5040 Peak and Hut

Our crew of four skiers left Port Alberni at around 5:30 AM on Saturday January 20th. We went to Marion Creek FSR and attempted to drive up the FSR but only made it 500 meters due to new heavy snow on frozen but thawing ground. We skinned the remaining 10 kilometers to the trailhead on crusty wet and heavy snow, thankful for the 8 kilometers of skin track that another group (which had turned around) had put in already. We were able to skin up the new growth up to about 50 meters distance from the start of the old growth, at which point we transitioned to boot packing. Travel through the old growth was straightforward with 40 centimeters of supportive wet snow however there was still ice in spots from the cold snap. The rope sections were straightforward, there was snow on them however the ropes were clearly visible and easy to use. Once out of the old growth and onto the bluffs we were able to transition back to skins and continue up to the lake on easy but narrow terrain. We observed old debris from a size 1 wet slide on the way up in an isolated area. The creek was not frozen and the lake was probably not frozen, so we decided to cross the Creek which was about a 2.5m gap. We crossed the Creek carefully and continued up through the slopes south of the hut on consolidated wet but supportive snow, observing no signs of activity on the slopes. We observed some crowns and debris paths on the steep slopes above the hut at elevations above 1400m and also on the alpine slopes over Cobalt lake, likely a result of a natural cycle due to the significant warming and precipitation. We did not observe active shedding during our stay. Once at the Hut the weather turned, with moderate winds from the east and gusts that were strong enough to make the Hut shake. Freezing levels fluctuated with a mix of snow and rain moving in a general sideways direction. Needless to say we did not leave the Hut on Sunday, but had a great time nonetheless. Hut was in good shape with everything functioning properly. Can confirm backup gen working, it kicked on at 5% (five) charge since we had minimal sunlight during the days. We descended Monday morning starting around 8:00 AM on terrible funky snow down to the lake, crossing a gap that had become a bit wider and taking care not to get wet boots. The snow on both sides of the Creek was significantly less supportive than the day before. We continued suffer-skiing down after crossing the Creek to the first of the rope sections on the way down, at which point we transitioned to boots with skis on our backs. Travel from there was straightforward with the warmth having melted quite a bit of the snow and ice from the old growth, and we were able to bootpack the rest of the way down through the old growth easily. We postholed through the new growth to the trailhead. Once on the FSR again we transitioned to skis and skinned up and skied the best snow of the trip back to the car.