Lusciously Sunny Sunday Spearhead

freeheelingbc , Monday 25th March, 2024 7:40AM

First Glacier chair and Showcase T to Alpine. Early cold and clear. Joined the couple hundred people climbing Spearhead col. Groups fanning to East col, Decker and looked like a fair number were headed for a fast day run around Spearhead traverse. Many signs of large step down avalanches. 9th Hole on Decker has a huge slab missing in its top quarter. Skied down to the Guide’s Notch- the south solar face under the notch avalanched wet and loose quite recently. Lapped Upper Spearhead Glacier 3 times. 10 cm of perfect fresh powder on a supportive crust. Anywhere the snow angle was toward the sun warmed quickly, but the steeper due north faces skied perfectly. This year’s crevasses are pretty big but easily avoidable with some care. There were recent wet loose avalanches on ALL the east facing Phalanx gullies- a few people picked their way through the avy debris and braved the solar furnace to climb Stairmaster. The eastern approach to Corona bowl from Spearhead had a small crown at the top of it and was warm and wet and didn’t look inviting. Also suspected that Corona might be disastrous on the west side - having seen it a couple of weeks ago after the Big Warming. Decided Husume was the way out-the climb to the ridge looked suspiciously warm and there was recent debris but it actually climbed nicely with very firm snow and only a bit of slush near the top. Husume was well skied but was in good shape with chalky loose snow on hard pack. It was a narrow safe avenue back into the Blackcomb Glacier where most of the SW facing slopes have slid class 2-3.