Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Glacier Ski Camp, Wahoo Tower Area - Day 2

LOC: Camp Dolphin
Sky Few, Winds Light from the NW, No Precip, -6.8°C, BARO 782 Falling

Had an excellent sleep last night, and why not? We reached the summit of Wahoo Tower Yesterday!

We rolled out of bed at 8:00am yesterday and set out at 10:30am. We rounded Mt. Oluk on the West side and quickly saw our first objective; a large couloir with a cornice at the top and a crevasse in the middle.

Martina led us up. We were roped into two groups of two because of the crevasse hazard. The avalanche hazard was deemed to be moderate. At the crevasse, which was mostly filled in, Martina took one ski off and made her way across a bridge. We each then came across one by one. We did a couple more switchbacks, unroped and boot packed up the rest of the way. Sneaking by the cornice on looker's left.

Then we had lunch, after which we contoured around the east side of Wahoo and then skinned up a wide snow slope to the final couloir before a short hike to the top. The slope was steep and there were cliffs below but the snow was good and we felt confident skinning so after a few serious moments we arrived at the top (2840m).

We had a brief celebration at the top then skied down. The snow was crusty in spots but good in others so we had s fun ski.

We were back at camp a little after 5:00pm. We toasted Earth Day and our success with some 'Kool-aid'. When the stars came out later it was mighty fine.

We haven't finalized the objective for today, but I'm happy with anything. I feel very lucky to be here.

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