Very good travel and skiing on Cathedral Peak Monday morning with Mark Herbison.
A solid freeze allowed for fast travel on a supportive crust up the Lake O'Hara road and up the east and south slopes to reach the Cathedral Glacier. Ski crampons were useful in the steep south facing gully on the approach. Above 2600 m there is up to 25 cm of recent snow, including a light dusting overnight, and little wind effect which translated into very good skiing.
We descended the North gully to the TCH. The gully is well filled in this season, no rope work required. Good powder skiing in the upper half to the narrows, then supportive dust on crust down to 1850m. Below this the crust was breaking down by 1100 hrs and required some "creative" skiing to reach the road.
No new avalanches observed.