Bonney Glacier

Dafoe's Wiggle

This was our last tour before The Great March Meltdown of 2019 that cooked everything up to 3000 meters.

Dafoe's Wiggle is the final drainage on climbers left before Bostock Pass.



It was a long and sometimes tedious hike in. Any snow in direct sunlight had turned to porridge. This was lying on top of cold fresh snow. This was a recipe for skins, bindings, and edges balling up as if we were walking in glue. We scraped. We waxed our skins. We re-waxed our skins. Nothing helped.

Eventually a stop was called for at the first clear view up the valley where we pondered the cornices now baking in the late morning sun.



Already it seemed unlikely that we'd reach the head of the valley. We went to have a look anyway. Giving the north side as much space as we could.



In the end it was pretty clearly not worth the risk today. So we hung a sharp left and began climbing up a promising and shady north aspect. Captain Kick Turn made an unwelcome appearance.





We topped out on a small moraine with some spectacular views of Corbin and the surrounding peaks.






The ski quality on the descent was much better than anticipated. It was like winter had returned for just one final run.





The ski out had its trials when even the bases of our skis begin icing and balling with snow. It turned into a 10 hour day car to car! But was well worth the effort to visit another new area.

Corbin Brake Check

A short, hot, one-lap day in spring-like conditions. The aspect here is southeast. Any snow that had seen direct sunlight was either oatmeal or death crust. However the the shade line along the trees still had good skiing.



Neat to see tracks from heli skiers across the valley.

Asulkan Dome Lily Traverse

Brilliant snow quality on the Asulkan side. Not so much on the Lily side. In retrospect we should have done this in the opposite direction. The descent from the Dome-Rampart Col was sketchier than usual. A reminder of this year's shallow snow pack.

Fortitude

The drought continues. And the cold. We went up Flat Creek. Partly to ski one of the slide paths that we hadn't yet visited. Partly to check out a possible exit from the Bonney Traverse (if we ever get the nerve to do that one day).

We'd been turned back at the always janky creek crossing earlier this year. Not a problem today after the recent deep freeze.



It was nice walk up the creek lingering in the warm sunny sections and hurrying through the cold shady parts.



Not too far from Flat Creek Pass we departed the valley bottom and began climbing in earnest. It was a bit of a thrash. When we broke out onto the slide path it was only about two thirds of the way up. By now we'd lost the sun and our motivation went with it as the temperature dropped. Good enough. Down we went with frozen fingers before popping back out into the life giving sun!



Where there was also a pretty good view of the Bonney Traverse exit.



The return trip down the creek had a few character building moments to deal with.



But it was well worth it in the end. A good day of exploring.