Phil Widmer, Nick Hamilton and I had a lovely day today climbing Bourgeau Right.

There was less than 5cm of snow on the ground for most of the approach, although this rapidly started increasing as we got close to the first pitch, and wind loaded areas on the climb were mid thigh deep. We brought avalanche gear to the base of the first steep pitch, and we almost turned around half way up when the sun briefly came out and we saw a couple of very small moist sluffs nearby. However, it quickly disappeared back behind the clouds and we were able to finish the route without any significant concerns. By midday the snow was moist at the top of the route.

The approach pitches were very thin and didn’t look very appealing, so we opted to scramble around them with the occasional snow covered rock slab making it a bit tedious. Once at the base of the first steep longer pitch of ice we found it fat and good condition to the top of the route.

Enjoy the balmy temperatures!

Alex