Training Log Archive: revy

More cooling and a little new snow improved the conditions even more. Climbed up towards the Rampart via a short bootpack. Once I looked down the other side decided that we should drop into Hilda East. The snow was excellent although we still had to stop short of skiing the whole run due to the MF crust. Did a couple runs here and then down from the col back to the lake. The snow was't quite as good as the other side but the lines were steeper and more interesting. RVG and I climbed back up for two more runs. Such interesting terrain - and just minutes away from the cabin - awesome.

A little bit of cooling today which was much needed. Not much new snow though. Headed up to the Valkalla zone - the area we had scoped out yesterday - and lapped 5 runs in that basin. Tried to climb up towards Mt McBride but got stymied by a steep roll where I triggered a Class 1 and got pushed into some trees (slow motion slide where I went about 5m down the hill and was stopped by some trees - no injury). Not entirely unexpected but certainly more excitement than we wanted. Skied back down and climbed back to Gateway Col and sessioned some really nice lines off the ridge. Snow quality was way better than yesterday but still had to stay above 2000m otherwise we got into some melt freeze crust.

Wet, wet, wet... Pineapple Express type weather with freezing levels above 2200m. Not ideal for skiing. Had to try and stay above 2200m but still below treeline. Not many options given that treeline isn't much higher than 2400m. Went out for a walk anyway and had some decent runs. Once you hit the soggy snow ski quality got terrible quite quickly. One run above the cabin, one run off the sweaty knob, a run off Gateway col and then some exploration on the ridge above the Norns. Finished early and had a nice nap in the afternoon.

Warm airmass moved in - what is up with the weather this winter? Not promising for ski quality. Overall this week is shaping up to have the worst snow conditions for any lodge trip we have done. Bound to happen at some point - we have had pretty good luck on previous trips.

Went and explored the Mead Pot - great gladed terrain and some nice steep shote. Snow was good to the upper lake (1900m). made the mistake of skiing to the lower lake on the first run and quickly realized we shouldn't do that again.

Freezing levels were forecast to go up over the next couple of days so went exploring into the Broom zone as the runs there finish 400m below the cabin. A great run on Expresso and then some cliff jumping to reach the valley (by choice). A bit of a tough uptrack onto Windy Ridge but that sometimes happens when you are going in with minimal beta. Snowing all day and probably about 15cm of accumulation. As we neared the top of the first run we sluffed one of the chutes pretty significantly so changed plans slighty and skied the adjacent trees part way down before dropping into the main chute. One extra half run to finish. Nice snow today - not deep but soft.

First day of a week of ski touring at Hilda Hut in the Valkyr range. Interestingly we passed within 2 km of it without realizing a year and half ago while racing RTNX. It was being built that summer and we had Martin (the owner) to thank for the easy ride down the Burton FSR as he had brushed the road.

Always a bit of anticipation going into a lodge I have never been too - you can look at maps and google earth all you want but nothing beats looking at the terrain in person. First impression were great - lots of skiable lines all around the cabin. Not great snow conditions though due to sun effect and wind effect in the alpine. Since the forecast for the rest of the week was lots of cloud and snow we took advantage of the blue skies to summit Hilda Peak. A little boot packing to reach the actual summit and some nice views including Big White, Silver Star, the Valhalla range and the Gold Range.

The ski down was variable but skiable. Did one extra run above the cabin on Java Jive.