MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Winter / Spring 2018

WINTER/SPRING 2018 MLCM 103 timelines without incident. They spent the next three days backpacking up the wild country that embodies the phrase “Sea to Sky,” often using ropes, while carrying all of their gear for the subsequent alpine mission. Known for her almost inhuman ability to charge, Lusti led most of the way. On the fourth day, low on food with a technical route ahead and a weather change on the horizon, Lusti urged a helicopter pickup to complete the leg to base camp in favour of prioritizing time and food for the objective of summiting Mount Waddington. The crew eventually agreed, although it represented a fork in the path from following the Munday’s completely human-powered route. By the time the team made it to their camp on the Waddington Glacier, temperatures had started to rise quickly, dramatically decreasing the stability of the conditions. Crevasses were beginning to open and sag. The snowpack was isothermic. As they made their first attempt for the northwest summit of Mount Waddington via the Angel Glacier, it became clear on the ascent up the Dais Glacier on the south side of the mountain that conditions would shut them down. While the team did summit Mount Munday and skied around the area for nine days, Mystery Mountain dealt the same challenges it had dealt the Mundays all those years before. “Mountain conditions trump anything, and that’s just how it rolls out,” Sweeny says pragmatically. “There’s a reason the Mundays pursued this for ten years. We were naïve in a way, to think our first year would be a success.” Mystery Mountain isn’t done with Sweeny yet. He sees the intervention of the helicopter as a deviation from the true intention and value of the adventure and intends to go back for the peak. He is already laying the groundwork for a return in May 2018—all human-powered, in homage to the great legacy of Phyllis Munday. “I appreciate her perseverance,” says Lusti. “Now people don’t have the patience for what the Mundays did because there are so many other options, like flying in with a fixed wing or a heli rather than coming from the ocean and gaining so much elevation. It’s incredibly inspiring what they were able to achieve.” TOP Lusti and Hoji practice some high alpine synchronized ski ballet. ABOVE Arriving by boat is always a pleasure, even if it's arriving to the base of a multi-day bushwack. JIMMY MARTINELLO