The week before the trip has seen some of the worst weather that a Calgary summer can deliver. A huge weather system had settled over western Canada, and it's raining all the way from Calgary to Vancouver.

On Friday night the five of us pile into two cars and rather glumly drive in the rain to Golden, expecting to have our week of glacier mountaineering get all screwed up by bad weather. We expect to have the helicopter flight delayed, and then to have to sit in the tents enduring storm after storm.

The mood wasn't good, and as we drove out we discussed what else we could do during the week if the weather didn't cooperate.

We power down breakfast and head out of Golden to get into position to meet our ride from Alpine Helicopters at the point where the Sullivan River empties into Kinbasket Lake. This involved driving 140km north of Golden, mostly along gravel road, and then shuttling another car 30km up logging roads into the Sullivan River valley, where it would be waiting for us when we hiked out a week later.

After getting all this driving done, we waited at the landing site for the helicopter and started to finalize our gear packing, eat some lunch, and relax in the sun. The chopper was not expected to arrive for another hour, so we had lots of time, so we thought. Fifteen minutes later we hear the "whump whump" of an approaching helicopter, see that it's heading straight for us, and frantically change clothes, put on boots, stuff gear into packs, and try and secure what's left over from the wind blast of the big machine. After landing, the pilot, Don, shuts off the motor and calmly walks over to us, munching a sandwich, explaining that his schedule is messed up due to the bad weather and that he's not in any hurry. We finish packing up, he explains helicopter loading, unloading and general safety, and we're off!

The flight onto the Tusk Glacier is spectacular, taking us from lakeside to glacier in less than 15 minutes - a distance that would have taken about three days to cover by foot. As we are flying over a high alpine meadow, Don points out some grizzly bears digging for food. I look down, and see three little rodents rummaging around their hole... wait, those aren't marmots, they ARE grizzlies!

We land, climb out of the helicopter, remove our gear, and lie on top of it to secure it to the ground when the machine takes off with a roar of wind. The chopper disappears over the glacier, and suddenly all is quiet and we're on another planet - surrounded by huge mountains and massive glaciers, where everything is either white snow, blue ice or brown rock. Shouts of joy as we look around us and up at Mt. Clemenceau, our primary objective of the trip!

As we were flying in Don asks us where we would like to land. Scouting the glacier, we see a pile of rocks near the edge and ask him to put us down there - it turns out to be a great campsite, lying in the shelter of Reconnaissance Ridge and right next to a glacier stream.

The rocks provide a convenient place to sit around and cook. Within minutes Alex, whom we later christen Master Builder, is busy making stone outhouses and walkways.

After dinner we hike/scramble up appropriately named Reconnaissance Ridge to check out the surroundings and get some views of the route up Clemenceau, which we will be attempting tomorrow if the weather permits.

From the top of the ridge we can see down the Tusk glacier to where the Lawrence Grassi Hut, run by the Alpine Club of Canada, sits on another ridge, as well as the full route up Tusk Peak, the beginnings of our exit route out the Clemenceau glacier, and most of the way up Mt. Clemenceau itself.

A perfect beginning!