Milking Mowich - 4.3-6.08 - MRNP

Kyle and I originally planned on going up to the Interglacier, but due to unpreventable circumstances, we ended up settling on a slightly shorter trip that would take us into the and we took off down the road and made pretty good time.  Before long, we were skinning through about 6" of cold pow, and this was at around 3600'.  This seemed promising.  But Murphy's law proved otherwise.  When a screw came out of Kyle's binding we were faced with the first of many challenges for the trip.  We managed to , fix it proper in the morning, and ultimately leave if we couldn't fix it.

Friday, April 4th
Fortunately we could fix it and it worked well enough to skin and board on.  We kept on, and before we knew it, we were digging out our basecamp at Mowich Lake.  Overnight we recieved about 3" of the light stuff, and Friday it kept coming, all day long.  Unfortunately so did the low clouds and flat light.  But we used our time to get a good
Photo by Stugie

Saturday, April 5th
We got up early on Saturday, and upon a quick survey, we found partly sunny skies and knew we had a weather window, or so we hoped.  We quickly got ready and skinned up to the gully that leads towards Knapsack Pass.  Unfortunately our progress was slowed when
Photo by Stugie

Upon reaching Knapsack Pass, the clouds .  After dropping the E side of Knapsack, we were rewarded with outstanding views of , and off the NE side of Pleasant Peak.  The slide was about 4-500' across, with a 2' crown.  It had broken right underneath the corniced ridge and slid right over the cliff in the middle of the slope.  Our assessment was that it was recent, probably induced by the sun breaks earlier in the day.  Now that the sun had begun to shadow that slope, we thought there was probably a better chance for stability.  There was.  A great chance for some epic Turns.

Kyle on Pleasant Peak looking N.

Photo by Stugie

We quickly made our way down and began our skin back to Knapsack Pass.  From Knapsack Pass, we traversed and climbed to gain access to the ridge.  We both agreed that our mountaineering axes would have been worth the weight on that particular section of our tour...just a wee bit for kickstepping.  We summited Fay Peak just as the clouds started to drop and the winds picked up.  Although we had planned to go right off the summit, we had an uneasy feeling about the 1st coulior off Fay Peak, and the wind had scoured it, so we both voted for the 2nd one.  It turned out to be a great decision, giving us deep, dry powder Turns for 1500' all the way back to
Photo by Stugie

Scott reaping some goods...

Photo by Kyle

Skinning back across Mowich...

Photo by Stugie

Once we reached our basecamp, we mounded some .  As we began skinning out, one of the screws on my trekkers worked its way out.  Luckily, we had a mostly downhill out...I probably wouldn't need to skin again.  The slog backed proved not only long, but also somewhat like a vortex.  When we skinned in by headlamp, we didn't realize that we were going slightly downhill.  However, slightly downhill is painful when you're on mile 6 and tired and hungry.  All in all, a great trip, but wow, what a slog to get there!

Snow Conditions and other stuff
1. Along with my first aid kit and random spare buckles, I'm going to start carrying a few extra screws and pins for my equipment.
2. Conservative and careful snow assessment pays off.  We were confident that our lines, although close in proximity to seemingly unstable slopes or slide paths, were solid lines.  Luck has a big part in this...hardly any sun, accumulation at altitude kept snow pack light, time of day, ect.  But it all plays a role...
3. Always build walls.  A camp without wind or a breeze is a happy camp.
4. A looooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggg skin can DEFINITELY be worth it...unhindered 1500' lines through blower are epic.

Snow conditions:
Accumulation continual, but very light.  Lots of it though.  Natural soft slab on sun exposed slopes (NE observed).  With sun or warmer temps av danger will increase quite a bit.  Crust 2-3' under accumulation.  Wind scoured and sun exposed slopes produced 2-4" breakable top crust on Saturday, which did shoot cracks within the immediate vicinity of our skin track.

[color=Maroon]Modified: 11:40 pm - 4.8.08 - add large photos[/color]