[MCR] Spearhead Traverse May 2-4

Overcast skies on Friday left us with some good skiing from the previous storm with hard planar shears on the old temp crust down about 35cm.  An additional 8cm of new snow fell Friday night and bonded well under warm temps which made for great skiing right from ridge tops for the first half of Saturday.  In the pm, skies cleared for the first time in several days resulting in a short cycle of wet snow avalanches on steep solar aspects and horrible sloppy skiing down the Macbeth glacier.  A 4cm temperature crust froze up Sat. night which supported well but quickly broke down again on Sunday with more clear skies.  Generally fast travel conditions with 0-5cm ski pen, although the wet snow was slow going on the low angle t! errain when the skins came off.  A fresh glide wax job would have made a big difference ? especially at lower elevations.  Crevasses were still very well bridged with 350+cm probed on the glaciers.  Some sizable cornices loom over the north aspects of Mt. Benvolio and the Overlord ? Refuse traverse.  Give these a wide margin, especially as temps increase.  The ski out to Whistler is endless skis on-again-off-again as you cross all the plowed, muddy roads.  Good thing these were interspersed by some nice cream cheese skiing! on the piste.  Watch for bears on the way out ? although the one we saw didn?t seem too interested in us.

 

Shaun King

Alpine Guide/Asst. Ski Guide

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