SkiSickness

Steep powder LOVE
Photo from last year, line on looker's left; it's not as fat right now but gud enuf


Naomi spent 3 weeks in Japan doing nothing but eating. We found ourselves in Whistler; she had skis, boots, and shiny new Dynafit bindings. First I poached a random power outlet for the drill.


Then I found an ideal workbench in the day parking to mount the bindings.


The next day we climbed Joffre via the Aussie Couloir with Andy, Jake and Ziff. There was uncertainty in the group at the top. Ziff convinced us of his anti-Twisting Couloir viewpoint because of possible objective hazards. Given the latish hour and the nature of the line, five people seemed too many for Joffre Couloir. So Andy, Jake and Ziff decided to ski the Aussie.

It was Naomi's first day on Dynafits and her first tour of this magnitude so I asked her, "What do you want to do?"

She said, "I don't want to ski any crusty, crappy snow."

Well, it was clear where we would find the pow so we headed for Joffre Couloir.

There was a nice big rock to use for an anchor and Ziff had kindly given us a phat piece of tat.


The verdict was "It's a go."


The top slope is steeep and holds epic powder.


Perfect snow!


There was some thinly-covered rock and some water ice through the narrow section, but enough snow to get over it without much trouble.

Then it was pure steep skiing ecstasy.


Here is an animated gif made with Naomi's fancy new camera from Japan.


Two small jumps were necessary to clear the bergschrunds; they're not covered yet. The powder on the glacier and moraine was incredible.

I have some pictures of Naomi schralping the steep pow but my camera is under a pile of gear and I don't think they're as good as her pictures. I'll add some of them eventually. Just in case it's not painfully clear from my blurbs here: Naomi kicks a lot of ass.

MORE PLEASE

thanks Sky.

Ziff - what were the hazards present on Twisting if you don't mind a slight off-topic digression?

Big cornices and more exposure to wind hence more widespread windslabs or shitty affected snow likely, Lee.

Lee, what Sky said.

Sky, it looked good in there. Glad you two put that piece of tat to good use.

Thanks ziff and sky. We left some manky webbing up there last year and i got injured to didn't manage to go clean up my garbage so felt pretty bad about the litter but it looks like the wind and elements have covered up all sins

Some mank was sighted but time will heal all wounds and I'm a sinner with no stones to cast.

Wow, you guys pulled it off.How did the spectra
chord work out for the rappel.

Thanks for the loan, that tech chord is awesome; I'd like to get a 70 m ball of it for ski-mountaineering silliness.

Haha, I like the parking lot dynafit mount. I've used some kevlar cord for rappeling and even as a light weight glacier rope or in the pack for a haul system. That stuff is crazy light! Did you guys ski on the 5th?

Louie

We skied this on Monday the 3rd, Louie.

What size/length spectra cord did you use? I've been thinking about carrying a ball of 30m runner for raps. And impromptu chokings.

I think it was 6 mm, DD. I'm thinking like two 35 m lengths of it to split between partners would allow all kind of shenanigans with a very light weight expenditure.