A group of us have spent the past few days touring in the Blackcomb backcountry. We spent a couple days up on the north glaciers of Decker mountain and to no surprise we found a less that average snowpack and thin coverage on all glaciers. For the first time in many seasons I wore a rope up both of the Decker mountain north glaciers and was happy to have done so. On the standard north, north glacier (the one that heads up to the notch to continue with the spearhead traverse, we found an average snowpack of around 2m, however many thin areas of 100cm’s. were probed. Of note on this side are several sagging crevasse bridges close to the skin-track and one very large crevasse near the ridge crest that has only 160 cm’s bridge over a very deep hole.
The “standard” north glacier run was Very challenging and many large crevasses were near by the skin-track. The crevasse that posed the most concern for us was actually the summit plates bergschund that extended right across the whole plateau and had a very week bridge of only 80 cm’s. Although this hidden danger was easy to see from across the valley, it was hard to see it when right in front of it.
Its a different kind of season out there right now and I would advise to take it easy on the glaciers and to bring the appropriate glacier travel gear and the knowledge to use it. This year may be a good year to rope up in many location you have never considered to before.
Take care and have fun, craig
ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide
(403) 497-4211
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