Bonney Moraines

Saturday morning at the Visitor Centre and we were hemming and hawing with indecision. The morning forecast had changed significantly from the day before; increasing cloudiness and flurries rather than blue skies. What to do? Go up into the alpine but risk getting stuck in flat light, or ski the trees where visibility wasn't going to be an issue but possibly miss out on the chance to get up really high? We chose the trees and headed for Loop Brook.

In the end there was a mixed bag of weather and human nature being what it is we questioned our decision all day! The valley fog lifted, returned again, and then burned off completely to leave some patches of blue sky peaking out from behind the clouds.

Ross Peak


Oh man it took forever to get up into the moraines. I haven't been cycling to work for a few weeks and I'm sure I felt it in my legs breaking trail. Thankfully Nick did most of the hard work.

We spent quite a while doing some compression tests and a Rutschblock. Not that we had reason to suspect the slope but the snowpack has certainly become more complex over the last couple of weeks and we wanted to get a handle on things (btw we were getting moderate results in the 40-55cm range which seems to confirm what the professionals are seeing).

The skiing was really good; wind-effected powder that exploded in chunks all around us. We did a couple of runs and then thrashed around a bit in the trees getting back to the "Elephants Trunk". I think descending via the Lily Glacier moraines on far skiers right is definitely the better option. It was nearly dark by the time we got back to the cars. Not a spectacular day by most measures but any day out in the mountains with friends is always a good one. A veggie burger at the Nomad and we all headed home. Some photos here.