Line of the Week: The Fist Couloir

Tryst Lake is a fairly popular ski touring spot. The steeper chutes down to the lake get a decent amount of skier compaction and are mostly sheltered from the wind and often provide the first chance of the season for backcountry skiers to get into steeper terrain similar to the ski hill. As long as someone hasn't wiggled excessively through the chokes (it is more common than you think), the snow is often quite good even days after a storm, definitely better than similar terrain 2hrs into a powder day at the ski hill.

But unless you've skinned past the lake between laps, you might not know about the last Tryst Lake Chute, the Fist Couloir!

Short and Sweet

The simplest way to tag the couloir is to simply center punch straight up, maybe until you reach the base of the cliff, or perhaps the snow coverage is deep enough that you can make it to the col. But in the spirit of #lineoftheweek and not #lineoftheweak , Here is different option:

Include the line as the 2nd descent of the "Spray Range Traverse" described in Summits and Icefields. After descending down into Commonwealth Creek, look for an avalanche path heading up to climber's right of the Fist (the Hillmap link below might come in handy, though keep in mind, I draw these years later while sitting at a desk). The snow in the avalanche path can be a spooky combination of sun crust, windslab and facets and creative routefinding might be required to top out. I believe we kicked steps up thin snow on top of scree.

Booting up after transitioning from skinning

Ascending rock and scree on the climber's right side

Access into the couloir might require a downclimb, rappel, or belay depending on coverage. So keep that in mind. Enjoy the descent of the couloir, making sure to take the time to brag about it to any skiers taking a break at the lake between runs. Make sure to leave your harness on for this section.

After sending a cornice down the line

Getting belayed into the line, while setting the bootpack for the follower to downclimb

Straight out of Chamonix, ready to ski!

Skiing the couloir!

Finish off the Spray Range Traverse with a neat descent into the Grizzly bowl, taking the time to admire the creativity of the Tent Ridge skiers.

Grizzly Bowl

Total Elevation: 1275m
Distance: 12km
Line Length: 100m
Top Elevation: 2525m

Hillmap Link

Line of the Week: Hero Knob couloirs

The two twin Hero Knob couloirs, not visible is an option that connects the looker's right to the looker's left

The Hero Knob loop in K-Country is pretty popular and for good reason. Long fall line skiing in alpine terrain with some spectacular scenery. While most people are content with a "one and done", there are lots of options on different aspects and elevations to play on, and if that's not enough , the ski quality often merits a 2nd...or 3rd lap. Of course it is not without it's risk, a steep headwall to gain a hanging valley, interesting wind loading of the col and of course creek crossings all present cruxes, making Hero Knob best saved for early season before the persistent weak layers have had a chance to establish themselves or in early spring.

 

 While most are fine with a run down the main bowl, there are some interesting options available if one were to summit Hero Knob itself and continue along the ridge.

Ridgewalks, downclimbs, sidesteps, etc...

And after some sidestepping, downclimbing, etc... 

@skevikskis #skeviksponsorme pre work turns

A post shared by Peter Knight (@peteyknight5) on Nov 7, 2013 at 9:05pm PST

The twin couloirs provide consistent fall line skiing and a fan at the bottom to really open it up.

It is not uncommon for people to climb these lines, so keep that in mind when thinking about sending a cornice down. I believe the best access is from the top via the Hero Knob col.

The first couloir drains into the main bowl, lookers left of the summit of Hero Knob

Top Elevation: 2520m
Line Length: 300m
Round Trip Distance: 7.5km
Total Elevation: 700m
Other lines in the area: Aside from the main Hero Knob run, and the Purple Knob couloirs, I have enjoyed tree skiing on all aspects, accessed from both drainages. Most notable is the Dogleg tree run. The south face of Hero Knob provides higher consequence skiing with more complex gullies and cliffs to avoid.
Hillmap route

Line of the Week: Mt. Buller "Crack of Noon" Couloir

A lot of the previous "Lines of the Week" are fairly self explanatory: If you can see it, you can ski it. The same can be said about this roadside hit. The couloirs and gullies coming off of Mt. Buller certainly catch the eye of skiers as they drive by along the Smith Dorrien road to ski something more appropriate in the winter. "One day", you say. While the broader gullies might catch the eye of the less imaginative skiers in your crew, I've avoided them for various reasons. Massive cornices, variable depth snowpack, and they get the snow blasted off of them for highway avalanche control work.

The "Crack of Noon" chute, is certainly one of the more aesthetic lines that regularly fills in on the mountain, though the thin choke at the bottom doesn't fill in to something wider than ski width until the spring snow sloughs into it. Despite the casual nature that the name "Crack of Noon" implies, this line can be hard to time. This area just doesn't get as much snow as the mountains to the immediate south and might have a faceted snowpack. The 2500m top elevation means that it is susceptible to high freezing levels. In the end, we blasted up this thing fairly late in the season (still not the worst freeze I've ever had) and found good coverage, but wind affected snow.

As I mentioned the highway avalanche control program earlier, one thing to note about these lines, and any on Buller is to watch out for the "AVALANCHE AREA. NO STOPPING SIGNS". It means that while these are pretty much roadside hits, you might have to park a km or two up the road and out of the avalanche path. But you're a skier who has done avalanche training, you should know that! You can either walk along the road or traverse up through the different avalanche paths. Then boot up the thing until you top out on the ridge!

Topping out on the ridge

Thin crux at the centre

The narrow choke at the bottom takes some slough to fill it in

It's a quick one. We returned our rental ice axes before the guy at the rental shop thought we had used them.

Line Length: 500m
Total Elevation Gain: 780m
Round Trip Distance: 5km
Top Elevation: 2500m
Other lines in the area: There are lots of other options on Mt. Buller if you are keen on them. Otherwise, I would keep driving to where there is more snow. There are endless lines in the Tower, Galatea, Chester, and Headwall drainages.
Hillmap route (the map is probably wrong as there is no snow for reference in the google maps image!)

Other Lines of the Week .
Other Kananaskis lines.  

Line of the Week: Purple Knob Couloirs

After missing last week's #lineoftheweek, I thought I would include a "zone" containing multiple lines for this week.

Hero Knob is the classic ski tour in Kananaskis, and while it is not in the book, the cat is certainly out of the bag. Due to the young age of the Rockies, the mountains are still steep, leaving few places for the cold, intermittent snowfalls to stick to. The Hero Knob area is a bit of an exception as there are lots of options for skiing, and certainly more variety than most spots. Skiing the Hero Knob traverse as a loop, the North facing lines off Purple Knob present an opportunity to add some more skiing to your day. With the right conditions and attitude, it is possible to add 2-4 of these lines to your typical Hero Knob traverse.

Dogleg: Good tree/avalanche path skiing. I typically traverse into this area from the Hero Knob road. Makes for a shorter walk at the end of the day if doing the full Hero Knob loop

Purple Knob Ridge Couloirs: Once in the big avalanche path coming off the south face of Hero Knob, you can start to make your way up a north facing avalanche path to the base of these two lines.

Spot the tracks #mountains #skitouring #skimountaineering #skiing #skiuphill #kananaskis

A post shared by Travis Brown (@personal_peak) on May 4, 2014 at 5:19pm PDT

Graupel makes for some interesting sluffing.

Two parallel side by side couloirs. Boot up!

Purple Knob Bowl. This is a good spot to get in a lap or two while you wait for some other sucker to punch in a track across the sketchy headwall that gains the hanging valley to the Hero Knob ridge. The Purple Knob col can also be accessed by ascending the bowl on its south side after skiing from near the top of the Dogleg. Watch out for the cornice at the top! The rest of lines can be booted up from the North Bowl! The approach to the north bowl is more in line with the typical Hero Knob circuit, except instead of heading up and to the right to gain the hanging valley, you go further left!




Black Prince Col. This area is similar to the North aspect of the Hero Knob col, but more wind affected and thin, especially at the top. The other lines off the col present some interesting options though! The first (and the second depending on your definition) couloirs on skier's left of the col can be accessed by climbing up the south side of the col. The rest require bootpacking up them or more creative scrambling on the col. The col can be gained from the North via the hanging valley, or from the south via an interesting traverse from the Black Prince parking lot described below.

Using the South side to access the first couloir adjacent to the col.

Thin at the top!

South approach to the Black Prince col.

Black Prince Col Traverse: Ski as you would if you were heading to the Black Prince tree triangle, but once in the bowl, head up the bowl and start climbing an avalanche path coming off the headwall of Mt. Black Prince. However, before getting onto steeper slopes, follow a creek to the right into the next avalanche path coming off the headwall. Continue up the ramp leading to the hanging valley and then continue up and to the right into the hanging valley. The col can be ascended by center punching it. The run down the other side of the col is usually more wind affected than Hero Knob and may be thin at the top.
hillmap
Elevation gain: 1000m
Distance: 10km
Top Elevation: 2460m

Other Lines of the Week .
Other Kananaskis lines.

Line of the Week: North Face of Mt. Lyautey

As spring days get longer, it is time to think about those bigger ski tours on your list. Of course with the warm spring weather, approach and access need to be considered. I like to think about lines that have good trail, creek, or open avalanche path access that can provide expedited travel to the alpine as they freeze better than densely treed areas. While Mt. Lyautey starts off with a long valley bottom approach, an open avalanche path provides access to the glacier, and there is the potential that the trail could be melted out, while the line has wintery snow up above. I first noticed Lyautey glacier in some summer skiing pictures and was intrigued with the spot. A week before this trip, while attempting Mt. Joffre, I was in awe of the couloir riddled SE face of Mt. Lyautey.

Approach

Start the day off with a 6.5km slog from North Interlakes Day Use, almost to the Forks campground. The map link might come in handy for determining where to leave the trail as there are a couple of avalanche paths and drainages that converge in a similar area. Once in the creek, we ascended the drainage to the moraine on the climber's left side. I believe there is a small waterfall that can get buried with snow under the climber's right side. Once on the moraine, it is an easy ski onto the glacier where a north face that is absolutely riddled with couloirs stands out.

Looking up the glacier. Summit is the high point on the right side

On the climber's left side of the face are two prominent couloirs and we even made an attempt before discovering windslab. They however, do not lead to the summit! The summit is accessed via a much less "walled-in" couloir further on climber's right.

The line to the summit with tracks down it. Obviously endless possibilities for ski descents!

Looking down the line from the top. Both glaciers are visible at the bottom.

On the exit, we skied down the skier's left side of the moraine (not the side we climbed up)

Round Trip Distance: 21km
Elevation gain: 1550m
Top elevation: 3045m
Line length: 200m
Other options in the area: Once you are committed to the drainage, there are options for more mellow skiing on either of the glaciers and the col to the west of Mt. Lyautey. There are many skiable lines on the North face of Mt. Lyautey. If you do not wish to commit to the creek heading up the moraine, you could ski even deeper up the valley to 3 Isle lake and attempt to ski north facing bowls on Defender Mountain, Mt. McHarg, and Mt. Worthington.

The equally "delicious" SE face of Lyautey

As you can camp at the Forks campground, the Lyautey glacier can also make an excellent summer skiing objective.

Hillmap route

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Line of the Week: SE Face of Mt. Smuts

"You'll want to be at the top by 8"

Those were the words in my head as I left the car at 5 in the morning. Making quick work of the Commonwealth valley as well as the lower part of the massive slidepath coming off the mountain, we looked up and thought we are almost done. Then I looked at my GPS. It said I still had 600 more meters to climb. That can't be right, it only looks like 200 or so. Anyways, we switched to crampons and began up the slope. The slope steepened, the snow got firmer. The summit did not appear to be getting any closer. I would count steps, sometimes one hundred at a time, look up, and I would be in the same place. Eventually, I topped out. There was 600m left to climb from where I questioned my GPS.

I rarely reach the actual summits, but my partner was a climber, so we signed the register at the top. The clouds never really cleared up and we were nervous standing on top of a huge, steep slope, reportedly 55 degrees at the top. So we made careful turns down the firm snow up high, and looked for the cleanest lines through the avalanche debris and runnels down low.

At the bottom

This is a great corn run saved for the spring when the face is filled in, and the snow is firm, but south east exposure means it gets the sun early on, so wake up early (skiing by 8:30!)! The face is a steep, long, and committing line (definitely don't fall), so best make sure your skiing is up to the task with a couple of tests of the steeper runs at the ski hill. The long bootpack and firm snow requires fitness and technique.

Line Length: 950m

Total elevation gain: 1100m

Round Trip Distance: 10km

Top Elevation: 2938m
Other options in the area: Not feeling up for it? The Commonwealth valley has a wealth of skiing: Commonwealth Ridge Circuit, Commonwealth-Pig's Tail Col, Superslope, Smuts Pass and Tryst Lake.

hillmap route

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Other Kananaskis lines.  

Line of the Week: Mt. French Arch Couloir (Hole in the wall)

The French Arch couloir also known as the Hole in the Wall or the French Finger is actually one of many couloirs not only in the French Drainage, but on the North face of Mt. French. The arch couloir is further back in the French drainage, almost to the col with the Haig glacier. In fact on the particular day I skied the Arch couloir proper, my brother and a friend skied the next chute over. Something to keep in mind is that slough from each chute flows out of holes on the climber's right side wall. So slough from the line my brother skied, flowed into my line! Therefore it is important not only be mindful of the slough from you and your group but also the slough from the next couloir over! The dual sloughing also means that the ski through the arch will be firm and scoured! Bring crampons.

Skiing the Arch!

Skiing out the adjacent couloir.

The French drainage is always confusing to navigate and it is recommended that you are familiar with it via a trip beforehand so that you can get to the line efficiently. The upper part of the chute is heavily wind scoured and might not even have coverage. The top out is not really well defined. As well, multiple parties this season have reported finding windslab in the fans approaching the couloirs, and the couloirs themselves. Something to think about...

Round Trip distance: 16km
Line length: 300m
Top elevation: 3000m
Total elevation gain: 1250m
Other options in the area: Aside from the other couloirs that probably contain heavily wind affected snow, Mt. Maude, and finishing off the rest of the French-Haig-Robertson traverse are two excellent alternatives.

Hillmap route

Fun fact: Not only did we team ski the arch and its adjacent couloir, but I forgot my skins that day and still managed to make my way up the French drainage on foot with crampons and with only minimal wallowing. A legend and mystery to this day!

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Other Kananaskis lines.  

Line of the Week: Mt. Maude

The French-Haig-Robertson traverse is a Kananaskis classic. Pick a day with great weather and you will be rewarded with views and easier navigation once up on the Haig glacier. And the slog up the French glacier is downright miserable with the wind blowing in your face. When you get on the wind scoop at the base of Mt. Robertson, look across the glacier and gaze at the aesthetic line coming off the north ridge of Mt. Maude.

The line is another couple of kilometers from the French-Robertson col and it "grows' to its full 300m as you approach it. Put the skis on the backpack and boot up the face until it thins out near the upper ridge. As this is a steep, high, north face, the skiing should be committing, but soft.

Looking down the line to the Haig Glacier

Top elevation: 2900m
Line Length: 300m
Total Vertical: 1300m
Round Trip Distance: 21km

Other skiing in the area: Aside from the classic French-Haig-Robertson circuit, which also makes a fantastic finish to Mt. Maude, there are numerous couloirs in the French glacier drainage. Mt. Jellicoe also holds some potential as a ski descent though it is hard to make it to the south facing line before the sun. Otherwise the skiing in the French drainage or Burstall Pass is fairly mellow should you find conditions are not up to your liking.

hillmap link

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Other Kananaskis lines.  

Line of the Week: Mt. Chester Couloir

Chester Lake, a good place to stretch the legs, get comfortable with your gear and ... oh my what's that? Follow the trail up to the lake then work your way up the fan to the line. The line has many features, mini cornices, chokes, and multiple options in some points. Because of the multiple features, snow can vary from powder to windslab to ice so be prepared for a bit of everything.



Top elevation: 2950m
Total vertical: 1050m
Line length: 700m
Round Trip Distance: 9km

A couple of similar, but shorter lines further up the valley from Chester Lake provide alternatives if there is a group going up the main couloir. As these lines are similar, they do not really provide a great alternative if you are not certain about conditions. Do a couple of mellow tree laps and call it a day.

Hillmap route




Other Lines of the Week .
Other Kananaskis lines.