Pat Sheehan traverse

<p>Out on the Pat Sheehan traverse Thursday April 5th. Big thanks to the party who put up a great skin track up from the first crest on the road through the steep treed rib to the alpine. Route is in great condition and book description and coordinate are helpful. We used a high bench to 2500m above the drainage leading to the glacier but decided to ski back down our track to the lower bench as we couldn't see how steep the convex roll below us was. Repeated the same mistake on the glacier on our way to the first col. Both high routes would work but we opted to retrace our steps to the lower routes in both cases. From the first col, we skied a big U-shape traverse S-W-N at about 2700m to the second col. From there, we had a great powder ski run down to Castleguard Meadows. Rocks and Rolls were easily managed keeping to lower angled and better covered terrain skier's left SW. We stayed on the W side of the meadows to a rock Cairn from where we found a decent way down the steep moraine and onto the Saskatchewan glacier. The sun was beating down but air temperature stayed coolish and snow stayed dry. -22 at 8:30 a.m, -6 at 7:00 p.m at the Big Bend p-lot. Great coverage on the glacier +300cm, no signs of avalanche activity yesterday. Great tour, full day! </p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes.

Terrain Avoided

Steep slopes, Convex slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Whumpfing or drum-like sounds or shooting cracks.

Snow Conditions

Powder.

Weather Conditions

Sunny.