First Ski Descent of Big Mount Dunkirk South Face
The huge face has been looked at by thousands of skiers at the nearby lodge, but only now skied
Photo by: Larry Stanier
Over the past few months, dozens of huge lines in Canada’s mountain have been skied, with many of them being first descents. B.C.’s interior and the Canadian Rockies provide slopes up to 1,500 metres down some of the country’s most iconic peaks.
The most recent cutting-edge new ski line was by Christina Lustenberger, Ian McIntosh and Nick McNutt down Mount Dunkirk’s south face, near Mica Ski Lodge in B.C. Two weeks earlier, Lustenberger and McIntosh made the first descent of Mount Nelson’s east face, along with Andrew Gallant and Joshua Lavigne who dropped a shorter line.
The big face was skied up to 50° steepness down a 1,000-metre continuous line. They took a helicopter to the 3,030-metre summit and were accompanied by a Teton Gravity Research team for a new movie.
This is at least the third major first descent for Lusti this winter, including Nelson. In January, 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 the 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.
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