mattlucas
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Posts posted by mattlucas
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Again the top of the Vulture glacier
Joel traversing out in the foreground
Trying our hardest not to AK77
At the end it was just a km or two ski across Bow Lake to the highway on the other side. A quick hitchhike got me to my car a couple kms away where we started
And that is that
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Mount Olive and it's little pocket glacier spilling out onto the much larger Vulture Glacier
At the top of the Vulture Glacier it got pretty windy. But this was our high point and we now had a pretty large ski out to the Icefield Parkway below
2 pictures above is that knife edge ridge. That is the same mountain as this one. St. Nicholas
Don't laugh. Skiing with large 15-20kg bags is hard
We skied out to Bow Hut where we had a quick lunch and from there it was just a gentle ski back to the highway
From the Bow Hut. This isn't really a mountain. The top of this is part of the Vulture glacier which we skied up that morning
I got stuck carrying the rope for most of the trip out. But that just meant that I stayed in the back of the group. Carrying the rope gets you out of trail breaking. Although I did my share lower down.
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The group. Myself, Dave and Joel
After skiing roped up down the Vulture Glacier to our second hut at the base of Balfor mountain.
Balfor and the crux of the route. We would attept this mountain on day 4. We would have to navigate around some very large crevesses with the very large threat of seracs falling right above. From there we would ski to the Balfor High Col (I love saying High Col) But that would all be day 4
Day 3 - Weather Day
The storm moved in on Day 3 and we awoke to this. Whiteout in the high alpine.
So we went skiing. We also started to get a sense of our surroundings and felt we could start to ski around unroped. Here we skied up to the top of the Diableret Glacier for some low angle turns on the way back down. We were only out on our skis for 3 hours.
Day 4
It snowed heavily most of Day 3 and into the morning of Day 4. We would attempt the Balfor High Col on this day. We had a GPS route to get over it but getting through the crevesses with the seracs above and the now high avy danger put us in reverse
Skiing back to the Balfor Hut after checking out the conditions on Balfor itself. We left a note in there saying we were bailing out the Bow River Valley.
The weather cleared a bit while we skied back up the Vulture Glacier. But it never cleared on Balfor.
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Winter Traverse Attempt of the Wapt Icefields
March 17-20
The Wapta Icefields are in the Rocky Mountains just north and west of Lake Louise Ski Area. Wapta means Running Water in Cree.
The icefields cover roughly 150 square km of Banff and Yoho National Parks
The glaciers straddle the continental divide meaning that water flowing off the east side drains into Hudsan Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and water on the west side flows into the Pacific Ocean
We went into this area with the plan of traversing from the North end of the icefields to the south over 5 days. We reserved spaces in ACC (Alpine Club of Canada) huts along the way
As this was all of our first times skiing in the Rocky Mountains and also our first times being on glaciers in the winter we were very cautious for the first 2 days until we were able to get a sense of our surroundings.
This was a traverse first. We went in there to cover distance and see for ourselves what this area holds for future trips.
Day 1
Right off the Icefield Parkway we skied across Peyto Lake towards the Peyto Glacier which is hin the hills beyond. Our first hut is also up there in the clouds
At the end of the lake we had to gain a bit of elevation on laterial morraine. But at the top the glacier came into view
This is what greeted us once we rounded the top of the morraine. Nice. Our hut was is on the rocky ridge on the left. Once we got on the glacier we motored up there pretty quick.
Day 2
The weather dawned clear which was a huge surprise as we expected a large storm to come in. We didn't complain about the change in weather
From Peyto hut where we spent our first night the Wapta Icefields themselves start. Our day would have us first climbing this glacier to the top.
You can see a roped up ski group of 4 in the distance. Might help with scale. Took us about 90 minutes to ski to the top of this.
On the way up we passed by Rhonda North and this amazing looking line. Not a ski trip. Not a ski trip.
Up on the divide. We would have lunch in the col between the two peaks on the left. It was really windy up here and we skied in with jackets and toques all day. That's a first for me.
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True that
He's a great skier
Would have loved to have been out there with you guys
How do you like the Pontoons?
Better than Spats...
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Hot Dam!!!!
Great shot FT
Jer's shot are really good as well
Jer's ****in steppin it up
Great pictures Kuma
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Check this out
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Thanks dudes
I tried the alcohol and it was easy enough
Went back to Daemon to see if I could figure that out and found that the file opened right away if Windows Media is open
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Billy Poole at Black Diamond
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BIN files
How do I/You open them?
I downloaded a program called Daemon Tools and followed the directions but I am still confused
Am I out of luck?
I have a basic Nero package for burning
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GREAT SHOTS!!
I didn't know it snowed in Japan
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Nice EBC
You held out for longer than I thought you would
Glad you finally shared
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Good weekend then...
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Hmm
Kind of. Kasa is kind of in the picture in the back. This picture is looking west across the North Alps
The valley in the foreground is not that valley we talked about
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Yo CB what's up with this?Quote:Originally posted by Creek Boy:
it sucks, but I find myself more and more turned off from these forums recently
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Sounds like a good day EBC
I'm not so jealous of the powder as I have had my fill. Jealous that you are skiing with pros and seeing a part of the industry that few get to view
Where is that quote from?
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Jealous
Very Jealous
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I've drank beer in an onsen loads of times
And I've also seen Japanese people drinking beer in the onsen
Just be respectable about drinking your beer and there shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't bring a 2-4 into the place. Maybe 2 or 3 tall cans is plenty.
Almost all the onsens I went to had beer vending machines in the tatami rooms
No cannonballing...
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It's pretty good
Hurts a bit this week but I think that is just because I am back climbing 3 times a week now Doesn't hurt when I jump from the top of the wall. That's about a 2-3 metres drop
Not related to my ankle but I am getting some bad shin-bang this season. Used to just scrape all my hair off a section of my shin but this season it is rubbing it raw and I ave open sores
I see you guys are getting some new snow
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WTS - Go to an outdoor store in Tokyo and pick up a couple issues of Couloir Mag
You'll be able to read about loads of stuff
Gear prices, gear reviews, how to, ettiquette
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Kuma you trying to pull a fast one on us
That's just a zoom in of FT in the the first shot
Or maybe a second later
Anybody can ski in the backcountry
You don't need to be an expert. There are loads of people that learn how to ski in the BC
You do need mountain knowledge though. For myself it was a natural progression as I am always in the mountains in the non-skiing seasons. I just joined my two passions together
Passion #1 - Standing on top of thing
Passion #2 - Skiing off the top of things
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Hey check out this picture I just dug out. Took this in January 2004. That's Yari on the right with Oku-Hotaka just left of centre and the Karasawa Valley is the basin right below.
Got that from a plane on the return flight from my one and only trip to Niseko
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Yah I'd like to know what it looks like
There has to be snow somewhere up high in the alps. 2005 which was a low year I skied in some good runs in mid June
So early May should have something. Won't look like last year but...
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Karasawa is all north facing
You would be walking in quite a bit further than we did last year
Kamikochi is at 1500metres so right there it is above most resorts
There will be good skiing in the Karasawa until late May at least
TR: Wapta Icefield Traverse Attempt. Rocky Mountains
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
nice toque big holes always scare me. how cold did it get?