We left the trailhead at the Illecillewaet Campground in heavy rain on
09/28 and reached the snow-line at 1700m. 40cm of moist snow at the
Asulkan Hut at 2100m.
The next days travel on the Asulkan glacier towards the Asulkan Pass we
waded through 70cm of increasingly lower density snow the higher we
went. Trail breaking and crevasse detection was time consuming. Slab
development was prevalent around 2300m in the lee of most ridge lines.
We remotely triggered a small slab 20m wide 25m long and about 40cm in
depth. Also visible that day were larger fracture lines on most aspects
above 2500m in elevation, mostly below steep cliffs.
The following 4 days were spent not far from the hut as substantial
snowfall amounts and strong southerly winds accumulated wind slabs
close to 200cm's in depth! (in lee areas). The snow had an up side down
feeling in density and once again travel was very time consuming.
We walked out this morning (10/04) under mostly clear skies and saw a
surprisingly small amount of natural avalanche activity. Snowfall
amounts as of this morning were quite variable because of the strong
winds of the week, but ranged from 20cm to 120cm at 2100m.
Aaron Beardmore
Mountain Guide
Jokull Bergman
Alpine Guide
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