Just returning from a gorgeous few days up at the Asulkan Hut. While it’s low tide, and terrain is limited, there’s still a lot of good skiing to be had.

ACCESS
The normal route up the Asulkan drainage is traveling well for this time of year. A few rocks, a few easily crossable feeder creeks, but generally flows well through the mousetrap. The moraines and creek below the tree triangle are a bit more of a cobweb of boulders and alder. On the exit we traversed out from the bottom of the tree triangle to the ravens and that flowed a lot better. The normal route up towards the Cleaver/Dome looked like alder jail, and the moraines above still looked thin and rocky.

SKIING
We took advantage of clear skies and very light wind, and spent most of our time on the smooth ice just east and above Asulkan Pass. Off the glaciers, skiing in the troughs and gullies provided great turns and avoided rocks. The tree triangle also skied surprisingly well on the exit, with boot-top powder and good coverage.

THE GLACIER
I probed a pretty consistent depth of 110-130cm on the glacier above the Asulkan Cabin around 2300-2500m. Most of the crevasse on the way up towards the 7 Steps are still exposed, as are many of the moats where the moraines near Asulkan Pass lead down to the Asulkan Glacier. While it limited movement in places, having so much ice still closer to the surface provided a pretty solid classroom.

SNOWPACK
Moderate to strong southerly winds from Nov 20-21 created a supportive surface above treeline. 5cm of snow sits on top of that, and the skiing is smooth and consistent. Below treeline, the snow quality increases, with 20-30cm of powder and limited to no previous wind effect. Surface hoar was visible to ridge top on polar aspects, with size ranging from a few millimeters, to 20mm below treeline. As expected, I was able to find 10-15cm of basal facets on high polar aspects, but we did not experience any whoomphs, even while moving through small pieces of rocky, thick to thin areas.

AVALANCHE ACTIVITY
No new natural or skier triggered avalanches. Evidence of a previous natural cycle to size 2 with slabs pulling out in the aprons below steep rocky faces.

Good to be back in the snow. Enjoy the turns.

Nick Waggoner SG