East Face of Matier to Twin One Glacier Descent

April 15, 2025

Twin One Couloir is an aesthetic and unique line flanked by glaciers. Our goal was to ski the East Face of Matier to the couloir, make a 60m rappel over the cornice and ski the line. The day was expected to warm up quickly, but additionally the melt freeze crust on the surface would be brutal to ski too early in the morning.

We left the hut at 5am, enjoying a beautiful sunrise by the time we were on anniversary glacier. Once the north ridge steepened, we donned crampons and booted up the supportive snow to the summit.

At the summit we clicked in our skis and sideslipped down the narrow ridge to the south. 50m South of the summit we dropped into these short icy chutes of rime ice. Trending left through these chutes we arrived at the top of a beautiful planar steep slope. The melt freeze crust was firm but edgeable and skied like a smooth groomer on an icy morning.

Below this pitch we followed a snow covered ridge to the top of Twin One Couloir. We probed our way around the side until we had a view of the cornice. At 9am it was already dripping from the solar radiation. We opted not to travel underneath the primed cornice and opted for a much lower exposure route down Twin One Glacier. I knew the Twin One Glacier was filled in very well because I had seen it from Vantage Col 2 days prior.

50m West of the entrance to twin one couloir is a moderate ramp that goes south onto the larger side of Twin one glacier.

Upper twin one glacier offered effortless and perfect corn turns. Soon it steepened into a breakable crust. Still it skied nicely, railing your turns when you got it just right. We skied all the way to the toe of the glacier.

Overall even though we turned away from our primary ski goal, we had many incredible turns in perfect weather and an amazing descent overall.