Thin ice conditions

We climbed all but the last pitch of Bourgeau Right Hand today. Temps warmed to a balmy -18 and though we saw the sun a few times, most of the day was overcast and snowing very lightly (about 3cm total accumulation), very light wind. The pillar on the crux pitch has broken but is still in place to provide good foot placements. Overall the route is thin and a few stubbies can be useful. With the recent new snow it’s often easy to swing into rock in places you would be expecting ice. All anchors are visible. There is a well packed trail on the approach and up to 20cm of recent storm snow. For the most part the new snow is still low density and we only observed a few pockets of soft slab on the ledges between pitches, but no cracking or reactivity. Two good sized spin drift sluffs came off the steep rock walls towards the end of the day.