[MCR] rockies, Healy Pass area

Subject: [MCR] rockies, Healy Pass area
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 18:39:01 -0600
Guided a ski tour to the Healy Pass area today, April 1 (no, I'm not foolin'). 100 meters of boot packing to the top of a 2520 m unamed peak 2 km NE of Healy Pass. We had some large whumpfs and settlements on the broad, flat ridge that we skinned up to the peak. One of these settlements remotely triggered a 1.5 meter deep cornice that I think was formed during the March 28/29th storm. The cornice was on the NE aspect of the ridge we were ascending. The cornice was 35 meters away from us and failed  about 70 meters wide, it triggered a slab on the slope below that stepped down 50 centimetres and ran for about 80 meters. Lots of fridge and deep freeze sized blocks in the debris, and it looked to be about a size 2. We skied 4 laps on the shallow west facing slopes of the ridge ( at the most, 25 degrees for short sections). Good skiing with 30 cms of new snow.

Happy trails,

Barry Blanchard
Mountain Guide
www.barryblanchard.ca



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