Lookout Traverse

This was the first day of a two day trip that Brenda organized for the ACC.



Thankfully we got 10-15cm of fresh snow overnight which helped to take the edge off the diabolical death crust. We headed back to Lookout Col while the other half of the group went to the Vaux Moraines.



We were glad to have checked out the route the previous day because it clagged in pretty badly for a couple of hours before clearing again near the col.



There was a wide range of skill levels so there were some tired legs at the end of the day but people seemed happy overall.



Doing a traverse and returning by a different route always adds something to the day.

Lookout Traverse

This weekend Brenda would be leading a two day trip out of the Wheeler Hut for the ACC. It was set up to be a next step for folks who had previously participated in one of her Beginner Backcountry trips. Unfortunately it had rained during the week again so we went up a day early to get a handle on the conditions.

Yup, dust-on-crust up to 2200m.



With some reasonable skiing above that.



Wolverine tracks at the col?



The upper part of the descent down into the Asulkan side wasn't too bad. But once we hit the Ravens? Oh man bad doesn't begin to describe it. It was the worst most diabolical breakable crust you can imagine. Full survival mode from top to bottom.

Oh well. No one got hurt which was a minor victory in itself. At least we could laugh about it over beers in the Wheeler Hut that evening.

Vaux Moraines

Still scruffy!



We climbed as the high as the moraine and called it a day.



The skiing was good above the shrubbery-line.

NRC

We had been camping at the Visitor Centre for the past three nights and the camper was just about buried by now. We headed to NRC for a couple of quick laps to take advantage of the new snow before heading back home to reality.

Loop Brook

Still pretty scruffy up in Loop Brook. Where's the snow this year? That rain in December didn't help.





It was a strange day. It took us forever to break trail up through the trees and get on top of the middle moraine. Then by the time we got there it was time to go home! The days are short in January. Oh well, as always it was great to be outside in the mountains in winter time.

Dispatcher Bowl

Dispatcher is the high bowl between Ursus Trees on one side and the Frequent Flyer Ridge of Grizzly Mountain on the other. We had never been in here before probably because whenever we come this way the visibility is crap and we're heading into the trees on Ursus. Today the clouds lifted by mid morning so we decided to drop off Ursus Ridge and climb up into Dispatcher. The bowl is wide open, rolling, and mostly gentle terrain with steeper aspects on all sides and of course the waterfall exit down to Connaught Creek which we gave a wide berth.





We enjoyed the mellow turns in some often tricky light and then climbed up into the trees on the Frequent Flyer side for one more run.



A fun day. We look forward to returning on a nice sunny day.