The Gargoyles
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:01 pm
Maddy, Rob and I used the weather window last Thu to go skiing. Rob was not so experienced in the backcountry so Maddy and I were originally thinking about yoyoing on Paul's Ridge (a mellow ridge on the way to the Elfin hut). But we also had a backup plan just in case the conditions felt super good. Avi conditions were great and there was blue sky so, surprise surprise, we found ourselves heading to the Gargoyles, past Elfin hut. At only 1823 m the Gargoyles is mini gnar.
The Gargoyles on our approach. It's to the right of the col with Atwell standing tall behind it.
Skinning to Elfin hut was easy on a well tracked path. The rest of the way to the Gargoyles was hard work. We had, I'm guessing, 30 cm of pow to break trail on. There was not much 'breaking' in breaking trail on our Pattison-Decker day. So we all took turns. How do Alex and Sky do this and still be much faster than us?
Rob and Maddy skinning up the Gargoyles.
We checked out the NW face of the Gargoyles from the side and saw a break in the cornice by the trees.
Maddy approaching our entrance. Since I'm still learning and absorbing a massive amount of information we dug a pit on the NW face and found a super bomber right side up snow pack. This helps me understand the correlation between how the snow pack looks and how it reacts to compression tests, to how it feels when I'm poking around with my pole.
We couldn't see from the top if there were cliffs below or if it was just a roll. I dropped in first and skied to the side to check it out first. The snow was nice and deep!
There were no cliffs so Maddy skied a straight line off the top. Skiing out to the side alone was nerve racking enough that I didn't care that Maddy skied the steepest line.
Those who want to see Maddy's skiing improving can have a look here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/h ... directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/z ... directlink
You can see our tracks with the gargoyles. Off the top Maddy skied the line to the lookers left and Rob and my tracks are on the right. Both are still standing waiting for their turn to ski down the rest of the face.
Other highlights were seeing cougar tracks. It went faaaaaaaar. And a lowlight was going from Elfin hut back to Red Heather hut. We didn't realise how much up and down the trail goes and it was a real sting in the tail going back. Maddy was just motoring all the way back though. I'll definitely think twice before going back there for a day trip again.
We were greeted with a pretty sunset on our way back to the car. The logging road was like a semi-fast wide bobsleigh track and was great fun at the end of the day.
Again it turned into an adventure day despite originally planning a mellow day. I just loooooooooove the view out there and it's still great fun learning so much new stuff. Maddy is quite the source of knowledge. And so another full amazing day of skiing ended. Thanks Maddy and Rob.
More pics are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1166681895 ... yles190112#
The Gargoyles on our approach. It's to the right of the col with Atwell standing tall behind it.
Skinning to Elfin hut was easy on a well tracked path. The rest of the way to the Gargoyles was hard work. We had, I'm guessing, 30 cm of pow to break trail on. There was not much 'breaking' in breaking trail on our Pattison-Decker day. So we all took turns. How do Alex and Sky do this and still be much faster than us?
Rob and Maddy skinning up the Gargoyles.
We checked out the NW face of the Gargoyles from the side and saw a break in the cornice by the trees.
Maddy approaching our entrance. Since I'm still learning and absorbing a massive amount of information we dug a pit on the NW face and found a super bomber right side up snow pack. This helps me understand the correlation between how the snow pack looks and how it reacts to compression tests, to how it feels when I'm poking around with my pole.
We couldn't see from the top if there were cliffs below or if it was just a roll. I dropped in first and skied to the side to check it out first. The snow was nice and deep!
There were no cliffs so Maddy skied a straight line off the top. Skiing out to the side alone was nerve racking enough that I didn't care that Maddy skied the steepest line.
Those who want to see Maddy's skiing improving can have a look here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/h ... directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/z ... directlink
You can see our tracks with the gargoyles. Off the top Maddy skied the line to the lookers left and Rob and my tracks are on the right. Both are still standing waiting for their turn to ski down the rest of the face.
Other highlights were seeing cougar tracks. It went faaaaaaaar. And a lowlight was going from Elfin hut back to Red Heather hut. We didn't realise how much up and down the trail goes and it was a real sting in the tail going back. Maddy was just motoring all the way back though. I'll definitely think twice before going back there for a day trip again.
We were greeted with a pretty sunset on our way back to the car. The logging road was like a semi-fast wide bobsleigh track and was great fun at the end of the day.
Again it turned into an adventure day despite originally planning a mellow day. I just loooooooooove the view out there and it's still great fun learning so much new stuff. Maddy is quite the source of knowledge. And so another full amazing day of skiing ended. Thanks Maddy and Rob.
More pics are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1166681895 ... yles190112#