Warrior Couloir (Phalanx)

Feb 11, 2026

With the goods only promised at high elevations, we took the easy route and got a bump up to the alpine through Blackcomb resort. High freezing levels had left lower elevations crusty, but the Spearhead still delivered with a bluebird pow day. Our main objective was Warrior Couloir on Phalanx.

The SE face of Phalanx has a complex web of couloirs weaving through its fractured granite. The line shown below is what is usually called Warrior Couloir and is one of the cleanest lines. But there are many many more alternate lines that can go on Phalanx, and the zone between Stairmaster and Phalanx North is also sometimes described as Warrior Couloirs(plural) to cover the multiple descent options. All the lines are under 200m, but it’s a cool zone and easy to get to from Blackcomb.

After a short skin and a fun little steep chute above the north end of the spearhead glacier we traversed over to Stairmaster Couloir. We were the second party up and the sun affected crusty snow made for a fast bootpack up.

To get to Warrior Couloir head North about 100m from the top of Stairmaster. You’ll cross over the summit of Phalanx to a notch in the Ridge. Theres a large rock in the centre of this notch. You can enter Warrior on either side of this, they merge about 1/3 of the way down the couloir.

These couloirs get a lot of sun exposure and the snow was variable and crusty. I happened to be on my heavy skis today and it was fun to have the damping and control that they offered through the variable snow. Once we hit the apron, the snow changed for the better. We had beautiful fresh tracks and powder turns down to the Spearhead Glacier.

After transitioning on Spearhead Glacier we Skinned back up to Husume Couloir and skied that back out to the Resort. Unlike Warrior, Husume is one of the most popular lines in the Blackcomb backcountry and already had many sets of tracks going down. But nonetheless was a fun descent with soft snow still preserved.

Overall a spectacular day in the backcountry, sunshine, mild temps, and cold pow make it hard to complain about anything. Meanwhile in Vancouver people are proclaiming the end is nigh and how awful the skiing is with the unseasonably warm temps in the city. It’s a completely different world up in the alpine. It’s sometimes comical how many spectacular skiing days I have had while Vancouverites are simultaneously complaining about the season.