Degenhardt straight ahead. Corn was ripe and made for lovely turns.

I stayed skier's left on the Upper West Ridge on clean panels of snow until 7,600', where I opted to push out onto the SW Face and ski fall-line down to the Terror Glacier. The corn was a little riper on the SW Face than on the West Ridge, but both skied well.

Now under West Mac, I turned back and looked up. Hell ya. Time had flown by. I skied lovely corn, a little slow but still smooth, down to the base/cross-over of the Terror Glacier. I found a nice spot for a snack break, there was even running water off of some exposed rocks! I plopped in the snow, mooshed more snow into my hat, and slowed it all down. I'd been so focused moving through the day I'd hardly had a moment to take it all in.

I mosied back along the summer route with a podcast on. Getting back to treeline went smoothly, there was only a little shitfuck skiing in the trees, mostly just pollen and branch shushing. The hard part was finding where I had stashed my shoes...dammit, Sam.