10 March, 2007:
It's a grey morning in Nelson, the cloud hanging low over the orange bridge, and the talk among the 12 KMC members gathered at the High Terrain hangar in Nelson, is about two things: one, how high will the freezing level go with the forecast Pineapple Express, and two, just how ruthlessly can we tease the only American knuckle-dragger (aka snowboarder) on the trip. Turns out the freezing level can go HIGH, and you can tease the knuckle-dragger a lot, but, he is such a nice guy (and claims NOT to have voted for George Bush) that there is really no sport in it.
Most of our first day is actually spent hanging around Kokanee Creek Provincial Park (the staging area for the helicopter flight into Kokanee Glacier Cabin), waiting for the weather to clear. But, eventually, a window presents itself and the helicopter shuttles begin. At the cabin, by the time we have all arrived, had a briefing and practised a group rescue at the Beacon Basin, the day is virtually over. That and the wet snow falling, don't inspire much activity, but a couple of people ski across Kaslo Lake and towards Kokanee Pass, and three of us dig a snowpit on a NE aspect to search for the ubiquitous February 4 surface hoar, the persistent instability that has been plaguing the Columbia Mountains for a month. The surface hoar is well preserved and reactive down about 90 cm, but in the days that follow, this particular instability will become moot.
11 March, 2007:
The day the Pineapple Express is forecast to arrive begins well enough with 16 cm of snow overnight, and more snow falling, although temperatures are warming already. Everyone is out of the cabin by 8 am, as we realise this may be our last good skiing for a while. Doug, Dave and I head off to the environs of Happy Valley, a pleasant gladed area just north of the cabin, where we ski short (200 metre) runs down into Keen Creek. The snow feels good at the beginning of the day, but by the time we move over to a north slope that takes you down to a tributary of Keen Creek, the snow is beginning to have a definite west coast feel. And, the avalanches have begun - lots of loose wet releases - some picking up large quantities of wet snow as they descend, and slabs pulling out around a half a metre deep and running on fairly low angle terrain. By noon, the snow has changed to rain, and with the stability rapidly deteriorating we take a conservative route back to the cabin. The other 9 people have gone to Beaujolais (a 300 metre run SW of Keen Lake that tends to catch the S winds), and most have returned early with reports of mixed skiing due to heavy wind slabs.
12 March, 2007:
Using an unsophisticated and inaccurate (or so Dave, a hydrologist, tells me) rain gauge made from an orange juice container, I measure 20 mm of rain overnight. In the morning, the skies are grey and dismal, and the temperature is an equally dismal +2° C. In two groups, we all make our way up to Sapphire Lakes via Griffin Creek. At 2200 metres, the temperature has dropped to -2°C, and the snow has a breakable crust. Our ski to the head of Glory Basin is cut short by the extreme S winds that keep pushing us backwards. All around is evidence of an impressive avalanche cycle with slabs off all aspects, elevations and initiating on modest slope angles. All 12 of us ski back to the cabin for lunch, desperately trying to avoid wipe-outs in the breakable crust, and 11 stay at the cabin, but I head out solo and ski up to Kokanee Pass and Smugglers Ridge looking at the dramatic results of the snow-pack enema.
13 March, 2007:
Overnight the temperature drops to -10oC and the wet surface snow freezes solid. Five of us head off to ski up Tanal Peak, the 2250 metre peak, directly above and east of Tanal Lake. The south ridge looks gentle enough to be manageable in the icy conditions, and is reasonably tractable, although two of us use ski crampons, and one unfortunate takes a short slip on the icy surface that is luckily quickly arrested. This, however, only occupies us for a short time, so we decide to make a loop trip, and descend down Happy Valley (on gentle slopes the crust is skiable), climb the next ridge-line north, and contour up to a broad col at the north end of Tanal Peak.
Here we sit for well over an hour in delightful sun, admiring the views, while the temperature warms to -5°C. We can see the ski tracks of the rest of the group up on a 2170 metre shoulder running north from the Battleship. From the col we ski gentle slopes all the way down to Tanal Lake and return to the cabin via Enterprise Pass. The rest of the group has meanwhile descended the shoulder at the north end of the Battleship and are doing battle with Smugglers Ridge. The winner is most likely Smugglers Ridge as four of the group find the slope just too icy and frightening and return to the cabin with tales of horrendous skiing down steep, icy, rain runnelled slopes. Three however, persevere, and gain the glacier west of the Battleship after about 3,000 icy switchbacks. An icy rain-runnelled descent follows.
14 March, 2007:
Some snow falls overnight, about 5 cm, and convective activity continues throughout the day eventually putting about 10 cm total onto the ice crust. Doug and I are uninspired by the snow conditions and the weather - we've become incredible snow snobs and a 10 cm dust on a crust hardly seems worth the effort. I putter about on the ridge above Happy Valley, while Doug plows through an enormous tome on the decline of civilisation that he has brought in. Most of the rest of the group laps around the runs in Happy Valley, while Dwain heads up Griffin Creek and skis some short runs off the long east ridge of Nansen Mountain.
15 March, 2007:
A cold (-16° C), clear morning. The group makes plans to ski up onto Kokanee Glacier, but Doug and I are out the door by 7.30 am and off to make an attempt on Mt Retallack. We've packed ski crampons, boot crampons and an ice axe each, but rate our POS (probability of success) reasonably low. After an hour and half ski, we are at the base of a barely discernible rounded shoulder that descends southwest from Granite Knob. With ski crampons on, we begin switchbacking our way up. After about 150 metres, the slope is steepening enough that we begin to think booting up will be just as quick as battling the icy crust, and we switch from ski crampons to boot crampons. The crust that is completely unbreakable with skis on, is not sturdy enough to support us reliably on foot, so we find ourselves post-holing for long distances between short distances of good cramponing. Nevertheless, we eventually, and arduously, finally gain treeline. Doug sets off on a traverse into the col between Granite Knob and Mount Retallack, but the eerie sound of hollow snow underfoot turns him around, and we climb directly to the ridge instead. We are just below the solid rock plug that makes up Granite Knob, and scramble rocks and small snow gullies down to the base of the south ridge of Mount Retallack. The top is now only 200 vertical metres away and the terrain looks easy. But, the going is hard and slow, as the ice crust breaks underfoot and we find ourselves swimming in hip deep faceted snow. Far, far worse than anything we've encountered in the Rockies where facets are the norm, but at least the snow-pack is shallow. Doug really wants to call it quits, but I haven't suffered this much just to have to return at a later date, so we continue ploughing a channel through the facets, eventually getting onto somewhat firmer ground and reaching the top at about 1.45 pm.
Back on the route to the glacier, icy conditions are being encountered, Linda takes a slide, but manages to arrest with two ski poles, and this is enough to turn seven people around. Dave, Ken and Fred persevere and make it over to Cond Peak, for the ski down to the head of Coffee Creek. The remaining seven split up with two people going to Kokanee Lake, and five to the area around Griffin Creek. Doug and I get back to the cabin at 5.45 pm, just in time for dinner. We guzzle water, and gulp food. I'm so hungry I turn my soup bowl upside down to lick it out.
16 March, 2007:
Apparently, the first cathartic didn't completely clean out the bowels of the snowpack, as the freezing level is forecast to rise again in the afternoon to 2400 metres. We split into three groups, two head off to a north run out of Happy Valley, three to Beaujolais, while Doug and I, accompanied by five others ski some short northwest facing runs above Keen Creek. It's a wet drippy day, the temperature is steadily climbing and the falling snow is wetting us all down. By lunch time we are all soaked through and return for a dry lunch in the cabin. After lunch, Doug and I set off for a run down to Tanal Lake, but find ourselves in the second avalanche cycle of the week, as Doug triggers a slab above himself as we ski one at a time through the terrain trap of Enterprise Pass. A quick burp test reveals the culprit - a layer of stellars about 18 cm down that gives very easy shears. On the way down to Tanal Lake we cut numerous slabs off convex rolls, and consequently pick a conservative route back up to Enterprise Pass. Back at the pass, we can see the results of the enema as slopes as low angled as 30° are releasing 20 cm slabs on all aspects. Soon enough the snow changes to rain and I am fashioning another make-shift rain gauge out of a used sour cream container.
17 March, 2007:
About 15 mm of rain overnight with steady rain in the morning. We are supposed to be leaving today, and scurry around the cabin cleaning up and packing boxes. By 8.00 am everything is done and we settle in to wait ... and wait ... and wait. We play a bunch of card games, and board games, and watch it rain. Three of us spend a couple of hours getting thoroughly soaked in the Beacon Basin, and finally, about 3 pm, when it seems the helicopter pilot has adjourned to the pub for the evening, we unpack preparatory to spending another night. A pot-luck dinner of left-overs is amassed and, accompanied by the last beer and popcorn we watch "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Who Killed the Electric Car".
18 March, 2007:
The rain changed to snow in the early evening and by morning 16 cm of dense white stuff was covering the new crust. In the alpine, the skies were relatively clear, although a thick layer of fog was blanketing Kootenay Lake. The helicopter was prompt and just about everyone enjoyed their flight out, as we all had long scenic flights while the pilot spiralled around looking for holes in the fog to descend through.
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