February, 1-3, Rogers, NCougar,ECheops, Vent Shaft

Started the weekend off well with some nice powder runs with the ladies. Cougar north skied very well with boot top powder. Cheops east 1 bowl also skied very well on Sunday with boot top powder. I was surprised that we got first tracks down Cheops east considering how busy the weekend was.

While skiing Cheops east I spied some tracks coming out of the vent shaft which comes off the NW slope of Avalanche. Went there today to check it out. As we turned into the Coors Thompson Bowl a brisk NW wind combined with -20C temperatures caused some significant discomfort. Once higher up in the bowl the wind died down but the damage was done overnight. Yesterdays beautiful tracks were now covered in thick, soft, windslab. One of us topped out on Avalanche while my friend and I pulled out 100m from the top on the glacial ridge. The top part of the line just wasn't worth skiing.

Our friend who went to the top skied the rime step that guards the upper 50m of the line aggressively and popped a ski. Luckily the ski impaled itself into the slope instead of rocketing to the bottom. The rest of the line skied ok with variable snow conditions due to wind.