Christina Lusti on Big First South Face Descent – “Full Value Adventure”
On March 5, three B.C. skiers made their second first descent off a peak in the Purcell Mountains
Photo by: Christina Lusti
B.C. skier Christina Lusti has opened another huge ski like with partners Mark Herbison and Sam Smoothy on the 3,180-metre peak Mount Ethelbert in the Purcells. A few weeks ago, the three made the first descent of the east face, and now they’ve made the first descent of the south face.
Lusti has experienced as a competitive alpine skier, and over the past decade has accumulated an impressive resume of first descents in western Canada. Last winter, she opened a number of bold ski lines, such as the south face of Dunkirk and the east face of Nelson.
In January 2021, with Brette Harrington and Andrew McNab, Lusti made the first ski of Gold Card Couloir M4+ WI4 C0 60° 800m, a serac-threatened line in the Monashees. In February, Lusti and McNabb made the first descent of Thor’s south face near Shelter Bay. And in 2020, the two made the first descent of Mount MacDonald in Rogers Pass.
Read Lusti’s report below about the first descent of the south face of Ethelbert below.
Mount Ethelbert’s South Face
On March 5
Mount Ethelbert 3,180 m
South Face 1,400 m
Purcell Mountains
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Climbing and skiing off Mt. Ethelbert for the third time this season.
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It was hard not to go back for the south face. Even though it demanded an extremely early start, cold temps, premium snow, and perfect timing.
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Since skiing the east face, I have been obsessed over returning for the south line.
Researching the route, snow, and weather kept my thoughts preoccupied this past week.
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Going back would be easy. Orchestrating a film crew on the remote unskied line.
Not so much..
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I set my alarm for 12:20am and the crew rallied with Swiss train like precision.
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Arriving at the trailhead we stepped off our sleds into 30cm of new low density snow. Our track from our previous trip was mostly covered, but it being our third time up this valley, it was somewhat familiar.
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Our early bird crew was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise as we reached the col below the west face.
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Skinning up the rocky west face was no easy task but seemed a better choice then boot packing snow covered choss.
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We arrive at the summit just after 9:30, light winds and warm sun. Compared to the -40 summit last week this felt like the beach.
We walked out onto an exposed prow to spot where we could build an anchor for the needed rappel inside the line.
Everything looked good, everyone felt great.
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I dropped first, skiing the exposed hanging couloir right off the summit. Carefully making turns over the exposure, trying not to clip a rock.
I stopped just above the cliff, spotted a rock block to sling for an anchor and rappel.
Sam dropped next, skiing up to me and also securing into the anchor. We rigged two 30-metre ropes and prepared to rappel as Mark skied the upper couloir.
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Once below the rappel we were looking down at another 1,300-metre of line.
We skied the rest of the line in two long pitches, opening it up with some nice freeride turns.
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We regrouped at (what’s it called?) lake, stood at the foot of beautiful Ethelbert and took a moment to appreciate this remote valley.
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The appreciation would soon be replaced with hard work, because getting out of this hole we just skied ourselves into would take 1,000 metres of deep trail breaking to get back onto the ridge. Reuniting us with the film crew.
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Another descent back down into Templeton river valley, and a 45-minute skin back to the sleds at 5:30 p.m. Big effort day and a full value adventure!
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