Castlecraig escapade

AvCan Vancouver Island , Thursday 6th March, 2025 6:15PM

A gorgeous springlike day for a walk in the park. We parked the truck near the 13 km mark at the far end of the cutblock. It was easy travel by snowmobile with up to 10 cm of dry snow sitting on top of the early March crust. Just watch you don't break through when you are down low, it drives like bottomless isothermal shmoo that would love to swallow your snowmobile. The skin track up was pretty quick and easy as long as you keep away from steep solar aspects. While there is not enough snow to make a loose wet avalanche problem, there is just enough to make getting an edge in quite difficult. We were pleasantly surprised to find some dry powder still prevailing on North aspects and in shaded areas, however we suspect they are not long for this world with the +3.5 degree temperature we had at 1650 m. Great but variable skiing on the way down, watch for the firm snow in the rain runnels.