March 17-19, 2006

Chris, Martin and I went into Wedgemount Lake for a few days or touring. Though the trip wasn’t an epic, it certainly had some sideways moments.

Day 1, Friday
Not being the brightest crew we decided to start late in the day for our ascent to the hut.

Low down the skins were balling up a wee bit.

Higher up the sun had set a wee bit. Guess we’ll find the hut in the dark.

Happy to arrive at the hut!

Day 2, Saturday
The day starts out pretty fair weather wise despite the forecast. We get a somewhat lazy start.

Heading up the Wedgemount Glacier

Oh yeah! the Northwest Couloir. We’ll save that one for tomorrow…

Heading up to some attractive slopes.

Hmmm… what happened to the good weather? Can you see the slope?

The weather improves later in the day for several good runs.

Day 3, Sunday
The day looks good so we head back to the Northwest Couloir.

Amazingly, Ziff catches us at the Wedge-Parkhurst Col having left Vancouver at 3:20 AM. He mentions a leg cramp, but is keen as mustard.

The crew: Martin Holloway, Chris Gooliaff, Stephen Ziff and Matt Gunn

What the heck? The winds are rapidly loading the top of the Northwest Couloir and we decide not to ski it. Damn!
Check out this video of the wind loading.
Problems are starting…

Ziff takes a tumble and smacks his wrist. Despite a potential fracture he’s still keen to ski.

I rip my skins most of the way through. I’ve recenlty put together an excellent repair kit, so I sew them up good-as-new.

We finish off the day skiing excellent snow on the Wedgemount Glacier.

Either this man has had an enjoyable descent from the Wedgemount Lake Hut or he is extremely happy to be at the bottom. You tell me…