Lyell 1, 2, 3, 5 and traverse to Mons

Quick report

Weather

windy, sunny, cold

Ride Type

steepSlopes, alpineSlopes, mellowSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

hard, windAffected, crusty

Group of four spent four days in the Lyell and Mons area. Overall we found great stability, spectacular scenery, fun mountaineering, cold temperatures and easy logistics. Travel conditions were fast, ski quality generally poor. Snowpack was consolidated and showed no signs of instability. Cornices were huge and there was evidence that some had fallen, without triggering the slopes though. Friday: Dropped off at Lyell hut then toured over very firm snow to below Christian Peak (Lyell 5). Firm skinning then a supportive bootpack to the summit. Bergshrund not visible on the south ridge/face, but visible and well bridged from the south shoulder of Christian to the icefield. Made camp at 3050m on the main icefield. Snow depth was more than 4m. Saturday: Ascended to Edward-Ernest (2-3) Col without challenges. Climbed Ernest (Lyell 3) via the NE slope. Bergshrund is filled in with ~75cm of supportive snow. Excellent bootpacking conditions above and below the bergshrund. Ascended Edward via West ridge, no ski crampons required. Skied down the East ridge to Rudolph-Edward (1-2) Col, mindful of some big crevasses mid slope. Ascended Rudolph (Lyell 1) via West ridge/face on foot, though soft snow continued most of the way to the summit, so we could have skinned most of the way. Descended to camp via Rudolph-Edward (1-2) Col in soft ankle deep powder. Sunday: -30C wake up meant for a slow pack up of camp. We traversed to near the Mons hut. Opted for a mid route from the north ridge of Division, as the high route had one suspect steep slope. Some convoluted, wind hammered and bulletproof terrain later, we were back en route and arrived to a comfortable camp mid afternoon, in time for some sunbathing in the balmy -13C sunshine. Monday: Overcast morning, but high cloud meant no difficulties catching our flight back with Whitetooth Helicopters.