Lily Glacier/Mt Swanzy

<p>Toured up the Lily Glacier in an attempt to complete a traverse of the Bonney Massif. With FL at roughly 2000m, we observed steady mod winds from the SW gusting to strong at 2400m and above. From 930-1130, the cloud cover thinned out exposing E/SE/S slopes to the sun. We heard the non-stop, harrowing rumble of DL avalanches (up to Sz 2) coming down the rocky SE face of Ross Peak. As we gained Lily Col, we saw three recent <24hr old DL (Sz 1.5) from Mt Swanzy SE Face. We felt isolated pockets of F+ to 4F wind/storm slabs on the Lily Glacier. Hand shear test results @ 2200m on N aspect: moderate pull, resistant planar, 30cm down. The new wind/storm slab seems to bond relatively well to the adjacent layers at our location. We turned back at the bottom of Mt Swanzy due to poor visibility above 2600m. We skied some light, dry powder on the Lily Glacier. Snow conditions got heavy below 1800m.</p>

Terrain Ridden

Alpine slopes, Mellow slopes.

Avalanche Conditions

Rapid temperature rise to near zero degrees or wet surface snow.

Snow Conditions

Heavy, Powder.

Weather Conditions

Cloudy, Foggy, Stormy, Warm, Windy.