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: Pocaterra Ridge

Another week, another Highwood Pass line. As with the other lines, this is a limited time offer, only available from June 15 until November 30. Get it while supplies last. When the skiing on Pocaterra Ridge comes into shape, good skiing can be found on the south ridge, with more committing, but classic lines on the SE, SW, and NW face, and creative skiing potential on the NE face.

Pocaterra ridge, with its S ridge route in front of Mt. Pocaterra.

As with the Tyrwhitt Cirque, it is important to emphasize that Highwood Pass early in the season is a busy place and it is common for human factors to push groups out of their comfort zones. So I will repeat:

"Beware of the human factors. The acronym FACETS is helpful, particularly the last two, Tracks and Social Facilitation. The skiing at Highwood Pass is extremely crowded early season, especially when word gets out that someone was able to ski without hitting a rock every other turn. This means that skiers might push above or beyond the current skintrack to get a fresh line, putting them into untouched and riskier terrain and new features. And if one group pushes into some gnarlier terrain, don't try to one up them without considering the spatial variability of the snowpack! Tracks are not a sign of intelligent life!"

Pocaterra ridge shares the same approach as the Tyrwhitt Cirque, but after passing by all of the chutes and contouring around the ridge that comes down between Tyrwhitt Cirque and Grizzly Col, trend more north into meadows and ascend the south ridge of Pocaterra Ridge.

SE Face and its higher consequence lines

West aspect of the north ridge

Looking down the North Side

Looking up the North Side

The tree skiing on the south side of Pocaterra Ridge is pretty good, but the runs are short. Rolling over the S ridge onto the lower part of the west face also yields some nice turns. If enough snow is covering the grass, the south ridge of Pocaterra to the summit is a good ski. But the north face is a true prize, requiring good stability with the reward of one of the longer runs in the area, and a drop into a more secluded valley. Climb back up over Little Highwood Pass.

Little Highwood Pass in June. A great run that fills in early drops over the ridge from where I am standing. SW face of Pocaterra dominates the upper right of the picture.

The SE face is also skied often if the coverage and stability is there, but with some high consequence terrain involving gullies and cliffs (similar to the SE face of Hero Knob), it is not really my cup of tea.

Grizzly Col. Snow is usually pretty windblasted.

Top Elevation: 2625m
Line Length: 150m
Round Trip Distance: 9km
Hillmap Route
Other skiing in the area: Little Highwood pass and fans below Mt. Pocaterra (people love being creative here), fill in earlier. Grizzly Col, East facing bowls off of Pocaterra ridge are best saved if there is good coverage and stability before the gate closes.

Line of the Week: Arethusa S Couloir

Keeping with the Highwood theme, this week's Line of the Week is yet another classic Highwood quick hit. At under 600m vertical, you can be back at the Banff Film Festival or a ski swap spraying about your adventures.

Typical Highwood. Wind Loaded chutes above boulderfields. Not a great ride if you trigger the windslab...

The Arethusa Cirque is much quieter than the other Highwood cirques. Park at the next drainage south of the pass and ski up the creek. Head left towards Arethusa up a neat boulder filled valley to the base of the line. The top of the line gives you a bird's eye view of the madness going on in the Ptarmigan Cirque. The conditions when we skied it were quite sporty with breakable windslab!

Hillmap Route
Total Elevation Gain: 520m
Round Trip Distance: 5km
Top Elevation: 2700m
Line Length: 130m
Other Lines in the Area: The meadows on the approach to the line can offer some good, but short skiing. This line shares the same approach as the Mt. Storm couloir, so either the couloir or the fans below can be alternative options.

Video of Mt. Storm and Arethusa

Other Lines of the Week .
Other Highwood Pass lines. 

Line of the Week: Tyrwhitt Cirque Couloirs

Highwood Pass opened for the summer just before last weekend. So in honour of the opening, how about some Highwood lines?

If you haven't experienced the Highwood Pass initiation with a "ski" in the Ptarmigan Cirque side, I suggest you stop reading now, and check out that area first. It is an essential part of the Highwood Pass initiation experience.

The Tyrwhitt Cirque and it's many options. In Spring

On the other side of the road from the parking lot at the pass are the Tyrwhitt and Pocaterra Cirques. The trail in, trending north from the parking lot and contouring into the bowls does a fairly good job of weeding out those who are unfamiliar with bushwacking and sidehilling and descending on skins. Once into the first open bowl, the Tyrwhitt Cirque, there is a wide variety of lines topping out or almost topping out on the ridge. The lines are short, so you might want to do a couple of them before calling it a day. Those familiar with the Purple Knob area, might notice some similarities.

In Winter. When it gets filled in before the road closes. The first couple of chutes are accessed from the first bowl.

While more chutes can be found in the 2nd bowl. The aspect changes slightly so keep that in mind when thinking about snowpack, wind, etc...

Inside the cave

Beware of the human factors. The acronym FACETS is helpful, particularly the last two, Tracks and Social Facilitation. The skiing at Highwood Pass is extremely crowded early season, especially when word gets out that someone was able to ski without hitting a rock every other turn. This means that skiers might push above or beyond the current skintrack to get a fresh line, putting them into untouched and riskier terrain and new features. And if one group pushes into some gnarlier terrain, don't try to one up them without considering the spatial variability of the snowpack! Tracks are not a sign of intelligent life!

The ridgewalk between the chutes can be tricky, so it's best to climb the line you intend on skiing.

A surprise awaits if you are able to top our the ridge. The south bowl.

The South bowl

Hillmap route:
Top Elevation: 2550m
Line Length: 150m
Vertical gain: 450m (definitely do more than one), 720m if skiing the South bowl.
Round Trip Distance: 5km

Other Lines of the Week .
Other Highwood Pass lines. 

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.  

Lines of Last Week: Skyladder and Silverhorn

Eventually, I instead of merely writing about lines, the FOMO kicked in and decided to go out and ski some. So instead of writing about favourite lines that I have not yet mentioned, let's look back to last week. With a solid melt freeze going on, excellent coverage on the glaciers and some stoked partners, I got dragged to the icefields.

The parking lots at the icefields are certainly an interesting place. During a nice weather system like the one we experienced, it morphs into a bit of a village with parties camping out to get an early start on their objective, whether it be skiing onto the icefield, steep skiing on Athabasca or Andromeda, mountaineering, or alpine climbing (mountaineering without gaiters). Of course rolling into the parking lot at the casual hour of 04:00 and seeing headlamps bobbing up and down the toe of the glaciers coming off Athabasca and Andromeda quickly makes things seem very real. Maybe I should have gotten up earlier. Oh well, I'll just move faster and make it up on the trail.

The loss of the "climber's" parking lot has been lamented over, but we are really only talking about a kilometer of fast walking in running shoes to shake the legs out.

Skyladder:

Skyladder is a classic alpine climb and also a must-have in every Rockies shredder's resume. Travel through the moraines was quick with a well beaten trail. Once we put the ski boots and skis on, a firm crust also provided fast travel, though requiring finesse on the sidehills.

The line poking out over the glacier. Rumour has it that the glacier is starting to cause issues for more and more climbers.

A fast crust and no issues on the glacier. Sounds like that is easier said than done for this glacier

It felt good to be back booting up steep snow. I kicked it into high gear.

The "cold shoulder" above the main slope of Skyladder was shaded and the angle did not let up that much. It made for some scratchy skiing on the way down before we sunk our edges into Skyladder's softening slopes.

Safely down after a great ski

Top elevation: 3450m
Total Vertical: 1450m
Round trip distance: 12km
Line length: 500m (from glacier to subpeak)
Hillmap route

Silverhorn: A white Silverhorn in the sun was staring us down as we walked back to the cars after skiing Skyladder. There were no questions what our objective for the next day would be.

I've been turned around before on this mountain. It is easy to underestimate one of the "easy" ways up a mountain with so many routes. When the Ramp Route is in ski-able condition, it is also puckering, requiring a traverse across a steep slope above seracs. I had a harrowing experience there two years earlier when a ropemate triggered a small wind pocket as we tried to gain the ridge. The plug was quickly pulled on that day.

Once again, we were able to make it up a decent way with shoes on. The freeze wasn't quite as good as the day before which was a bit of a bummer for the ski down. We were not able to enjoy prime corn conditions up on the glacier so that we could ski a gully down to the moraines before it got too warm.

The Silverhorn. Great coverage this year!

 After skiing up the glacier, we skied onto a skintrack from a previous day across the Ramp. After a puckering traverse, we looked up onto the ridge and saw 28 climbers from the Spokane Mountaineering School!

I'm not usually one to care about summits, but I had no desire to "experience" the Ramp Route ever again, so I made sure to tag the summit. We also put the skis on and skied along the ridge.

 One would say the trail up the ridge and across to the summit was well beaten in. I put on skis and skied off the summit, booted back up to the Silverhorn then put skis back on for the main event.

 The skiing was firm with a bit of windslab and was a little more gripping when the slope rolled over midway down.

Finding some soft snow at the bottom

Skiing most of the steeper pitch non stop, my legs were burning and we waited a little for the glacier to corn up, before realizing that the crust was probably too thin for good corn turns. We managed to make it down without catching too many edges for another great day.

Top elevation: 3491m
Total Vertical: 1500m
Round trip Distance: 10.5km
Line length: 270m
Hillmap route

line of the Week
Icefields Parkway

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: Flower couloir and Pacman couloir double

I'm going to go with a more popular and classic line this week, but with an added twist. Either of these lines are a pretty short day by themselves considering the long drive to Bow Summit, but can be easily combined to make for a proper day, more in line with other "Line of the Week". More like "Line of the weak" if you just want to do one and call it a day...

The Flower Couloir is accessed by traversing along a bench above Bow Summit, in the mid section of the slope.  The "stem" of the flower is steep and narrow leading into the bowl of the "receptacle". I skied the north facing "petals", closer to the climbers left side.

Descend the Flower, then traverse back along the bench, all the way to the north end of the face above Bow Summit. Climb up the North ridge, and trend west into the north facing slidepath coming off of the Pacman couloir when available. The Pacman couloir is short and steep. After skiing the couloir, you could ski the avalanche path all of the way to the lake, or traverse back on top of the ridge and enjoy a nice NE facing run back to the parking lot.

Heading towards the Flower

Pacman couloir. Short and steep.

Total Vertical: 950m
Top Elevation: 2700m
Round Trip Distance: 7.5km
Line Length: 300m + 100m

Other lines in the area: There is lots of ski potential on both sides of the Icefields Parkway starting from Bow Summit, or from a couple of km north or south of the parking lot. Rumour has it that power tripping RCMP are ticketing vehicles parked along the highway that are not completely in the shoulder.
Hillmap route

line of the Week
Icefields Parkway

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

Other Lines of the Week .
Other Kananaskis lines.