LOC:
Camp Dolphin
Sky
Few Thin, Winds Light from the NW, No Precip, 0.8°C, BARO 782
Falling
Yesterday
was a challenging, exciting day. Our original goal was to ski a nice
couloir we can see from camp on Mt. Bonito. To get there we needed
to ascend a large slope with many crevasses between Mt. Bonito and
Wahoo Tower. Martina was a total guide once again. We were in two
teams of two and I was with Martina. A position I like because then
I can watch and learn as much as possible.
The
route ended up being pretty relaxed until the end. We had just
crossed underneath a large serac, Martina had her probe out but was
confident. Suddenly she probed and felt nothing underneath. She
retreated hastily and regrouped. She had me put a prussic on the
line so I could keep it tight between us. Then she carefully
threaded the needle, keeping the snow bridge on her left and the
barely covered crevasse on her right. We followed her tracks exactly
to the top.
After
a windy lunch, we decided it would be difficult to reach the couloir
and we had some concerns about the snow there because we had found
some wind slab on the slope where we ascended. As another option we
decided to go for Mt. Sirenia.
To
get there, we ascended a couloir with a crevasse at the top and snuck
around the looker's left corner. Martina had us on belay for the
crucial move. After a short discussion, we decided to keep going and
boot packed up a narrow ridge of snow to a bench just below the
summit of Mt. Sirenia. At this point Kat and I decided to stop. I
had found the boot pack scary. Martina and Sam continued up, with
Martina soloing and belaying Sam behind. At first, I thought
exposure was to much but watching them I changed my mind. At least
in Sam's case.
When
they returned from the summit, we made a hasty retreat down the boot
pack and then had a fun ski down. We skied roped through the
crevasse field at first but ditched the rope because it was sketchy
skiing with it. We followed Martina's tracks very close.
No comments:
Post a Comment