Drummond icefield traverse march 29-April 1

Blaeberry_skier

Spent the last 4 days traversing from skoki to mosquito creek via Drummond icefield. Overall great travel conditions, ski pen about 5-15 depending on aspect and elevation. Snow at our campsite at valley bottom mostly facetted, making walking around at camp challenging. Fairly uneventful avalanche observation: a number wet loose from days past on sunny slopes, and saw a few heavy slough from steep rocky terrain, presumably sun-triggered. We did not witness signs of instability otherwise. Of note, crevasses are plentiful on the glacier, with 185cm snow depth in average probed. Off the glacier, rocks were also plentiful on all aspect. Ski quality was excellent on N-NE aspect, and varied from dry to slushy to crusty on other aspects. Recent, heavy bear activity noted in the pipestone valley (1950m). Regretted not taking the bear spray but thankful for the bear bags. All and all a wonderful walk through remote terrain, with limited opportunities for turns but wonderful scenery and route finding challenges!