Thorington via the popsicle factory

Demonic Pancake , Saturday 18th March, 2023 9:00PM

We went up the Thorington via the Asulkan glacier. We took the higher ramp up below Jupiter to avoid the more complex serac field below us. The snow was still preserved, cold and with minimal wind effect throughout most of the glacier and the moraines below. The only exception were a few moraines and gully shaped features that started to see some cross loading, and formed some still very soft slabs. The snow coverage on the glacier is generally thick and solid where snow has formed snow bridges. We probed several depressions without punching through. However, there are some massive open and exposed crevasses all along the route that I remember skiing over in the past, especially below Castor on the classic way down from the Saphire col. The lower route through the guts and the bigger serac field seems quite complex and convoluted at the moment. Especially once we could see the side of some of the snow bridges. The Thorington itself skied really well. We saw another party of two come from the other side. Everyone avoided the big convex roll at the top which had been more affected by the wind. There are still some rocks exposed just under the convexity and a big open crevasse just past it on the skier's left side of it.

Some light winds at the top only, but no snow transport. The day was mostly warm, but just cool enough on the glacier.