Alex arrives at the Russet Hut. Instead of bringing overnight gear like Eric and I did, he brought a six pack.
Eric and Alex skin over the blowhole at Whirlwind-Fissile Col.
"Sky, what do you think about my binding?"
"Are you really asking me that?"
...
Two days later:
"Did you fix your binding?"
"It was fine. I was just freaking out."
It is December, after all. A little rockstep below Overlord made things interesting.
Here we see the objective, the West Face of Iago Peak. Yeah!
Next to the summit of Benvolio, we had a consultation. The summit of Fitzsimmons looked more difficult than usual to obtain with quite thin snow over the rocks. The North Face would still be easy to ski through the notch, but that's not as satisfying and I've already skied it twice. It was a real push with the later hour (past 3 pm), but the homies agreed that we should ski 400 m of epic pow past Fitzsimmons then skin to the summit of Iago.
The powder was epic, but there was no time for pictures. I made my transition ASAP and started breaking trail toward Iago. I love being way out here with no other people and no other tracks!
Eric skins toward Iago, Cheakamus in the background. I really want to ski that face!
Almost to the ridge and the Iago Glacier, I break trail as Alex follows.
Other future fun!
It was late and the light wasn't great, but Eric got one picture that vaguely does justice to the conditions on Iago. Truly steep and deep.
How about that viddy, Alex?
We skied it to the valley and enjoyed some whiskey before the long (given our physical fatigue) climb to the hut.
Those two beers at the hut tasted so good! Eric and I spent a total of 17 hours or so at the hut before we found a steep stash off Russet Ridge, slalomed snowboarders on Singing Pass Trail, then scammed free pints of "IPA" at the Longhorn.
The steep stash.
He left a little for me.
More to come on the second half of the birthday bash, including celebrity sightings and a laser light show!
Joffre Peak, Aussie Couloir