Today our team planned to ski the East Face of Catamount Peak, approaching via Balu Pass and Catamount Pass.

We started encountering small fresh windslabs at around 2300m on the way up towards Catamount Pass. Above Catamount Pass on the way up the shoulder we triggered a sz 1 windslab remotely from 5m away at around 2520m on the SE aspect (from 20cm up to 1m deep and 20m wide). We continued up the shoulder for a while hoping we could still get to the top, but bailed at about 2630m due to windslab concerns. We also triggered a couple more smaller (shallow 10-20cm deep) windslabs on the way down on 40 degree slopes as low as 1850m. See 4 photos.

Great snow out there, but really slow in the cold temps, kinda felt like we still had our skins on….

Alex Geary (Mountain Guide)
Madeleine Martin-Preney (Ski Guide)
Philip Widmer (Ski Guide)