Lookout Col - AST 2

<p>We departed the Illecillewaet parking lot at 8:30 am and headed up the Great Glacier Trail to the bottom of the moraine features. We stayed on the central ridge until we reached an altitude of 1950m. We directly climbed the last 200m on the slope under Lookout Col. We skied on the skiers right side of the col for the first pitch and kept to the left to stay on more consistent slopes to avoid the pillows and cliffs on the central ribs. It was cold and clear throughout the day with a high of -10. The wind was light from the SW. The snow was 160cm deep at valley bottom, and 370cm at 2200m, W aspect. We observed widespread facets on the snow surface, all elevations, and surface growth BTL. A compression test revealed a pretty solid snowpack, with an inconsistent, non-planar break down 40cm on tap 24. A natural cornice failure occurred today from a steep, rocky, cliff face at 1900m, NE aspect. We observed several old, natural, loose dry avalanches to size 1.0, and a few skier triggered loose dry avalanches from 2000m-2200m and East and West aspects. </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Convex slopes, Steep slopes.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cold, Sunny.