Christmas hut trip

Quick report

Weather

cloudy, sunny

Ride Type

alpineSlopes, convexSlopes, mellowSlopes, openTrees, steepSlopes

Stayed Away

sunnySlopes

Riding Quality

amazing

Snow Conditions

crusty, heavy, powder, wet, windAffected

Skinned into Keith’s hut the night of the 20th in the rain. Coverage was low on the skin track with many creek crossings to navigate. Coverage in the trees was often none as high as 1600m. On the 21st we skinned out to just below motel 66. Dug a pit to ground at 1750m on a NW aspect and found no reaction to CT or ECT with a 1m snowpack. We observed a well consolidated snow pack with rain layers at 30cm and 50cm with a layer of surface hour underneath the 50cm layer. Snow was heavy to concrete. Precipitation throughout the evening with freezing level hovering at around 1700m. Riding quality was low. On the 22nd freezing levels dropped and by morning we were getting fresh snow from the hut and above. We skied the NW facing drainages from Motel 66 and found 15-20cm of fresh light snow over top. Riding quality was excellent. On the 23rd freezing levels stayed low and we had about 5-10 cm snow overnight. With a sunny day we went up anniversary glacier. At ridge line we found pockets of firm and wind affected snow as well as some sheltered features with 10-20cm of light snow over top firm snow. The Matier glacier was still heavily crevassed and most lines off of summits were lacking coverage. We skied down the glacier and back down motel 66. Riding quality was excellent. On the 24th freezing levels felt higher but stayed below the hut. Winds picked up in the afternoon and we noticed firmer more wind affect on the motel 66 ridge. Some in our party went up anniversary glacier and on their way down triggered several sz 1-1.5 wind slabs. Riding quality was decent in the trees. On the 25th we had rising freezing levels and snow turned to rain at the hut 1650m. Snow became heavy. We skied some mellow trees slopes and a small wind drifted chute. Riding quality was okay. Rain continued on throughout the night. Winds were extremely high. We skinned out early in the AM on the 26th. We experienced light flurries down to about 1400m. Early morning winds and stormy conditions fell to clear skies creeks were more filled in. We walked the upper forest under the hut and skinned out the landslide. We had to cross two creeks but were able to do so easily on skins. There were a few more open creeks along the logging road to navigate. We hiked the rest of the summer trail down. Coverage is still low at and below the hut, especially in the trees. Elsewhere there can be sufficient coverage but sharks are lurking.