Decker and Spearhead Glaciers

Quick tour of the local glaciers today with Brent Phillips (IFMGA). Overall, coverage is still thin and below average for this time of year, we probed 130-230cm on the Decker Gl. Numerous crevasses are exposed and thin bridging exists on both the Decker and Spearhead Gl. which requires careful navigation and experience in glacier travel.

We chose to ascend via the climbers right route on Decker as this slope had previously avalanched and old debris piled up to 3m+ and cornices seemed well supported. The skiing was fantastic on North aspects with mid to boot top snow on a firmer layer and very limited wind affect. You begin to feel the old crust at around 2000m and below but it still skis fairly well. On South aspects, 20cm overlies a melt freeze crust which skis well lower angled slopes. No signs of recent avalanche activity in the most recent snow. We noticed a large fracture line on Decker 9th Hole which was from the past week and probably ran on the Dec 20th layer.