Training Log Archive: Carbons Offset

New Year's ski and then snacks and drinks at the warming hut. Went with a fast group and pushed a good pace including some decent climbs.

C • Happy New Year! 4

Mt Ogden with Carbon, Miro, Jimmy and Krista.
The uptrack along the summer trail in the trees is simple and protected. Then across Sherbrooke Lake. The approach to Mt Ogden was on a low-angle track but has some steeper walls along one side. The first half of the existing uptrack was good but then was set much too steep on the upper half; it made the day feel bigger than it was. A good run on the way back down, about 600 metres. Went skier’s left at first, then trended right. Finished with a hard traverse to the skier’s right in order to use a slide path for a more open line down to the lake.
Put the skins on for the trip across the lake until the hiking trail in the trees was consistently downward. A slightly advanced ski out but plenty of spots where you could put on the brakes; not as bad as some other ski outs I have done.
Total time 4:35.

Emerald Peak loop with Miro, Jimmy, Libor, Charka and Krista.
Cold in the parking lot but it got better a few hundred metres higher.
Follow the summer trail from the back of the parking lot to Hamilton Lake. Cross one significant slide path on the way; look for the flagging tape a little higher up in the opposite side of the slide path to see where the trail enters into the trees again. Then a small descent to Hamilton Lake. Fun to revisit this area after scrambling here with Adam, Laura, Liza and Steve when we climbed Mt Carnarvon and then found our own off-trail route down through a gully to Hamilton Lake on the way back.
At the back of the lake there is a nice low-angle approach to the col that allows you to stay on really low-angle terrain and stay far enough from the side slopes. At the col it opens into big terrain on the other side.
Dug a put on the other side:
2500 m elev, aspect 49 deg, 36 deg slope
HS 274
CTH 21 22 27 at 254, 230 and 200 (from ground), partial collapse (21, 22) and RP (27)
ECT No Result
A great ski down, about 4 pitches; it actually felt like you got more descending than you climbed for, probably partly because the uptrack was never very steep and because the descent was clear all the way to the bottom (not the typical AB Rockies bushwhack exit) to Emerald River (more like a creek in winter), about 1000 metres. Then turn right and follow the creek to the back of Emerald Lake. The creek was still open in most spots, so the trip out was a mix of up and down (I eventually put skins on while most others continued to battle the undulating terrain along the creek) and sometimes crossing the creek. Next time, I would put the skins on at the beginning and never cross the creek. Also, there is a summer trail to the right on the map if you catch the beginning higher up; I would try to find that next time. It looks like you could travel along this all the way to the lake with minimal ups, so you might be able to avoid putting the skins on. Took the skins off at the lake for faster glide.
A new favourite route (I love loop tours, especially with good turns at the end) but a big day, it got dark as we got back to the parking lot. That said, the group did enjoy a lunch break and some stops to chat and also to dig.
Total time 7 hours

Purple Knob with Peter.
Decided to have a look at the snowpack in Kananaskis. Decided to stay in tight trees because the special avalanche warning was still in place here despite being lifted in most other areas. Drove past Tent Ridge and got a look at the whole ridge that had slid.
The existing skin track up the front ridge closest to the road at Purple was interesting: frequent switchbacks in spots where I would have run it longer.
As we got onto the ridge, you could see where the snowpack had slid about a metre, reminding me of the glide cracks in Japan. Most of the ridge had done this and it looked spooky. The couple of small spots that hadn't slid seemed even spookier, like they were waiting for you to try stepping on them. We decided to head down the back side for the opposite aspect. Part way down, I skied off a 1-metre drop and realized it was the same kind of partial slide. So, both the front and back of the ridge were bad (but not as bad lower down... probably because it was less exposed to the high winds they had experienced previously). We skied tight trees and headed to the next ridge back from the road; this one is usually a good safe spot. Hiked up and dug a pit.

2284 m elev. East 70. 27 degree slope.
HS170. CTH27 broken planar at 105 from ground. 30+ at 58 from ground.
ECT25 partial fracture under the shovel at 105cm from ground, but no propogation even on several very hard hits after 30.
Once we had our result, a few parks safety guys skied down (they had been looking at slopes above) and were surprised to find someone digging. We shared our result. They didn't say much but didn't seem surprised by our findings. We filled in our pit and nicely bevelled it by stomping over it from above; anyone could ski right over it without wiping out.

Skied a lap through the trees below (only about 80 m laps). Good snow and we know some lines through the trees here from a trip last year. Headed back up and continued higher to where the Parks guys skied. They skied a more open slope off the southeast aspect of Blacksmith Ridge that I wouldn't have gone on before my pit test. With my pit results and their ski cuts and tracks, we skied next to their tracks. Had a good run, curved around a corner and almost killed myself by just about falling right into their pit that wasn't filled in. Did three more laps from a little further east on our 80m slope in the trees (a small walk up to the top of the knob), connecting better lines through the trees each time. There is still one fairly continuous line we spotted that we thought we hit on our last lap but when we looked back up, it was still untouched, so I guess we found another good line. Meanwhile, that good one still remains; stored a waypoint at the bottom of it. The runs feel a bit longer than 80m, which is good.
Total time 6 hours

Helen Shoulder, main bowl and burn, with Miro and Carbon.
Parked beside the road and quickly found the uptrack in the trees (parallel to the road, about 10 metres into the trees to hit a summer trail and turn climber's right). A little exposed on the shoulder. Could see a nice slope and nice snow off the back but it looked like a really short pitch before it benched out and then went into thick trees. Followed the shoulder up along the ridge.

Dug a pit at the top of the main bowl, 2400m elevation. South aspect, 165 degrees, 22 degree slope angle. HS140, CTH22SP 50cm from ground. Crust at 90 cm from ground and another layer at 65 and 70 cm from ground. ECT No Result, 30+ SP failure at 35cm from ground.

The first run down the main bowl had some tracks that had stiffened a little from yesterday plus a little wind effect in the snow. It would be a nice run if the snow was more ideal; still not too bad. About 200 metres long.
It was quick to lap back up and this time we went down in the well-spaced burnt trees to the skier's left of the main bowl line. Very little wind effect, it skied nicely. Carbon went up with me for a third lap.
To ski out, we went fall-line from the bottom of the bowl, looking for lines with skiable space through the trees. Found a pretty good route; there might be a better line just a few metres left or right.
Total time 4:20