Hole in the wall couloir

MATHURIN , Saturday 1st June, 2024 3:15PM

Went to try « hole in the wall » couloir on mount french. Forest on the approach was a bit laborious, had to take off the skis multiple times and no more snow bridge to cross the creek. Snow where firm where existing though, with a decent refreeze. Good coverage above 2200m 3h15 to the alpine 4h15 to the base of the couloir. Windy in the alpine and snow were transported, accumulating on top of the crust in some places. We dug a couple of pits with our ice axes about 20-40m up the couloir (on the cone below the hole). We found a 35-40cm thick slab sitting on top of a crust that wasn’t bonding well. Slab were wet and heavy and came pretty easily off the crust with gentle pulls. The slab where thicker at the base of the cone and got finer as we got up but wasn’t still bonding well. We decided to turn around before committing to much to the line. Going down was better than anticipated even if snow where isothermal after 10.30am below 2050m. No avalanche activity observed but old large debris where present in lot of places, including NW aspects of mount Murray.